James Inverne’s novel The Inspired is a resonant, dual-timeline narrative that explores whether music can truly transcend the “darkened world” it inhabits. Inverne, a former editor of Gramophone, brings a seasoned critic’s ear to this fictionalised account of Van Cliburn’s legendary 1958 Tchaikovsky Competition win, juxtaposed against a modern-day mirror in 2022.

The novel’s historical anchor is Harvey Lavan “Van” Cliburn Jr., the “tall Texan” who arrived in Moscow at the height of the Cold War. Inverne captures the chilling atmosphere of the 1950s, where the launch of Sputnik loomed over the conservatory, and music was a weapon of state prestige. The “Musical Sputnik”, as the novel terms it, was not just a victory for the pianist but a calculated “moral victory” in a systemic ideological conflict. Yet, through Cliburn’s transformative performance of Rachmaninov, the narrative argues for a “humanity” that bypasses political borders, centred on Cliburn’s own assertion that “the music itself is the light.”

In the 2022 timeline, Professor Dayan, an Israeli pedagogue, tasks his brilliant but “wilful” Russian student, Lillya, with researching Cliburn’s legacy. Dayan’s objective is pedagogical – he wants Lillya to move beyond the technical “hitting of notes”...