Blowing my own trumpet, or rather hammering my own Klavier – but it’s not so often that one gets a five-star review in the Guardian! Here’s the review of my concert in Perth last Friday with violinist Erich Höbarth: ‘Some of the most intuitive, candid and affectionate ensemble playing I’ve heard.’ (Guardian, 15 Nov 11)

I wish I could have been a fly on the wall during the jury’s deliberations on the Cardiff Singer of the World final on Sunday night. I’d watched most of the other rounds and had realised it was going to be a difficult choice. It was an exceptionally good line-up, and each one of the […]

I read last week of the death of ex-Sony chief Norio Ohga, the ‘father of the CD’. When Sony launched the CD format in 1982, Mr Ohga insisted that a disc must be long enough to contain his favourite piece, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. This determined the 75-minute length of the new CD format. I vividly […]

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 […]

What a pleasure to hear the John Wilson Orchestra in their Rodgers and Hammerstein Prom, which I heard on television. John Wilson’s arrangements are simply spellbinding. His hand-picked orchestra, with many individually distinguished musicians playing in it, reminded me of the old joke that ‘the ideal orchestra would have Jascha Heifetz as its leader.’ ‘No, […]