Paul Silverthorne suggests:

>The worst, and funniest was one that came out about thirty years ago
>called 'Philharmonic' in which, if I recall it correctly, the oboist
>went mad from the air pressure on his brain and shot the conductor.

I hadn't thought about 'Philharmonic' in years but realized that I
have an ex-library copy.  Copyright date is 1971, but I recall that the
plot line, such as it is, and some details suggest to me that it might
have been written perhaps as much as twenty years earlier, allowed to
sit, and then published with assorted then-contemporary sexual issues
interpolated as a sort of updating.  One of the protagonists is a thinly
disgised young Leonard Bernstein.

What I cannot track down is an even worse book which I encountered in
the late 1970s, a pulp paperback called, I think "Orchestra Orgy", dealing
mostly quite graphically with--shall we say--offstage interactions [duets,
trios and more] during a tour. Never got a copy, alas.  Doesn't seem to
turn up on any Internet search, either.

Anybody have it? Confidentiality guaranteed.

There's also a 1993 spy thriller by John Gardner, "Maestro" which is a
bit formulaic but has some interesting plot turns and an over-the-top
pseudo-autobiography of the conductor character.

Alibris describes it as follows:

   "Gardner pulls crusty old agent-runner Big Herbie Kruger out
   of semiretirement to represent Britain's Secret Intelligence
   Service in the debriefing of Louis Passau, an internationally
   renowned conductor."

Many used copies available, cheap.

The classical music life is stranger than fiction, anyhow!

Best wishes--

Joel Lazar
Bethesda MD