Cadenza for the Schneidermann Violin Concerto

by Joshua Cohen

Book Overview

This brilliant first novel is a portrait of an artist at the end of an art form. The elderly Jewish-Hungarian composer Schneidermann, who survived a musical education, survived the war, survived Europe, survived the neglect of all his music, finally and suddenly vanishes during a movie matinee on the Upper West Side of New York.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1879193167
• ISBN13: 9781879193161
• Release Date: September 2006
• Publisher: Fugue State Press
• Length: 380 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A requiem for concert music

I recently bought this novel from the very audacious and artful Fugue State Press after months of high anticipation. I had read a sample of the text and the description on the Press website and I was taken by both the style and content of Cohen's book. As both a composer and a novelist myself it was nice to see someone tackling some of the same subjects I like to address in my fiction. Right from the get go, one is struck by the intelligence and maturity of the prose written in a very experimental style. Sentances rarely break in a normal fashion. Indeed it reads like a fractured speech which is exactly what it is supposed to be, the ramblings of a failed virtuouso violinist and his memories of the composer of the work he has just performed (or is still performing) The meta-fictional ambiguities really work here, and with Cohen's nearly encyclopedic knowledge of "classical music" as well as modern day NYC, the reader is able to page through at a good pace. This is his debut novel and it certainly marks a new voice in fiction to watch. It would have been a masterpiece if it was both a bit shorter and a bit more concise in its digressions. Some of the anecdotes are very poignant and sad, while others seem a bit pointless and redundant especially towards the end of the book. I think he could have chopped a hundred pages off this manuscript and it would have allowed many more people to enjoy its treasure trove of riches. The tag word at the end of the page to mimic a score was a cute addition which I appriciate for its originality but is completely devoid of purpose, espcially when the word is an article like "the" or "an" etc. But bravo Josh, this is one of the best debut's I've ever read! I am highly anticipating your second novel.