An unequal music by Vikram Seth

Members at the meeting and those who wrote in generally enjoyed this book which they found interesting and different because of the author's descriptions of the friendships, challenges and tensions of musicians playing together in a classical music quartet in London - Helen, her brother, the irritable Piers, Billy, who is always late and eats too much, and Michael, the newest member of the group. They rehearse, talk about music and travel together playing concerts in Britain and overseas, eventually securing a longed-for contract for a recording of their music. (Snippets of the music they discuss can be heard on the Audible version of the book. There is also a list below if you'd like to put together a playlist.)

The story is narrated by Michael, a violinist who has only been able to join the Maggiore Quartet because of the breakup of Piers with his boyfriend and co- founding member of the group, Tobias.

Michael plays an old Italian violin - a Tononi (circa 1727) which has been loaned to him by his parents' neighbour, the wealthy Mrs Cecilia Formby.

This (Michael and the violin) is the first of two love stories in the book.

Mrs Formby has introduced Michael to classical music as a child growing up in financially straitened circumstances in Rochdale, north of London. Because of this shared interest and friendship, Michael feels encouraged to consider becoming a musician as a career, to the disappointed perplexity of his parents.

Michael is devoted to Mrs Formby's violin which he has played for years and which he couldn't possibly afford to buy himself. This love story is threatened by Mr Glover, Mrs Formby's nephew who wants his aunt to retrieve the violin from Michael and sell it to pay for her nieces' education. While he is loyal to Mrs Formby and regularly visits her and his elderly father who lives with his elderly aunt and equally elderly cat, Zsa-Zsa, Michael shows himself to be less pleasant in his love relationships.

To make ends meet, Michael teaches students including his sometime girlfriend, the much younger French girl, Virginie. Michael is not very considerate of Virginie, whom he considers to be a poor student, and things get worse after he glimpses the woman he loved ten years before, the beautiful pianist, Julia, in a passing bus.

Michael and Julia were young music students and lovers in Vienna. Despite the fact that he cruelly abandoned her after falling out with his professor and suffering an emotional breakdown during a student concert performance, Michael has an obsessive desire to pursue Julia whom he still loves. He starts attempts to track her down. (Virginie is left by the wayside.)

Julia eventually turns up at a Maggiore concert and goes backstage to see Michael. They soon become lovers again, against a backdrop of romantic places in London, Vienna and Venice, despite the fact that Julia is married and has a child. Julia grows increasingly distressed about where the relationship can possibly lead.

Michael, moreover, appears to be emotionally unstable, having another apparent breakdown after a musical performance which only Julia can snap him out of. He also shows himself quite capable of considering only his own interests, stalking Julia, reading her private mail, becoming violent during sex, and confronting her in front of her young son.

Members could not see what Julia saw in Michael (love is blind), particularly as at the same time she was being sorely challenged by increasing hearing loss, a tragedy for a professional pianist. Members were not happy with the ending which they thought was a bit weak. But the novel has more to give the reader by providing interesting glimpses into the world of classical music performance.

Music from An Equal Music

• Der Doppelgänger by Franz Schubert
• Die Liebe by Franz Schubert
• Die Forelle arranged for piano by Franz Liszt
• English Suites by JS Bach
• Largo by Antonio Vivaldi
• The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughan Williams
• Piano Quintet in A Major (The Trout) by Franz Schubert
• Piano Trio in C Minor by Ludwig van Beethoven
• Prelude & Fugue in C Minor by JS Bach
• Sonata No. 9 in A Major "Kreutzer" by Beethoven
• String Quartet in C Minor by Franz Schubert
• String Quartet No. 1 in C Minor by Brahms
• String Quartet No. 45 by Haydn String
• Quintet in C major D. 956 by Schubert String
• Quintet in C Minor by Beethoven, String
• Quintet in E-Flat Major by Beethoven.

Who is Vikram Seth?

Vikram Seth CBE, FRSL, was born in 1952 in Calcutta and is an Indian poet, novelist, travel writer, librettist, children's writer and biographer.

He was educated at an Indian all-boys' private boarding school, The Doon School, where apart from his studies he learnt to appreciate Western classical music. He next attended Tonbridge School in England to complete his A- levels. He later read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He then began a PhD in Economics at Stanford University but left this unfinished, completing a graduate degree in creative writing instead.

He then travelled to Nanjing University in China to study classical Chinese poetry. He has a passion for languages - studying Welsh, German, French, Mandarin, Hindi and Urdu - and also for music - particularly Schubert's lieder. He was commissioned by the English National Opera to write a libretto based on the Greek legend of Arion and the Dolphin. The opera was performed for the first time in June 1994.

Wikipedia states that Seth is bisexual and was in a relationship with the violinist Philippe Honore for ten years. He dedicated An Equal Music to him. He has campaigned against Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, a law against homosexuality. He divides his time between the United Kingdom and India.

He has written ten books of poetry, three novels (of which A Suitable Boy (published in 1993) is probably the most well known), two children's books, and three works of non-fiction.

He has won several awards including Padma Shri (the fourth highest civilian award in India, awarded by the Government), Pravasi Bharatiya Samman (award given by the President of India to honour non-resident Indians for exceptional and meritorious contribution to their field) and the WH Smith Literary Award.