READING
And After the Fire by Lauren Belfer. Belfer is one of my favorite novelists. I had been thinking about her and wondering if she had published anything recently when I happened upon her new novel at Three Lives in New York. This historical novel deals with music, specifically a possible missing cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach, and the actions taken in the name of religion, be it Jewish, Catholic or other. Going back and forth in time between New York in the present, Germany in 1945, and the Berlin of Sara Levy from 1776 to the1851, it is a tale of mystery and discovery and prejudice.
Sara Levy is a harpsichord student of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, Johann’s son, and a real person. The gift of a musical score from Wilhelm to his favored student Sara and what becomes of it after her death is a trail that Susanna Kessler, a young foundation executive, must unravel after the sudden death of her Uncle Henry who was a soldier in WWII. Becoming entwined in the search to validate the score are competing Bach scholars, a disillusioned minister, and Susanna’s own family. I found this a most engaging novel and quickly raced through it. The characters, both real and imagined, are well drawn and the book is rich with details of academic politics, foundation business, library research, and, of course, Bach’s music.
About a week after I bought the novel, I was surprised to see an article about Belfer and her husband in the Arts & Leisure section of the Sunday NYT under the heading, Classical, and entitled, “A Literary Couple Grapple with Bach and His God.” It turns out her husband is a musicologist and they both published books in May—hers this novel and his a book of scholarly essays, Bach & God. The article is an interview with them.
Clementine: The Life of Mrs. Winston Churchill by Sonia Purnell. I’m well into this fascinating book. It’s significant and surprising that until now, other than an account of her life by her daughter Mary, there has been no other biography of this complex, strong, and accomplished woman. She was smart and very intuitive about people, but devoted her life to Winston and to furthering his career, sometimes to the detriment of her health and certainly to the dismay of her children. She was about the only person who could and would stand up to Winston’s forceful personality and without her, his ultimate success in government is questionable. But she needed to escape him periodically and she would go away for several months at a time without seeing him or their five children. In public and even with close friends, she came across as always composed and often remote, but she also had a temper and could explode over a small detail. Theirs was a fractious and complicated marriage with more time spent apart than together, resulting in a legacy of letters and notes.
WATCHING
While I wait for the next season of my Australian series, I’m deep into U.S. politics with the absorbing and very well crafted, Madam Secretary. Tea Leoni as Secretary Elizabeth McCloud is smart, effective, beautiful and not above the occasional use of spy craft. With background as a CIA analyst and then a professor, she brings an unusual resume to the job. Her husband Henry is a noted religion scholar and professor who also possesses intelligence experience. Episodes about crises in various parts of the world and diplomatic kerfuffles echo real life events of the past few years. Adding to the enjoyment of the series is the portrayal of the McCords’ three children, especially their older daughter Stevie, a college dropout who is learning about the harsh realities of the job scene, and Elizabeth’s lively office staff. I thought there was only one season, but just learned that it continues on prime time TV.
LISTENING
It’s June in Sarasota and that means the Sarasota Music Festival is in full swing along with the restaurant scene’s Savor Sarasota. Last week we went to three concerts, all enjoyable, but the best one by far was the Saturday night symphony concert. The orchestra was comprised of summer music students and the program included a simply marvelous performance of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D Major by Noah Bendix-Balgley. Bendix-Balgley is a former festival student of about a decade ago and joined the faculty in 2013. In 2014, he was named the 1st Concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic. His is a career to follow!
