BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
There is little that can beat the joy of a good book.
A few years ago, a friend wrapped up a book and gave it to me as a gift. I hadn’t heard of the title, but her choice was intuitive: it was an enchanting novel about classical music and musicians, shared memories, and love. It gave me a space to escape feel calm; as a good book should.
It was Vikram Seth’s 1999 novel An Equal Music. And now, the musicians of the Firebird Trio — who have also indulged in this book — have decided to throw a concert in its honour.
Firebird Trio and Friends: An Equal Music will see pianist Benjamin Martin, violinist Curt Thompson, and cellist Josephine Vains come together with guest artists to perform music that was woven into Seth’s narrative.
We chat with Josephine about the book, its heartfelt representation of a musician’s life, and why it moved the trio to perform this themed concert.
Josephine, I was delighted to learn about your upcoming concert with Firebird Trio paying homage to An Equal Music. How did you first get your hands on Vikram Seth’s novel?
Thanks Steph. This book came to me via a boyfriend many years ago. He was drawn to the parallels within our relationship as musicians, and the central characters in the book — Michael, the violinist; and Julia, the pianist with whom he’d had an intense but brief relationship as a student.
Although, in our case, we were cellist and violist; and the relationship was much less fraught and not at all clandestine like in the book.
I don’t want to give the story away to your readers. I’ve enjoyed Seth’s other books over the years, such as A Suitable Boy, and find his prose engaging.
It seems rare that your entire group would have read the same story and been so moved by it! What were your early conversations like when you started to conceptualise the theme of this event?
I wish it were true that we’d had time to sit around and discuss the concept. Like many of the programs we present, it was all my idea! I’ve been wanting to play the music from the book in one program for years, and even though the central chamber music ensemble in the book is a string quartet, it was still possible to glean a wonderful program based around our ensemble, a piano trio.
We all realised in rehearsal the other day that Schubert’s Trout Quintet weaves its way through the book and our lives. The bassist Stuart Riley has now played it with 15 different groups over the years. We’re thrilled too that the venue, Hawthorn Arts Centre, has the right feel for this event — it could be [mistaken for] a grand old space in London, where the novel is set. And two of our players are Brits — guest pianist Rhodri Clarke hails from Wales; and Stuart Riley, our super-fun bassist, is a Mancunian.
I too have read and enjoyed this book, so obviously I’m going to pick your brain about it. In some way, Seth’s writing is almost like music: it asks you, gently, to be present. In what way has the author’s approach to music affected your own approach to these works?
That’s a really interesting question. For me personally, it hasn’t affected my music-making, as such. After playing with many different ensembles over the years, what strikes me is the subtly changing frissons and connections between players at different times in their lives. Pieces like the Trout Quintet, for example, pop up every few years, and what worked as an interpretation even three years ago is now finding itself upended and reworked in the present. Music is never fixed in time.
I’d say ours is a modern interpretation [of the Trout]: the instruments are ‘modern’ in the sense that they are the ones used in a standard orchestra, plus, of course, Rhodri is playing the Steinway concert grand. Since we all know the music very well, it’s often the little turns of phrase and the breaths before setting a new tempo that I enjoy the most.
These pieces allow a personal interpretation within the whole — something that is discussed quite differently within the string quartet context in Seth’s book. It also struck me the other day that we are playing ‘equal’ temperament — i.e. a modern temperament. In Schubert’s time, of course, these things were not quite as rigid as they are today.
There aren’t many novels about and potentially for musicians, and this one is a spectacular example of such. How realistic did you feel this novel represented the musical experience — particularly those things we’ve talked about, such as relationships between members, and rehearsal dynamics?
None of us are romantically entwined, but we do have disagreements from time to time, in the most professional and respectful manner. And occasional swearing. What I’ve seen happen with long-standing groups like ours is that certain things might bug you about the other, but you have to make music anyway, and the music itself acts as an emotional cleanse. None of us are sulkers. We’re all secure enough in ourselves to not get too uptight.
An Equal Music is well-researched and realistic in that it doesn’t sensationalise what goes on in chamber groups. There is, in all groups, an inevitable emotional connection, rather like protagonists in the narrative of a book. Sometimes, audience members ask me — as the only female — if I’m together with one of the others, because we do make a lot of eye contact and smile at each other and have fun. In the absence of words, they think we’re flirting! Music is dialogue, after all.
How will the audience understand the theme of this event? Are you going to talk to the audience about the book or works? And do you expect they’ll have read the book, too?
We have decided not to have readings in the concert, mostly because of the type of prose, which is quite dialogue-based. The music speaks for itself, and we find that too much talking in concerts is sometimes hard to synthesise by the audience.
There will be books available to peruse before and after the concert, and when patrons buy their tickets they’ll be encouraged to read the book. It’s such great music anyway — it will work either way.
One last question before we go! What are you reading now?
Julia Donaldson’s The Gruffalo. Over and over and over again.
See Josephine perform this program in Firebird Trio and Friends: An Equal Music at the Hawthorn Arts Centre, 8pm July 26.
Shout the writer a coffee?
If you like, you can give thanks to Stephanie for volunteering her time for Australian arts journalism. No amount too much or little 🙂
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