Martha Anne Toll
Martha Anne Toll is a novelist and literary and cultural critic, also a violist whose classical music training informs her artistic practice. She recently published her second novel, Duet for One, a beautiful love story based on the lives of musicians. This book is also about the death of a mother, and releasing this conversation on Mother's Day (in our countries) has a particular resonance for those of us whose mothers have died, and Martha and I talked about processing our own grief. We also talked about her prize-winning novel Three Muses, which I also recommend. You’ll hear about Martha’s high and low points as a violist, different ways she has helped with programs related to social justice, and her involvement in the literary world including supporting less-represented authors. We also talked about the classical music world and living true to your values. Martha Toll comes to writing professionally after a career dedicated to social justice, and she shared some great perspectives on both pursuits.
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Other episodes I think you’ll like: Samantha Ege Anthony Brandt the Euclid Quartet Yale Strom Jeeyoon Kim Immanuel Abraham
Martha’s book and author suggestions mentioned in this interview: A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines , The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom, Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon, The Waterdancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates, An Equal Music by Vikram Seth, Us Conductors by Sean Michaels
Martha’s playlist of music in Duet for One:
Brahms Quartet in C Minor(14 minutes in) The Franck Sonata, Martha Agerich and Renaud Capuçon Bach Sonatas and Partitas, Emmanuel Coppey
Rachmaninoff's Vocalise for Violini and Piano Augustin Hadelich playing both parts, Franz Schubert's Die Winterreise with Alfred Brendel and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, JS Bach French Suites Andras Schiff
