BOOK REVIEW: WHY THIS BOOK HAS BECOME SO NECESSARY TO ME (PASCAL BENTOIU, “GÂNDIREA MUZICALĂ” (MUSICAL THINKING), BUCHAREST: EIKON, 2022, 2ᴺᴰ EDITION)

Abstract

This introductory text is not an actual book review. To explain my statement, I will invite the German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk, for whom a written and published text that finds its recipient and becomes necessary to the latter is an epistle. And I know his answer would be the one I would expect: This is a reply to a letter. One sent to Pascal Bentoiu in this rather unusual way. And that would not be untrue, because this is a letter to the Maestro. And I would personally add that it is also a confession. Indeed, going through the text of the book, I understood that it was addressed to me. Because by writing it, the composer unwittingly revealed to me, in such a fatherly way, things that I needed in my professional growth. He thus obliged me to write my own “letter” to him, even though he will never receive it. Consequently, I see myself compelled to make my own confession, convinced that he would have shown complete understanding towards my attitude. Just as he did years ago when he accepted several interview questions from a novice musicologist.