Critical Plaudits

 

“[A] musicological page-turner and whodunit of the highest order…a plot spiced with international intrigue at every turn and stuffed with enough red herrings to make a hearty stew….  Veil by veil, Kluger removes the emperor’s clothes.  In Beethoven’s Tenth [he] has given music-lovers, musicians, and musicologists a fun and spell-bindingly written work of fiction that has the power to remind readers everywhere of the immortal Beethoven’s real-life contributions and, in the end, of the immortality of music itself.”

  – Jennifer Hambrick, “All Things Considered,” National Public Radio

 

“A wonderful mystery…Kluger succeeds admirably in both making the possibility of a tenth Beethoven symphony seem probable and undermining it throughout the authentication process undertaken by those planning to profit from it. A true tour de force—readable, clever, erudite, and with a tantalizing ending.”

  – Robert P. Morgan, Professor Emeritus of Music, Yale University, and author of Twentieth-Century Music: A History of Musical Style in Modern Europe and America

 

“Kluger knows both his Beethoven and his legal quiddities inside out ... [A] seven-course banquet of musical legend and coldhearted fraud.”

  – Kirkus Reviews

 

“Imaginative and informative, Beethoven’s Tenth makes for a fine read for both music lovers and fans of creative sleuthing.”

  – Leonard Slatkin, Music Director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, formerly Director of the Otchestre National de Lyon

 

“For any who love Beethoven’s music, this novel is a must for its biography.  For everyone else it’s a great mystery set against a background of actual history… Mitch and Clara make a great team [of detectives]  Their relationship has a certain Nick and Nora Charles quality…in their quips and retorts. Beethoven’s Tenth has an ironic ending worthy of Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

  – Tony V. Sweeney, The New York Journal of Books

 

Richard Kluger’s ‘Beethoven’s Tenth’ conducts a stirring symphonic mystery

“This tantalizing scenario plays out with gusto — or allegro con brio, to use a more fitting term —that proves international intrigue need not be limited to industrial espionage or fighting terrorism. Cultural bragging rights, national pride and naked greed also work just fine, danke schön…. Conducting this magnum opus is author Richard Kluger, whose previous books include “Ashes to Ashes,” his Pulitzer Prize-winning study of the tobacco industry; and “The Sheriff of Nottingham,” a novel that dares to say something nice about one of English history’s most disreputable villains. Under different circumstances, “Beethoven’s Tenth” might have instead come to life as an unusually suspenseful doctoral dissertation or a New Yorker article gone amok. Kluger’s prose is that exacting, his research that meticulous, his premise that believable. Much of “Beethoven’s Tenth” takes place in Switzerland, and perhaps not by accident. Its plot is as intricate as a $4,500 TAG Heuer timepiece….The structure of “Beethoven’s Tenth” feels, well, symphonic. Like one of the maestro’s bold melodies, Kluger spins a simple motif — is this so-called “William Tell Symphony” real Beethoven or not? — into a dizzying matrix of overlapping motives, double dealing, music history, shadowy operatives and far-fetched but uncanny theories about this shadowy opus’s origins…
  – Chris Gray, The Houston Chronicle

 

“I must admit that Richard Kluger’s enterprise sounded a bit preposterous to me, but the way he handles all the musicological objections is very deft. He has certainly done his homework, musically speaking – the information Kluger dishes out about Beethoven himself rings true; nary a false note here. His writing is compelling to read, and it’s a lot of fun to be swept along by his smart and savvy characters.”

  – Benjamin Simon, Music Director, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra

 

“This wonderful yarn is a page turner with all the ingredients of the most intelligent and entertaining mysteries – engaging characters, plot twists,  varied locales, behind-the-scenes glimpses of the auction business, and lessons in music history, forensics, and the law. I loved it.”

  – Susan Forscher Weiss, Professor of Musicology, The Peabody Conservatory, Johns Hopkins University and Co-Editor of  I Concentrate on You: A Cole Porter Companion

 

“Although Kluger presents his thoughts about a Tenth [Beethoven] Symphony in the form of a novel, there is enough verifiable musicological information in his storytelling to make his new book a compelling read not only for aficianados  of well-structured mysteries but also for well-informed musicians and music-lovers…. Beethoven’s Tenth is full of unexpected twists and turns and a veritable rogues’ gallery of characters….  Most lovers of Beethoven’s music will be enthralled….  This brilliantly researched novel will have scholars checking and re-checking what they thought they knew about Beethoven and his music, and mystery lovers delighting in the deftness of the plotting.”

  – Paul E. Robinson, Classical Voice North America, Journal of the Music Critics Association