INTERNATIONAL
ACCLAIM
THE STEINFELD LEGACY
A NOVEL IN SIX MOVEMENTS BY MICHAEL LAWSON
CRITICAL RECEPTION FOR THE FIRST EDITION OF
INTERNATIONAL ACCLAIM: ONE PIANO, EIGHT HANDS
A Breathless Epic of the Great Romantic Pianists
The Cross-Eyed Pianist June 14, 2022, & Facts and Arts June 21, 2022
Guest review by Michael Johnson
International Acclaim: One Piano, Eight Hands is a factional novel by Michael Lawson told by an omniscient narrator who slips seamlessly in and out of anonymity as the action unfolds. Four generations of the talented but fictional Steinfeld family parade through the plot, performing in the piano’s golden age, the height of the Romantics. Many of the greats appear – Rachmaninov, Godowsky, Taneyev, Siloti, Hoffmann, Medtner, Moiseiwitsch, Friedman, Gabrilowitsch, Blumenfeld, Schnabel and one of Lawson’s own teachers, the “tender tyrant” Nadia Boulanger.
Readers must be on their toes as 68 characters rotate to keep the narration spinning. Lawson’s knowledge of 19th century Europe through his Polish ancestors enriches the story, notably with several scenes of terrible tragedy – fictional injuries in fires, psychological conflict, the near extinction of the family name in a Polish pogrom, and finally the death in public of the latest family star, Daniyal.
This novel is nothing short of a Tolstoian epic.
Author Lawson is up to the task. He is an accomplished pianist and composer, retired archdeacon of the Church of England and author of some 14 books. Rounding out his career, he is also a trained psychotherapist who has worked with several pianists, including child prodigies. He brings all these strands together in a breathless story.
“I am and always have been fascinated by the great Romantic pianists,” he tells me in email exchanges over several days. It shows.
Originally inspired by accounts of virtuoso Simon Barere’s death in 1951 at a Carnegie Hall recital, Lawson says he “knew how the novel would end but not how it would begin”. The story occupied his attention for some 40 years, the last six months of which were dedicated to non-stop research and writing six days a week. For easy reading, he has structured his story in five ”movements”, each consisting of several brief chapters, some only two pages long.
He takes interesting detours to fill in the backdrop of the environment – the German bombing of London, the pogrom in Lvov (now Lviv) in 1918, Jewish family life, piano competitions and the history of the piano. The subtitle takes its name from the fictional four generations of virtuosi – imagining his main players, Abramczyk, Aleksander, Daniyal, and Kovi making music together, on one piano, eight hands.
Lawson brings in a sub-theme of exceptional interest, the phenomenon of the child prodigy, an accident that he estimates occurs once in five or ten million births. He invokes his therapeutic expertise to warn of over-praise of prodigies from family and the public. “Can a child ever receive too much love? … We are now discovering that sustained exaggerations of esteem from parents or any circles of admiring approval can be harmful.” (It) can inhibit the growth of a healthy and robust, self-critical super-ego.”
The great teacher Leschetizky carries on, cautioning that an “excess of applause at an early age may help create unhealthy performance appetites in later life”. Audiences sometimes help create such the prodigy, and, adds Lawson: “ … some will flock to see a child perform as they might jostle for the best seat at the circus.” Aleksander’s parents stepped in to slow the process. They decided that he would not undertake public concerts until his seventh birthday.
Lawson’s career at the piano also translates into some of the more dramatic passages in the repertoire. Discussing Chopin’s Etude No. 11 op 25 (“Winter Wind”), he writes of the pianist’s intense concentration in the slow theme at the outset. “Then, like an exploding volcano, a tumultuous cascade of sixteenth notes erupted from the top of the keyboard; the left hand leaping in punctuation fury, driving forward the rhythm of the raging wind and sudden lighting flashes, and the final theme, bringing Chopin’s death-defying Etude … to its breathless conclusion.”
Lawson takes a swipe at pianists whose acrobatics onstage “let us know they
have danced with death and prevailed”. “Their shoulders rise and fall with their heavy breathing, their hands run maniacally through their tousled hair (and) they practically swoon there on stage in front of us.” He adds that Franz Liszt was the inventor of this “bizarre behaviour”. Many of today’s prominent players have gone further. Lang Lang, for example, wears makeup and winks at the audience between swoons while bouncing on the piano bench.
Family life is enlivened with the joy of Jewish humour and culture. At one point, Aleksander receives in the post an invitation to perform with the New York Philharmonic. The family and guests burst into a singing, dancing version of the popular Russian folk song “Kalinka My Kalinka” gradually ratcheting up the tempo to breakneck speed.
The text is peppered with tips on piano performance, one of which is the need to practice relaxing. “Remember that tension is the enemy,” Lawson writes. “It squeezes glue all over the keyboard and in all kinds of ways gums up your playing.”
Critical reception to the novel has thus far been favourable, as has reader reaction. One reader wrote to Lawson that the connections and convergences in the plot are “so beautifully written, it brought me to tears.”
I know of no other writer who can draw on such a varied and pertinent background and weave them into a single tale.
