Time Will Tell

by Donald Greig

Andrew Eiger, an ambitious American musicologist, is stuck in a small college in the Midwest when fate delivers him an original fifteenth-century manuscript. It s his calling card to the finest academic institutions, but first he has to crack the notational code. At a conference that commemorates the great French medieval composer, Johannes Ockeghem, Andrew must convince Emma Mitchell the dynamic conductor of the renowned early-music group, Beyond Compère to share his vision of the composition s glittering premiere. But who wrote it? The true story is yet to be discovered, hidden in a memoir that describes the treachery of the famous Josquin Desprez. Deftly blending farce with acute knowledge of life as a performer, Donald Greig s impressive first novel is a thrilling behind-the-scenes tale set in the world of classical music. Witty and informative, it skilfully refracts the present day through the prism of the past, weaving themes of memory, ambition, friendship and love.

Genres: Music

204 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2012

Reviews

[Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

First things first: I'm a huge fan of medieval & Renaissance music and have great piles of it on my CD shelves and in my computer. And I'm sure that's how I became aware of this book, although I don't remember exactly how.

Donald Greig, the author, is actually best known as an early music singer (he sang with the Tallis Scholars and is the founder of the Orlando Consort, amongst other things) and is obviously drawing on his experiences, although the story itself is fiction.

The motif: An American musicologist has discovered a previously-unknown 34 part motet by Johannes Ockeghem; he's bringing a copy overseas to present to a Renaissance vocal group that he hopes will give the premiere performance.

The structure: We alternate between three viewpoints: First, the musicologist (who's somewhat hapless, not very likable, and who at times displays almost a Peter Sellers/Inspector Clouseau-level physical and social ineptitude. Second, the founder/director of Beyond Comperé, the musical group in question. Thirdly, a 16th Century memoir from one of Ockeghem's contemporaries.

The performance: Good for a first try. The details of the rediscovered musical piece are fascinating, and the details of life for a professional musicologist or a touring vocal group are interesting and obviously have some antecedents in the author's own professional experiences. I had a couple of niggling complaints that kept me from rating the book higher -- mostly that he'd sometimes bounce from viewpoint character to viewpoint character within the same scene, and something about the language was a bit on the formal/distancing side. But on the whole I did enjoy the book and would recommend it to anyone who's interested in 15th Century music or modern performances of same.

[Erik · Rating 2 out of 5]

A strange book. What was the point of it?

[Sorcha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Andrew Eiger, an ambitious American musicologist, is stuck in a small college in the Midwest when fate delivers him an original fifteenth-century manuscript. It's his calling card to the finest academic institutions, but first he has to crack the notational code and convince Emma Mitchell - the dynamic conductor of the renowned early-music group, Beyond Compere - to share his vision of the composition's glittering premiere. But who wrote it? The true story is yet to be discovered, hidden in a memoir that describes the treachery of the famous Josquin Desprez.


Received in paper form from the publishers via the June 2013 Librarything Early Reviewers batch.

This is told in three different voices, that of Andrew, Emma, and a 16th century narrator.

Andrew is a hard character to like, fixated on his manuscript and a long forgotten piece of work, which Andrew hopes to share with Emma to bring to the world. Emma is bringing her group on a punishing touring schedule, and has her own career aspirations.

The story culminates in a performance in Tours, France where Andrew proposes this newly found work to Emma. A drunken night in a brasserie is as far as I got with the book before I had to abandon it - I had no energy to go any further even though I had about 50 pages left (of a book 240 pages long).

I Think this book has suffered in being the latest in a long line of review books, in that I struggled to complete it. Another time, when I'm in another frame of mind I think I may well be able to complete it and give it a much more resoundingly positive review.

[Joy]

I had trouble finishing Time Will Tell: I kept waiting and waiting for something to happen, and kept being disappointed. Much (make that most) of the book is internal, or involves lengthy exposition - a lot of "telling" and not much "doing." And Andrew and Emma, the two main characters, are so self-concerned and so strikingly oblivious to what's really going on around them - I'm assuming that (strange as it may sound) Greig actually wanted the reader to dislike them. In fact, there really aren't any thoroughly likable characters in the book. That would have been forgivable if there had been more action to hold my interest. I'm afraid I just didn't connect with this one. I might recommend it to music scholars, but I think it's not a book for everyone.

[Chris Wolverton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, but to be honest I'm not sure how big the market will be for this novel. I'm a huge fan and singer of Renaissance polyphony. I can't imagine I will ever read a book where the main character is Ockeghem, and Josquin plays a significant role too! The book moves fairly slowly (not unlike Ockeghem's music, in my opinion) and therefore the buildup of tension and its resolution at the end seems somewhat abrupt. But the subject matter just made this thoroughly enjoyable for me. For those who are not early music geeks, or touring professional singers, I'm not sure how much you will like the novel, but anyone who enjoys Ockeghem should give it a read.