Edward W. Said was an incisive literary scholar, a political activist committed to combating colonialism, and also a highly trained pianist and widely published music critic who established, with conductor Daniel Barenboim, a bold music school bringing together Jewish and Arab musicians from the Middle East. In Said on Music, Wouter Capitain documents in colorful detail Said's lifelong involvement with the masterpieces of Western classical music. Bravo!

Ralph P. Locke, author of Music and the Exotic from the Renaissance to Mozart

From Said's unpublished letters and unedited drafts, Capitain maps with analytical nuance the contradictions and delights of the great Palestinian's love for the Western classical repertoire. A genuinely fresh and intelligent take on counterpoint and heterophony, the “dissonances” of the West-Eastern Divan orchestra, and (most interestingly) Said's own performance as a pianist. This book is a significant contribution to our knowledge of the centrality of music to Said's entire worldview.

Timothy Brennan, Professor of Cultural Studies, Comparative Literature, and English, University of Minnesota, USA