I’ve just finished reading a fascinating book published in 1944: The Baton and the Jackboot, by Berta Geissmar, the personal assistant of conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler during his great days in Germany. After Geissmar had been forced to leave Germany during the Hitler regime, she emigrated to London where she became the assistant of conductor Sir Thomas Beecham. [...]

I had a lovely surprise recently, and have been waiting for an opportunity to mention it. The distinguished Japanese pianist Noriko Ogawa read my book ‘Out of Silence’ recently, and told me that she would like to translate it into Japanese. She has now been commissioned to do so for the Tokyo publishing house of [...]

My book ‘Out of Silence’ has been chosen by The Independent as one of the ‘best books for Christmas - our pick of 2010′. I’m told by my publisher that this has led to …. well, if not a surge exactly, then a ‘bijou surgette’ in orders on Amazon. Hooray!
The Independent’s literary editor, Boyd Tonkin, said:
‘..In another part [...]

The third and final instalment of my readings from ‘Out of Silence’ is aired tomorrow by Canadian Broadcasting’s ‘In Concert’ programme. I’ll be reading one short chapter from my book, and I’ll also be chatting with ‘In Concert’ host Bill Richardson. They’ll be playing another track from a Florestan Trio CD as well. The playlist [...]

In BBC Music magazine, Rebecca Franks muses on why the musicians who write books about their experience of music tend to be pianists. Read her article.
It’s a fascinating topic and one I’m often asked about. There are various possibilities: pianists are loners, and so are writers. The composers of great piano music were often people who [...]