Friday, March 3, 2017

BRAVURA By Lisa Kirazian

Bravura
Lisa Kirazian
“You are the music while the music lasts.”
T.S. Eliot
Taken from Part Six of Bravura

The decade is the 60’s into the 70’s. The years of Kennedy and Nixon, Viet Nam and The Beatles. The Metropolitan Opera has just moved into Lincoln Center, Van Claiburn has exploded onto the classical music scene and Grace Bumbry, Maria Callas, Renata Tabaldi are gracing the operatic stages. Rudolph Bing is the Director of the Metropolitan Opera House.  Life is a struggle for young musicians as it is and has been for all ages.

Kate and Neil Driscoll, a violinist and pianist have joined the throngs of students at the Royal Academy in London and meet up with lifetime friends and colleagues, Anne, Colin, Jeremy and Maggie who will take this epic journey with them. This is the story of their lives from conservatory students to accomplished musicians, their day-to-day struggles to reach the top of the music world and how that intermingles with love, loss, disgrace and redemption.

A beautifully woven tale takes you into the inner sanctum of the music world. For the musician it is sublime. Ms Kazian strokes her words like a conductor might pen a manuscript with highs lows, crescendos and decrescendos. In describing her opera singer she writes the arias in the original language then gives us the translations so we can comprehend her emotions, personally and professionally while singing to ever more glowing audiences.

The book contains the joys and sorrows of each character so you might want to keep a box of tissues nearby.

Well done. It will be interesting to see what she does with the next two books of her three part series.


Patricia A. Guthrie Reviewer 

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