Today I learned that my book The Piano – a History in 100 Pieces has been named as a Book of the Year 2021 in the Presto Music Awards. I feel very fortunate that it has now been chosen as a Book of the Year in The Spectator, the Financial Times and the Presto Music […]

An exhilarating moment in an otherwise quiet stretch of autumn: Jenny Colgan has chosen my piano book as one of her Books of the Year in The Spectator (the print edition comes out on 13 November). She calls it ‘one of the two most beautiful books I got my hands on this year.’ One can’t […]

Renowned piano teacher and educator Murray McLachlan has reviewed my book in International Piano: The Piano: A History in 100 Pieces To read more reviews of this book, click here

The quarterly magazine Musical Opinion has a review of my book in its October-December 2021 issue. Some excerpts from Julian Jacobson’s review: ‘Susan Tomes’ new book is aimed at the informed amateur or mélomane, in the untranslatable French word: the Radio 3 (perhaps rather than Classic FM) listener or Wigmore Hall and festival devotee. Analysis […]

Another nice review of The Piano – a History in 100 Pieces, this time on David Barton Music, the website of an educator and researcher. He begins with a description of the book’s contents – and here’s how he sums up: ‘Tomes explores each selected piece in turn, placing it within a historical, cultural and […]