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GHOST MUSIC - press reviews
LISA JARDINE (on BBC Radio 3)
Altogether this is an intense and intriguing novel that gives a sense of the throbbing heart of an orchestra. For Radio 3 listeners, it is unmissable.'
The Good Book Guide
'The author is a professional cellist and a highly intelligent novelist. In the hothouse atmosphere of a group welded together, but battered by individual
stresses, relationships blossom and painfully disintegrate. Almost as enraptured by the sensuous sound of words as by music itself, McVeigh spins her sentences across the page, carrying the reader with them.'
Yorkshire Post
'McVeigh holds nothing back in her account of the backstage life of an orchestra competing for vital funding. Although there is no over-riding voice, orchestra manager Pete Hegal emerges as the reader's friend. A disillusioned violinist, Pete speaks with McVeigh's wry perception and describes his fellow players by the composer they most resemble. The story line takes a while to reach its crescendo, hindered perhaps by the introduction of many disparate characters, each deserving the depth they are afforded. But the tempo certainly rises on the Royal Sinfonia's Greek tour: a musical world that many see as staid and disciplined is turned upside down by McVeigh. The Last Night of the Proms will never seem the same again.'
Western Morning News
'Aspiring authors are advised to write about a subject they know, but few will match Alice McVeigh's accomplishment in achieving this with such success. She is a freelance cellist playing with numerous orchestras, including the BBC Symphony. Orchestral life must have been an obvious choice for her, but who would guess the backstage goings on of a symphony orchestra would provide such a gem of a book?. . . McVeigh writes amusingly but with authority as well as knowledge about the chaotic life of a London orchestra and, even for readers with no interest in music, she entertainly reveals all aspects of life.'
Northern Echo
'The story of a haunted cello and its effect on two orchestras. The story is longer and more complicated than it need be, but McVeigh is wonderful about orchestral life - and much funnier about it than Jilly Cooper.'
VLADIMIR ASHKENAZY
'Wonderful! Even better than the first one - and, strangely, even more true!'
SIR COLIN DAVIS
'I became quite attached to your cellist hero. It's hard not to be.'
MILES KINGTON (The Oldie magazine)
'Alice McVeigh knows her orchestras and conductors from close to, and knows about sex and love - and she can write.'
DAVID OWEN NORRIS (Radio 3)
'Brilliant! This is a book everyone interested in orchestras should read.'
Visit Giardini Ensemble
© Alice McVeigh 2000
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