Summary
The book centres on two gifted musicians: Michael Holme and Julia McNicholl. As Michael works on a Beethoven piece for the Maggiore Quartet, he grows increasingly preoccupied with recollections of his student days in Vienna where he met Julia. When the two are re-united by chance in London, their relationship is re-kindled. One of the most impressive aspects of this novel is the way in which it manages to convey music through language. While Seth is modest about his musical abilities, the fact that he was commissioned to write a libretto (later published as Arion and the Dolphin) for the English National Opera in 1994 suggests he is no novice. An Equal Music takes a conventional romantic plot and renders it compelling and novel through the seductive clarity and precision of its prose.
