I first read An Equal Music about ten years ago and loved it.

A few years later, I finally got round to reading Vikram Seth’s stupendous epic, A Suitable Boy, so I was concerned that this return to his later, very different novel, would be a disappointment. I am pleased to say that it was not. An Equal Music is not on a par with A Suitable Boy, it has a level of its own, which is just as challenging and enjoyable. Also, the fact that both novels were written by the same author shows his abilities and versatility as a writer.

The plot concerns the life of a string quartet, based in a fairly exclusive part of London and among people who earn their living and base their lives around playing, teaching and performing classical music. Those who do not understand music at this level may wonder if the novel’s somewhat rarified backdrop would put it out of their reach. I am a musical ignoramus, but I didn’t find my lack of knowledge to be a problem. Once the reader gets into the rhythm, the technical details become less important than the heady brew of politics and emotion that goes with them. For example, the exact make-up of the quartet’s repertoire matters to Billy Cutler, one of the quartet’s cellists. We don’t need to know exactly why, just that consistency and flow are important to him in a way that they aren’t to his colleagues.

The novel’s concentration on an elite circle of musicians, playing elite music for people like themselves might be deemed pretentious but for several important factors.  For one there is Michael, Seth’s first person narrator and the quartet’s second violinist. Michael is to some extent an outsider. He is not a Londoner by birth, nor is he of a musical background. He grew up in Rochdale, the son of a small businessman and has had to work against his parents’ prejudice as well as that of the more privileged people he encounters in musical circles. His confidence in himself and his abilities is always undercut by his sense that he doesn’t quite belong, as well as his knowledge that nor does he fit in back in Rochdale either. This sense of displacement echoes back to the themes Seth explored in A Suitable Boy, albeit in a very different way.

The fragility of Michael’s situation is symbolised by two very important figures. One of them is his Tononi violin, which is owned, ironically enough, by a Rochdale connection, the wonderful Mrs Formby. The other is Julia McNicoll, who Michael abandoned when they were both music students in Vienna. Much of the narrative is concerned with Michael’s perception of these two relationships and the parallel’s between them. It soon becomes apparent that Michael’s feelings of tenderness and his fear of loss are bound up with both Julia and the Tononi. In addition, Julia is not merely a cipher for Michael’s frustrated passion, but a character in her own right, with a secret that threatens to throw her and everyone around her completely off their axis.

Another factor which keeps the narrative grounded is the presence of humour. Much of this concerns Piers, the quartet’s brilliant, very intense first violinist. Piers has the habit of getting into very deep relationships with unsuitable men. His romances throw the dynamics of the quartet completely off-balance and make him impossible to live or work with. He is also, amusingly, protective of certain works, for example Schubert’s Trout Quintet. Those who are not fond of the Trout (as I am not) will find Pier’s fixation with it even funnier than his poor taste in men.

The novel derives considerable warmth and personality from its sense of place. Rochdale has been mentioned and there are scenes there that draw a powerful contrast with London’s musical circles. There are also beautiful interludes in Vienna and Venice, where Michael’s relationship with Julia is thrown into stark and complicated relief. However, An Equal Music is very much a London novel, with scenes in the West End, the area in and around Kensington and Hyde Park and at the Wigmore Hall.

As a portrait of character, An Equal Music works beautifully. It is a depiction of character, informed by two apparently different passions, neither of which could exist without the other. A first reading suggests it; a second confirms it.

Phoenix.   1999.   ISBN: 0-753-807734.   496pp.

The new MALBEC seminar starts tomorrow!  Announcement below.

The Department of Mathematics is pleased to announce a special lecture series for Spring 2009.  The MALBEC lectures (“Mathematics, Algorithms, Learning, Brains, Engineering, Computers”) aims to encourage closer ties between mathematicians and scientists around UW doing mathematical work on the foundations of learning, perception, and behavior of people and machines. Please come, participate, and hang around afterwards with the speakers!

Up-to-date information about the series can always be found at the MALBEC home page.

Our first lecture, “Measuring consciousness as integrated information,” by David Balduzzi, will be held tomorrow, Wednesday, March 4, at 4pm, in Van Vleck B102. David holds a 2006 Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Chicago and is now a postdoc at the UW Center for Sleep and Consciousness.  The lecture will be followed by a reception in the Van Vleck 9th floor lounge.  Upcoming speakers include Partha Niyogi (U Chicago, CS) on April 17; Michael Coen (UW, biostat and CS) on April 21; and Jerry Zhu (UW, CS) on May 6.

