 Besides having been a public intellectual , Edward Said was an accomplished pianist , worked as the music critic for The Nation magazine , and wrote four books about music : Musical Elaborations ( 1991 ) ; Parallels and Paradoxes : Explorations in Music and Society ( 2002 ) , with Daniel Barenboim as co @-@ author ; On Late Style : Music and Literature Against the Grain ( 2006 ) ; and Music at the Limits ( 2007 ) in which final tome he spoke of finding musical reflections of his literary and historical ideas in bold compositions and strong performances . 
