Cadenza for the Schneidermann Violin Concerto (Fugue State Press Classical) [Paperback]

Joshua Cohen (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 18, 2006 | Series: Fugue State Press Classical

This brilliant first novel is a portrait of an artist at the end of an art form. The elderly Jewish-Hungarian composer Schneidermann, who survived a musical education, survived the war, survived Europe, survived the neglect of all his music, finally and suddenly vanishes during a movie matinee on the Upper West Side of New York.

The novel begins with Schneidermann's friend--his last friend, his only friend--the violin virtuoso Laster, on stage at Carnegie Hall. He has finished playing the first movement of Schneidermann's last composition, his Violin Concerto. At this point he is supposed to begin his cadenza...his solo. Instead, he drops his instrument and lifts his voice, delivering the text of this novel unto the audience, held captive through night into morning only by dint of the spiel.

In its obsessions, its black humor, and its depth of multiple cultures, Laster's voice is a final great unwanted gift from the old world to the new. Somehow, at age 25, Cohen has created a requiem for high culture that in its disgusted wisdom, its layers of historical and cultural references, would seem to have come from a man of 90--except for the ruthless and hilarious energy of its gaze.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Review by Jim Dwyer, Library Journal:

So he, Cohen, writing with amazing energy but less like the twentysomething he is than a crotchety octogenarian on a month-long meth binge, has him, Laster, the virtuoso violinist, protege, financial supporter, and "performing monkey" for him, Schneidermann, the brilliant but obscure composer, supposed to perform the cadenza, launch instead into a 300-page verbal improvisational fusillade without so much as a single inhalation or rest beat (15 hours! So maybe I should read his short story collection, The Quorum, instead!), not so much a story as "talking, eulogizing, ranting, sermonizing" about his, Laster's, but more so his, Schneidermann's, life but more so a cultural/political/musical/religious/historical consideration of the entire 20th century and the end of classical culture from a Hungarian/German/Jewish/New York perspective. He, Cohen, will drive most readers away screaming "Oy! Too much is enough!" but they, the readers who stick around, will be delighted, if exhausted, which is why you, most public and academic librarians, should buy this, Cohen's, book, which might just become a cult classic.

About the Author

Joshua Cohen, born in 1980 in Southern New Jersey, is a novelist and writer of short stories. He is the author of one previous book of fiction: The Quorum (short fiction, 2005, Twisted Spoon Press). Having lived for four years in Prague, and worked as a journalist throughout Eastern Europe, Cohen now lives in New York City. His essays appear regularly in The Forward. His fiction is often engaged with Jewish culture, and questions received ideas concerning identity both national and religious.

Product Details

• Paperback: 390 pages
• Publisher: Fugue State Press (October 18, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1879193167
• ISBN-13: 978-1879193161
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,695,133 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A requiem for concert music November 22, 2006

By Oliver Edsforth

I recently bought this novel from the very audacious and artful Fugue State Press after months of high anticipation. I had read a sample of the text and the description on the Press website and I was taken by both the style and content of Cohen's book. As both a composer and a novelist myself it was nice to see someone tackling some of the same subjects I like to address in my fiction. Right from the get go, one is struck by the intelligence and maturity of the prose written in a very experimental style. Sentances rarely break in a normal fashion. Indeed it reads like a fractured speech which is exactly what it is supposed to be, the ramblings of a failed virtuouso violinist and his memories of the composer of the work he has just performed (or is still performing) The meta-fictional ambiguities really work here, and with Cohen's nearly encyclopedic knowledge of "classical music" as well as modern day NYC, the reader is able to page through at a good pace. This is his debut novel and it certainly marks a new voice in fiction to watch. It would have been a masterpiece if it was both a bit shorter and a bit more concise in its digressions. Some of the anecdotes are very poignant and sad, while others seem a bit pointless and redundant especially towards the end of the book. I think he could have chopped a hundred pages off this manuscript and it would have allowed many more people to enjoy its treasure trove of riches. The tag word at the end of the page to mimic a score was a cute addition which I appriciate for its originality but is completely devoid of purpose, espcially when the word is an article like "the" or "an" etc. But bravo Josh, this is one of the best debut's I've ever read! I am highly anticipating your second novel.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A cadenza for Cadenza for the Schneidermann Violin Concerto June 15, 2010

By Edward

Amazon Verified Purchase

A cadenza for Cadenza -- well, not really. I won't claim with any seriousness to stand beside the author's own.

This, Cohen's first novel, is all I've read by him. (Witz, the lengthy latest that has all manner of respected critics comparing Cohen to Joyce, Pynchon etc., has yet to arrive at my door, but once it's here I look forward to reading it.) Between these two he's written another novel, A Heaven of Others. Just browse the Amazon pages for these novels and you'll sense immediately the grand overarching theme of Jewishness. While not as focused on this subject as Witz understandably is, or probably is, Cohen riffs readably on the nature of modern Jewish identity and many other things besides, history and aesthetics not the least. Music, too, takes center stage. (Surprised?) The layreader ought not be intimidated by this; familiarity with music, its history and terminology, helps to understand a few jokes but it's by no means essential.

If you do a little digging about this book you might find three words used more than others in an attempt at description. The first is "brilliant," an apt adjective if ever there were one. Cohen's prose stands out like, well, Sirius in an elsewise dull sky. The second word, if certain medical authorities are to be believed, is related to the first: "manic." This too is poignant. Cadenza could be mistaken by some as highly erudite babble, with its near-endless discursiveness. (One wonders if Laster, Cohen's manic voice, ever had occasion to meet Bellow's Von Humboldt Fleisher.) "Beckett" is the third word, and I must admit it was the first word to my mind after a few pages. Cohen's style, while entirely his own, isn't far off from that employed by Samuel Beckett in his famous trilogy of novels, Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable, especially that middle one. If all this hasn't convinced you of the worth of this book, you probably arrived here by mistake.

An excerpt from the novel, sadly not provided here by Amazon, can be found at the website of publisher fugue state press.