Good Music

In 2021, the writer J.M. Coetzee and the composer Andrew Ford collaborated on a music-theatre piece, The Blessing. Following this, Coetzee and Ford began a correspondence in which they reflect on human creativity in all its forms.

They exchange thoughts on Beethoven and Elgar, on J.S. Bach and Stravinsky, on Jacqueline du Pré, Bruce Springsteen and the future of jazz. Besides music, their letters range across art, film and literature, from Miguel Cervantes to Emily Kam Kngwarray. They discuss the persistence of childhood memories, the nature of beauty, how we form our cultural tastes, whether art is morally improving and what (if anything) ‘great music’ means today.

Whether they are sharing their early influences, confessing which composers they consider overrated or disagreeing about pop music, their conversation unfolds in delightful and illuminating ways.

‘If people of any age have wild or antisocial tendencies, I'd rather they worked them out on the dance floor.’ —Andrew Ford

‘Music is a blessedly welcome relief from the treadmill of one's own thoughts.’ —J.M. Coetzee