FT.COM/MAGAZINE APRIL 4/ 52020 29
GustavMahler,DasLiedvonder Erde,
TelAviv (Spring 1967 ).
Thiswasthe only bonding tripIeverdid with
myfather.Ihad just started university.Hehad
leftschool at the age of 14 .Toavoid us growing
apart, he showedmewhat he loved: Israel and
Mahler.The musicremainsmymemoryofhim.Simon and Garfunkel,America(19 68 ).
Thatwastheyear when it all happened.Iwent
to America and met Rabbi Menachem Mendel
Schneerson, who changedmylife.InCambridge
Imet Elaine,fell in loveand proposed just before
midnight on NewYear’sEve.Iassociate these
memoriesand morewith this haunting song.Beethoven,SongofThanksgivingtothe Deity
fromaconvalescent in theLydian mode,
thirdmovement of the op.132 Quartet.
This isformethe musical equivalent of Psalm 30,
asong ofrecoveryandredemption. This is
music as purespirituality.When Beethoven
wrote this, hewasinheavenwith the angels.zero.Thiswasgrief.Wewillnotallowourselvestobe
happywhile theTemple is in ruins.ThePsalms are
clearlysettoorchestralmusic.No,itwasthiswayof
sayingwewillneverbecompletelyhappyuntilthis
world, ourworld, hasbeenrebuilt.Itwasaterrible
loss.Welost that entireorchestral tradition until
basicallythe19thcenturywhenJewsassimilated
enoughtomoveintothemusicalmainstream.”
In 2002,Sacks took several cantors andasyn-
agogue choir to the Israeli coastal city ofNetanya,
whereasuicidebombersentbythe militant Pal-
estinian group Hamas had killed30people and
injured140 ataPassoverfeast inahotel. “Wewere
sittinginEnglandthinking,whatcanwedotohelp?
In the end,wedecidedtotakemusic to comfortthe
injured,thebereaved.Wehad somebodywho was
inacomaforsevendayscomingoutofitaswewere
singing. So that’saveryJewish wayinwhichwe
took musicand triedtouse itforhealing.”
He encounters an unhealable pain in one com-
poser.“Iam completelynon-prescriptivewith
this,”Sacks says,“butIrefuse to listen toWagner.
Absolutelyand totally.His ‘Judaism in Music’
essay,publishedin1 85 0,wasoneoftheclassictexts
of anti-Semitism. Had he merelyreflectedaview,
Iwouldhaveforgivenhimbuthedidn’t,hecreated
amood.SoIrefuse to listen to him.Eventhough
mylatefatherofblessedmemory,whohadexactly
the same attitude toWagner asIdid, nonetheless
said to me that the‘SiegfriedIdyll’ is one of the
mostbeautiful piecesofmusiceverwritten.”
Sacks’outlook–inmusic as inreligion and
politics–isessentiallyconciliatory.Despite his
father’scampaign towean him offtheBeatles,
hestill likespop music,even to theextent
ofadmitting to an admiration for Eminem.
“Look, he has descendedinto all sorts of violence,
misogyny and homophobia,butopenyourself to
this guy as though he’ssitting therewithyouand
then he gets toyou,”hesays.
His desiretofind common ground has faced
tests.In2002, he publishedhisbookThe Dignity
of Difference,inwhich he calledforreligious
toleration in the aftermath of9/11 and argued
that “no one creedhasamonopolyonspiritual
truth”.Thecontroversythat it causedamong
conservativeOrthodoxJewswas compounded
byaninterview with the Guardian newspaper in
which Sacks was quotedcritiquing Israelipolicies
towardsPalestinians.Helaterclaimedtohavebeen
misquoted, but the articleledto aneditorial in the
JerusalemPost demanding hisresignation. He has
describedit asaperiodof“black despair”during
his chief rabbinate.
“Atthereal moments of pain,Ilistenedto
Schubert’sstring quintet,”heremembers.“Ijust
felt that it framedthe concept that art is turning
pain intobeauty.Which Schubert doesinapro-
found way,Ican’tthink of anyone whodoesit
better.Leaning into Schubert at thattime took me
throughthevalleyoftheshadowandouttheother
side,”hesays,again invokingPsalm 23 –abeacon
for the present timeof crisis too.“Morality” (Hodder&Stoughton) is availablenow.
Ludovic Hunter-Tilneyisthe FT’spop criticMusical
moments
in his
ownwords