Review: ‘The Spirituality of Music’ by Peter Bastian

(Original posted on April 9, 2002)

This is a book on music that spiritually portrays the mysterious experience of music. The author’s words, drawn from his own experiences, leave a gentle, lasting resonance. It is recommended for those who wish to have a reading experience that feels close to the heart of a musician.

The author, Peter Bastian, has a very unique background, having studied classical music (as a bassoonist) while majoring in theoretical physics, and also being deeply devoted to Zen, yoga, and ethnic music. He studied under the legendary conductor Sergiu Celibidache and was greatly influenced by his Buddhist worldview.

This book attempts to re-examine music not just as an art of sound, but as a spiritual activity deeply connected to human consciousness, reality, and existence itself. It explores the depths of music by cross-referencing insights from diverse fields such as quantum mechanics, molecular biology, and Zen.

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Having studied under the late conductor Celibidache, the author seems to have been greatly influenced by a Buddhist worldview. He gazes at music from a spiritual perspective and speaks quietly and frankly about what he has felt through music.

In the first half, the way he discusses his realizations from actual performance activities and theoretical matters, exploring “what is happening in the mind at that moment” as if delivering a monk’s sermon, creates a unique atmosphere unmatched by other books. His narrative voice is quiet yet passionate, light yet strong.

The author’s interest seems to lie in exploring “what is consciousness” and “what is reality” through music. He believes that music holds the power to bring about communication and transformation at a deeper level that cannot be captured by logic or language, and he attempts to present its possibilities. The book’s original Danish title, “Ind i musikken,” means “Into the Music,” which perhaps signifies not just appreciating music, but a journey into one’s inner self and the depths of the world through music.

The author also challenges conventional analytical music theory and perspectives that confine music to a narrow framework. He takes the stance that music exists as the “state of consciousness” of the individual listener, and therefore is difficult to describe uniformly. This is likely a manifestation of his effort to perceive music from a more comprehensive and multifaceted perspective, avoiding scientific reductionism despite his background in physics.

Peter Bastian’s ‘The Spirituality of Music’ is, more than a book of knowledge, a book for listening to silence. I believe that as you entrust yourself to a narrative that seems to surrender its words to the music itself, by the time you finish the book, you will find yourself asking, “What am I feeling from music?” In a sense, this book is a “meditative book on music.”

Table of Contents for ‘The Spirituality of Music’

About the Author

Peter Bastian

Born in 1943. A Danish bassoonist highly acclaimed as both a classical performer and a rhythm musician. Raised in a musical environment with opera singer parents, he studied the orthodoxies of classical music at the Royal Danish Academy of Music while simultaneously majoring in theoretical physics at the University of Copenhagen.

From 1970, he studied under the legendary conductor/philosopher Sergiu Celibidache, was greatly influenced by his Buddhist worldview, and wandered the world with his bassoon. Currently, he is a member of the Danish Wind Quintet, one of Scandinavia’s finest chamber music ensembles, and also leads the experimental band “Bazaar” as perhaps the world’s only electric bassoonist, gathering attention for his genre-transcending musical approach.(Quoted from this book)