In Music before anything else, Tabachnik describes his ideal concert with works by Richard Strauss, Bela Bartok, Igor Stravinsky, Xenakis and Boulez. He discusses the personalities of the latter two artists and his friendship with them, as well as the meaning of their musical explorations. He also tells how he ended up in close quarters with the superstar of orchestra conductors, Herbert Von Karajan, highlighting his rigour and exemplary commitment to his art.
But this book is more than a remarkably lively souvenir album. Tabachnik is a musician who reflects on his own art. He attempts to respond to the “call to being” inspired by the painter Kandinsky. In his quest, which led him to join a sect, he is still asking questions and trying to live again after 12 years of exclusion and forced silence.
The Letter to Michel written to him by Régis Debray, in the form of a preface, cleverly positions us as a “well-intentioned ignoramus”. It opens up a dialogue that Tabachnik is ready to join in, and contributes to making this work an introduction to contemporary music, which still suffers from a lack of popularity and is still so misunderstood.

A lively introduction to contemporary music by a great conductor.