Oslo in April
John Slade
(Reviewer - Rebecca Brown)
2004 Woodgate International
ISBN: 1893617114

On the first day of Spring, an orchestra prepares for its performance at the city's Concert House.

For those eight musicians & conductor the cloudless blue sky & warmth of the Sun bring memories, relief & adventure.

They all live very different lives, some on farms, others in love since childhood. Some have married their music, & others are young & eager to perform in public for the first time.

Come meet:
Johannes, the conductor, the Maestro, who awakens alone after more than 20 years of marriage & thinks of crawling into a snow hole to sleep forever.
Inger, the orchestra's first violinist & concertmistress, never married & utterly down-to-earth.
Voldemar, young, passionate & the first Estonian ever to play concert piano before the Western world.
Astrid, celebrates her 70th birthday by playing an opening solo on a borrowed cello.
Per Olaf, the trumpeter, who is both a renowned master of fanfares, & a born farmer.
Eli Margrethe, a recent graduate from the College of Music, secretly composes her own symphony.
Lillian, a flutist, who learns of her mother's devotion & tragic death.
Bjorn, the timpanist & Lillian's husband who shares her search for a calling of their own.

Each musician prepares for a three-part concert: Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony, a portrait of anguish; Rossini's William Tell Overture, a cameo of resilience; & Beethoven's Fifth Piano Concerto, a fanfare to triumph.

John Slade tells us that he started Oslo in April in March of 2003, because he was so “devastated by the commencement of yet another war”, he sat down at the typewriter to compose “the most beautiful and positive story that I could write.”

& that he has done! Lovely, lovely read! A heartwarming mixture of emotional angst & practical tough love; an echoing chorus of voices, singing their parts & creating a melodic whole.

We take orchestra musicians so much for granted; we hear their collective efforts, & are transfixed by the conductor or the star soloists. Orchestras are the highest expression of community to which people can aspire, yet each member's life reflects dedication, serendipity, contemplation & long hours of practise, before they ever step on stage to entrance us.

Oslo in April is deeply satisfying, delightfully emotional, passionately triumphant!

Could not put it down!

More from John Slade:
Children of The Sun
Dancing With Samuel
Covenant
A Dream Seeded in the Earth
Bootmaker To The Nation: The Story of the American Revolution, & many more!
(04/10/05)

Rebecca