Why did Lawson set himself the monumental task of researching and writing this epic? This book might seen as a swan song or a cathartic exercise, but Lawson disagrees. He considers it as “a celebration of music, musicians, and the creative spirit that animates my present and future.” I totally agree.
Michael Johnson is a music critic and writer with a particular interest in piano.
He has worked as a reporter and editor in New York, Moscow, Paris and London over his journalism career. He covered European technology for Business Week for five years served nine years as chief editor of International Management magazine and was chief editor of the French technology weekly 01 Informatique. He also spent four years as Moscow correspondent of The Associated Press. He is a regular contributor to International Piano magazine and is the author of five books.
Michael Johnson is based in Bordeaux, France. Besides English and French, he is also fluent in Russian.
A powerful, tragic and triumphant story!
Antonio Itturioz, Cuban-American Concert Pianist, Steinway Artist and Documentarian
I was deeply touched and moved by reading "International Acclaim". What a powerful, tragic and triumphant story! It covers the full gamut of human emotions. It is also beautifully written, and I especially admire the form the author chose – Daniyal Steinfeld, the pianist and Michael Kowalski, the narrator as his patient and friend – and in the early chapters the informal therapy sessions on walks around New York, and their ongoing closeness. Although psychology is just one of its themes, and the action is truly international, set in Poland, Moscow, the US and London, I have learned so much on many subjects, and for an American like me, it also offered an important review of English history. There were in fact so many new things to discover, including the names of so many Jewish customs, beliefs, dishes and delicacies.
The Steinfeld legacy is such a brilliant and tragic story. The evils of Antisemitism, as evil as those are, did not destroy the family’s spirit or their musical destiny, even though some of what they went through would have destroyed many others. In Chapter 39: the poem on page 245 is so powerful. The first half is so beautiful and the second half so heartbreakingly tragic.
As the old expression goes, “Life makes a philosopher out of all of us.” In relation to the 1918 pogroms and all the other barbarities that the Nazis perpetrated on the Jews, it reminded me of what Daniyal says on page 412. “… I have always marvelled at the Jewish spirit, and how Jews are capable of bouncing back…. We are an unusual race of people.” That must be the reason why the Jewish race has a sense of humour larger than any other. I remember Charlie Chaplin’s quote: “Humour enhances our sense of self-survival.”
I love the way the author characterises Carl Jung when he has him say “… I believe the religious instinct is universal, but it is an instinct, not a law. It beckons but does not command.” This reminded me of Emanuel Kant’s philosophy of “the world as a thing in itself and the world according to We.”
How great and educational are some of the stories of the real people who are players alongside the novel's fictional characters? For example, Josef Hofmann the piano virtuoso, and inventor of genius! The “old dry stick” Taneyev playing Russia’s world premiere of Brahms’ first piano concerto. And the magnificent pianist and composer Leopold Godowsky whose fine reputation is honoured here.
There are all kinds of resonances and connections with real-life piano history Talking about prodigies at the end of Chapter 13 when Abramczyk asked Aleksander which presents he liked best, and he chose the wooden soldiers. It reminded me of Josef Hofmann who requested to be buried with his set of toy soldiers.
In the story, Daniyal's father, Aleksander, learned the Chopin Study Op.10 No. 3 arranged for the left hand by Godowsky, away from the piano and played it by just studying the music (incidentally, it was Chopin’s favourite melody. Yes, out of everything he wrote, that was his response when asked.} Well, Godowsky did the same with the Liszt second concerto. He learned it on a train never touching a note (or so the story says) before going to the rehearsal and performance the same day. What a supervirtuoso!
Mentioning Godowsky, I cannot help but think of De Pachman as he was his close friend. What the author says about him is the best summary I have ever heard!! “No one could ever be sure with him, was he teasing, could he be serious? Or was it just a screw loose?”
It is very poignant that when Daniyal first hears his to-be-adopted son Kovi at the piano, Kovi is playing Medtner’s Sonata Reminiscenza in A Minor. That was to be the last piece Daniyal was to play. Those connections are so beautifully written, that it brought me to tears. In fact, the interweaving of the lives of the four generations of Jewish pianists is magical. I enjoyed the interweavings of the novel on so many different levels. It is simply a wonderful story.
The Steinfeld legacy is such a brilliant and tragic story. The evils of Antisemitism, as evil as those are, did not destroy the family’s spirit or their musical destiny, even though some of what they went through would have destroyed many others. In Chapter 39: the poem on page 245 is so powerful. The first half is so beautiful and the second half so heartbreakingly tragic.
As the old expression goes, “Life makes a philosopher out of all of us.” In relation to the 1918 pogroms and all the other barbarities that the Nazis perpetrated on the Jews, it reminded me of what Daniyal says on page 412. “… I have always marvelled at the Jewish spirit, and how Jews are capable of bouncing back…. We are an unusual race of people.” That must be the reason why the Jewish race has a sense of humour larger than any other. I remember Charlie Chaplin’s quote: “Humour enhances our sense of self-survival.”
