Booktunes has the goods on the music in Haruki Murakami's OMG-much-awaited novel "1Q84":
Aomame sits in a taxi, listening to music on the radio. She starts to dream, and we peek into her thoughts, revealing more about herself and the music. Her reverie ends abruptly; Janáceks Sinfonietta marks the beginning of a book in which the dream world is a malevolent and powerful force that can be both inconvenient and supercede reality.
Tengo listens to the Sinfonietta as well. It takes him back to his childhood, a time that marked the emergence of his several talents. As a boy he was very musically talented, before it transpired that he preferred sport, while as a man he's a maths teacher whose heart lies in writing novels in his spare time.Janácek originally composed his Sinfonietta for a big sporting event, but his affinity for the Czech army is never far from the surface in this piece. It may begin with a celebratory fanfare, but it's far from a light piece of music. The brass and timpani rush towards a brutal climax, mirroring the events that transpire in 1q84. The easy comparison with Tengo's free fridays, but more the earlier storm that launches Air Chrysalis and Aomame's deadly work have a similar pace.Murakami makes it obvious that the Sinfonietta is one of the things that connects Aomame and Tengo.
It's a fantastic post, and makes you wish the English translation would come out much, much sooner -- we'll have to wait one more year.