Making music out of discord

and a recipe for salted olive crisps

Any lover of opera knows that the richest moments in an opera are most often the ensembles.

The ensemble is where the magic of multiple voices come together—each character expressing their own emotions simultaneously. They create a whirlwind of sound, weaving together conflicting feelings into a single, breathtaking musical tapestry. And miraculously, it works. It’s opera at its most human and most thrilling, where chaos becomes harmony.

While we, the audience, may not be able to discern every nuance of the language, somehow, the emotion of the characters—their longing, love, anger, despair, or joy—are understood.

It may be the only time when speaking all at once actually succeeds.

Let’s agree to disagree

While you might not have been to an opera lately, it’s very likely that you’ve been in a discordant conversation of some sort.

It could have been on matters frivolous (“I can’t believe you don’t like mushrooms!”) to more existential (“I can’t believe you would vote for that idiot!”). No matter the topic, we can get pretty heated up in an instant when we feel our preferences, beliefs or values are called into question.

It’s a delicate balance to strike, with some of us humans much more adept at navigating these differences than others. Me, I’m of the “pretty heated up” variety. It’s very easy for me to jump to an extreme of defence, at times out of proportion to the relative importance of the topic at hand.

That’s when the trite phrase “let’s agree to disagree” can be an easy, but ultimately unsatisfactory, way out.

Making music out of discord

The clearest sign of intellectual chemistry isn’t agreeing with someone. It’s enjoying your disagreements with them. Harmony is not the combination of identical sounds. It’s the pleasing arrangement of different tones, voices, or instruments. Creative tension makes beautiful music.

—Adam Grant, organizational psychologist

In the sneaky way that life has of putting things in your path that you should trip over and contemplate, this observation from Adam Grant today caught me short.

Instead of speaking more loudly or vehemently to be heard, might we take a page from music? The instruments work harmoniously together, the horns taking centre stage at one moment, the flute having its singular solo, the strings providing the beating heart and through line. Each has its opportunity to articulate an emotion, an idea, a point of view. And each instrument, no matter how big or small, has an equal opportunity to be heard and appreciated.

In the end, we are richer for hearing the entirety of the story, understanding the intentions of the composer, the complexity of the whole. It’s a beautiful, abstract lesson in the creative tension that Grant advocates, and a way forward to real harmony.

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Salted olive crisps

My Paris Kitchen, David Lebowitz

makes approximately 40 crisps

This recipe combines simple, rustic ingredients—flour, olives, almonds, and herbs—to create something greater than the sum of its parts. Each ingredient plays a specific role: the olives bring salinity and depth, the almonds add crunch and texture, and the herbs layer in aromatic complexity.

Like creative harmony in any art form, these elements come together in balance to produce a cohesive and delightful whole. Lose one ingredient, and something is lost.

Note: Lebowitz recommends that if your olives have brine or moisture on the outside, wipe them dry with a paper towel.

Ingredients

½ cup (70 g) all-purpose flour

½ cup (70 g) whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 teaspoon herbes de Provence, or ½ teaspoon dried thyme

½ teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 cup (250 ml) buttermilk

⅓ cup (45 g) almonds (untoasted), very coarsely chopped

⅓ cup (60 g) packed, coarsely chopped pitted olives (about 20 olives—see Note)

1. Heat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Spray a 9-inch (23 cm) loaf pan with nonstick spray or oil it lightly. Line the bottom with a piece of parchment paper.

2. In a bowl, whisk together the all-purpose and whole wheat flours, sugar, dried herbs, salt, baking soda, and black pepper. Stir in the buttermilk with a spatula; mix in the almonds and olives. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes, until it feels set in the center.

3. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the loaf to loosen it, remove from the pan, and set the loaf on a wire rack to cool.

4. Decrease the oven temperature to 325°F (160°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Using a bread knife, slice the loaf as thinly as possible (aim for about ¼ inch / 0.5 cm slices). Arrange the slices in a single layer on the baking sheets.

5. Bake for about 30 minutes, flipping the slices midway through baking, until they are deep golden brown and crisp. Cool completely on wire racks.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week (although they won’t last that long!).