I love the way the author characterises Carl Jung when he has him say “… I believe the religious instinct is universal, but it is an instinct, not a law. It beckons but does not command.” This reminded me of Emanuel Kant’s philosophy of “the world as a thing in itself and the world according to We.”
How great and educational are some of the stories of the real people who are players alongside the novel's fictional characters? For example, Josef Hofmann the piano virtuoso, and inventor of genius! The “old dry stick” Taneyev playing Russia’s world premiere of Brahms’ first piano concerto. And the magnificent pianist and composer Leopold Godowsky whose fine reputation is honoured here.
There are all kinds of resonances and connections with real-life piano history Talking about prodigies at the end of Chapter 13 when Abramczyk asked Aleksander which presents he liked best, and he chose the wooden soldiers. It reminded me of Josef Hofmann who requested to be buried with his set of toy soldiers.
In the story, Daniyal's father, Aleksander, learned the Chopin Study Op.10 No. 3 arranged for the left hand by Godowsky, away from the piano and played it by just studying the music (incidentally, it was Chopin’s favourite melody. Yes, out of everything he wrote, that was his response when asked.} Well, Godowsky did the same with the Liszt second concerto. He learned it on a train never touching a note (or so the story says) before going to the rehearsal and performance the same day. What a supervirtuoso!
Mentioning Godowsky, I cannot help but think of De Pachman as he was his close friend. What the author says about him is the best summary I have ever heard!! “No one could ever be sure with him, was he teasing, could he be serious? Or was it just a screw loose?”
It is very poignant that when Daniyal first hears his to-be-adopted son Kovi at the piano, Kovi is playing Medtner’s Sonata Reminiscenza in A Minor. That was to be the last piece Daniyal was to play. Those connections are so beautifully written, that it brought me to tears. In fact, the interweaving of the lives of the four generations of Jewish pianists is magical. I enjoyed the interweavings of the novel on so many different levels. It is simply a wonderful story.
A wonderful dynasty story
Dr Stuart Sanders
International Acclaim is a great read. Michael Lawson takes us into the world of a virtuoso concert pianist, while at the same time depicting life in Poland, Judaism, antisemitism and touching on psychotherapy.
The author has crafted the story as an interwoven literature tapestry: the wharp documents real life characters, painting a historical background of Polish musicians and politicians in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; the weft is the fictional Steinfeld family story over five generations, describing their remarkable musical inheritance.
The book is written with feeling and knowledge. I recommend it without reservation.
The author has crafted the story as an interwoven literature tapestry: the wharp documents real life characters, painting a historical background of Polish musicians and politicians in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; the weft is the fictional Steinfeld family story over five generations, describing their remarkable musical inheritance.
The book is written with feeling and knowledge. I recommend it without reservation.
An indispensable read for all lovers of classical music
Sebastian Head
I hugely enjoyed this book which gives a seat in the front row to four generations of a fictional family of renowned concert pianists. There are beautiful descriptions of the music that they play, alongside the most fascinating insights into the personalities and lives of the real-life musical greats with whom they mingle on their journeys to international acclaim. The ingenuity of the subject matter, the clarity and pace of the writing, make this an un-put-downable novel for any lover of classical music.
A musical saga
Brian Davis
This absorbing tale follows the lives of three generations of Polish-Jewish musical prodigies and an adopted fourth generation, all of whom become super-virtuoso pianists. It is not just their matchless technical perfection but their ability to reveal the ‘music within the music’ that sets them apart. Their interactions with famous historical pianists, and the concerts they all perform, are so realistic that one wonders why one has not come across the Steinfeld name before. Their charmed lives are punctuated by tragedies, and one learns how persecution and war can alter the trajectories of life, but talent can survive. The story is narrated by a psychiatrist friend of the Steinfeld family who understands their cravings for perfection and adulation, while the author himself is supremely qualified to bring the whole story to life.
An intriguing family story
Anonymous
This is an intriguing story that draws you into the triumphs and tragedies of the Steinfeld family. It will appeal to anyone who has an interest in classical music, Jewish history or psychology and gives an insight into all these worlds. It was engaging, evocative and contemplative. Fun to read.
A family history in the 19th and 20th centuries
Robert May
This is the kind of book that keeps you turning the pages to see what will happen next. A couple of times the turn of events surprised me. The first movement is like a personal therapy session which I found fascinating. The author has a terrific understanding of the human psyche. The character list is very helpful, and the list of music played in the book is fun to listen to either as the book goes along or as a finale. A study of one family's history in the 19th and 20th
Absorbing story by a master storyteller spanning the generations of an exceptional musical family
Valerie Green
Michael Lawson is a superb storyteller in the very best tradition of the art, who sweeps you along into the absorbing story of a brilliant family of virtuoso pianists. He takes us across the generations, their trials and tragedies, their joyful and glorious successes, to the bittersweet climax which left me feeling bereft and wanting more. I loved every moment of this wonderful book.
A carefully crafted book that explores a wide range of emotional issues within an inter-generational novel
PB Lisgarten
I read this book once and enjoyed it, but as soon as I finished it I wanted to re-read it! It is written with great insight into many human interactions, cleverly interwoven into a story. The musical undertones throughout afford an extra dimension.