We are very grateful to the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery and the Morgridge Institute for Research for their support of the MALBEC seminar.

Abstract: The integrated information theory (Tononi 2004) starts from phenomenology and makes use of thought experiments to claim that consciousness is integrated information. First: the quantity of consciousness corresponds to the amount of integrated information generated by a system of elements. Information is quantified by taking the current state as a measurement the system performs on itself, which specifies a repertoire of prior states that cause (lead to) the current state. Integrated information (phi) is quantified by computing the repertoire specified by the system as a whole relative to the repertoires specified independently by its parts. Second: the quality of an experience is completely specified by the set of informational relationships generated within that system. The set of all repertoires generated by subsystems of a system is represented in a geometric object, the quale. Informational relationships between points in the quale characterize how the measurements resulting from interactions in the system give structure to a particular experience.

After describing the theory in some detail, I will discuss how several neurobiological observations fall naturally into place in the framework: the association of consciousness with certain neural systems rather than with others; the fact that neural processes underlying consciousness can influence or be influenced by neural processes that remain unconscious; and the reduction of consciousness during dreamless sleep and generalized seizures. Furthermore, features of the quale can be related to features of conscious experience, such as modalities and submodalities, and can explain the distinct roles of different cortical subsystems in affecting the quality of experience.

Massimo Tononi è un tipo tosto: trentino di nascita ma londinese di adozione (professionale) è considerato uno dei manager italiani emergenti. I bene informati dicono che a soli 41 anni abbia guadagnato, all’estero e meritatamente, un patrimonio sufficiente per le prossime quattro generazioni. Prodi – di cui è sostenitore da sempre – lo ha voluto nel suo Governo con la carica di sottosegretario all’Economia. Mesi fa, lo stesso Prodi lo voleva alla guida di Alitalia, nella difficile transizione verso la vendita.
Ebbene, nella sua carica di sottosegretario, Tononi presenta il conto del Fisco alle società di calcio: 754 milioni di euro di debiti, riferiti ai periodi di imposta dal 2001 al 2005. Su 193 società ben su 102 sono assoggettate a procedure esecutive in sede di riscossione: sequestri, pignoramenti e via dicendo.

Il debito, secondo i dati diffusi da Tononi, riguarda in gran parte le società di serie A, che accusano debiti per 376 milioni, la metà della cifra richiesta. Il fisco richiede i soldi a società che in passato sono fallite o hanno attraversato forti scossoni interni. Due esempi: Parma AC Spa, gestione Tanzi, deve 81.52 milioni di euro), mentre il nuovo Parma FC Spa non deve nulla; lo stesso vale per la defunta SS Calcio Napoli Spa (a debito di 47,43 milioni di euro), mentre la più “giovane” Napoli Soccer Spa nulla più deve. E si potrebbe continuare con Fiorentina e Torino. Ma, spulciando i conti, si nota come alcune società hanno già incominciato ad accumulare debiti verso l’erario.

In aiuto della società calcistiche è arrivata la Finanziaria che, grazie ad un emendamento approvato in commissione Bilancio alla Camera, elimina la stretta sulle perdite delle società sportive. Nella formulazione originale, la norma assimilava le perdite alle spese di rappresentanza e ne permetteva la deducibilità di solo un terzo dell’importo.
Diverso il discorso per le sulla contabilità delle squadre di calcio quotate, Roma, Lazio e Juventus: per effetto dei principi Ifrs, il bilancio 1 luglio 2006 – 30 giugno 2007 è stato il primo redatto secondo i nuovi principi contabili internazionali. Per le tre big del calcio nostrano non è più possibile utilizzare la normativa “spalmadebiti” che consentiva di dilazionare negli anni a condizioni di favore il debito verso lo Stato.

Riuscirà il sottosegretario Tononi a portare a casa il “tesoretto” fiscale? Il calcio è molto generoso con calciatori, procuratori e personaggi vari, ma è altrettanto parsimonioso quando si tratta di pagare il conto per la sicurezza negli stadi e versare al Fisco quanto dovuto sul favoloso giro di affari del pallone. ∞