I'm not as fond of this (though it's very good for what I believe is a first novel). It had plenty of authority, but as with most novels that I'd expect to find these days with a classical music background, it wasn't "enough" as far as the music aspects were limited. As it seems to be always, a lot of "story" had to be thrown into the blender, and this distracts from the musical aspects. I found the Seth more limited. Ford has a musical background, I think. I don't believe Seth does--if he does, it doesn't really show. The book goes so far into the musical angle then has to pull back. And again the side stories didn't appeal. For a much more blatant example of this problem, try Solo Variations, about a free lance oboist. The "original" may have been interesting, but this smacks of a book watered down and soaped up by an agent. I could not get through Dr. Faustus by Thomas Mann. I never tried Jean Christophe by Romain Rolland. There is another novel with I believe Concerto in the title. Not sure what it is. And another very interesting one is Winter Fire by Robert Trotter, about Sibelius, the "Eighth" Symphonies, and WW II on the Finnish Front. Paul Myers, who I think worked for EMI, wrote a series of espionage novels. The hero is a classical record producer. Think murder during a Mahler Fourth in the Musikverein. Janice Weber, the pianist, written a few. I don't like her style, so I never tried them. Dectective novelist Jonathan Valin did a great pas de deux on compulsive record collectors in The Music Lovers. At least for the first 1/3. AFter that it becomes a standard, albeit quite decent mystery. Just about every character's name is a composer. That's off the top. For more, go to a public library and ask for the Fiction Catalog. Or use the data base, NoveList. Roger Hecht