Some good novels about classical music and its performers?

[musikalischer_wirbelwind_280]

You know, something along the lines of Vikram Seth's masterpiece 'An equal music'.

Cheers
Musikalischer Wirbelwind

[musikalischer_wirbelwind_280]

Gosh, are there really so few? 

[zolaxi]

‘Clair De Lune‘ written by Pierre La Mure is a 'dramatised' biography of Debussy, a mixture of fact and fiction.

I read it many years ago, and remember that it was quite well written and readable. A young man's memory can play tricks though.

[ted]

"Solo" by Jack Higgins (Harry Patterson) , in which the villain is a concert pianist.

https://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/h/jack-higgins/solo.htm

[musikalischer_wirbelwind_280]

A young man's memory can play tricks though.

Heh, and I should know  Thanks so much, both of you; I think both works sound quite palatable to me   so I'll definitely hunt them up as soon as possible!
Of course, if you or someone else has any more suggestions, I'm still all ears  

Cheers once more,
Musikalischer Wirbelwind

[minor9th]

Devil's Trill by Gerald Elias is a good mystery about a stolen violin.

[pianoplayjl]

Not a novel but still a recommended reading repertoire of any pianist: Canons and flowers, a biography of Cziffra.

JL

[musikalischer_wirbelwind_280]

Cheers so much for that, minor9th and pianoplayjl Will definitely check those two out, as well.

Musikalischer Wirbelwind

[pianoyutube]

Two novels from Joseph Gelinek (a Spanish author who uses a pseudonym.):

- The Devil's violin
- The tenth simphony

Both are detective stories.

[gvans]

I'm working on a play featuring classical musicians right now, but I wrote a subplot in my novel HUMBOLDT featuring a concert pianist. If you're interested, go to https://www.vanstrum.net/currfictpro.html

Ciao!

[pianoplayjl]

You should really be looking for biographies and memoirs of pianists where they contain little anecdotes and often notes on performances that are beneficial to pianists.

JL

[chopin1993]

I don't think you mean these kind of books, but I'd really like to read them;
"Notes from the pianist's bench" by Boris Berman and "Artistry in Piano teaching" by William Brown (last one is about Menahem Pressler).

Valerie

[refugepiano]

I don't have many music books (I'm poor, and I need to get more books) but I recommend The Great Pianists and The Lives of the Great Composers, both books written by Harold C Shonberg. I think that The Great Pianists is the one you'll enjoy more.

[thinkgreenlovepiano]

I remember reading Hannah Waters and the Daughter of Johann Sebastian Bach...

It's just fiction, and a children's book. But I still enjoyed it... and it's the only one I can think of. Plus I love Bach.

[porcupine]

There was a novel I remember reading several years ago about a concert pianist struggling to play a fiendishly difficult piece (fictitious composer but clearly meant to be based on Sorabji) and basically sending himself crazy with it. It was a good read but unfortunately I cannot for the life of me remember its title or author (so not very helpful I'm afraid) but maybe someone else will know it and be able to tell you the title.
Also, John Suchet has written a very good series of novelisations of the life of Beethoven - very much well worth reading.
And finally, I don't know if its still in print, but the real life story of John Ogdon is worth reading, although it's quite harrowing at times. The book was called "Virtuoso".

[iumonito]

If you don't mind stepping away from the light weights, you might as well start with Doktor Faustus, by Thomas Mann, which in my opinion defines the genre.

Some other nice reads are The Piano Shop in the Left Bank, The Spanish Bow, and Hidden Melodies.

Not precisely on music, but with loads of music references in it, you should not miss Hermann Hesse's the Glass Bead Game.

I find things like "The Soloist" and "Shine" to be intolerably lame.  "The Chopin Manuscript" is just criminal (although I must confess it was a fun read).

Read lots.  It is good for musicians.

[minor9th]

These sites might prove helpful:
https://www.uni-mannheim.de/users/bibsplit/anglistik/musicalnovel.htm

https://www.concertpitchpiano.com/Books_CAN_Novels.html