'Books' Blog Post Archive
‘Nocturnes’ is out now

‘Nocturnes’ is out now

My book Nocturnes and the Fascination of Night Music comes out today from Yale University Press. Tomorrow (Wednesday 25 March at 7pm) I'll be talking about it at Toppings Bookshop in Edinburgh. When I did a radio interview recently, the presenter asked me, before we...

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Radio 3 ‘In Tune’ interview this evening

Radio 3 ‘In Tune’ interview this evening

This evening I'm doing a live interview about my Nocturne book with Katie Derham, presenter of BBC Radio 3's 'drivetime' programme In Tune. Normally these interviews are done in person in the London studio, but as I live in Edinburgh I've been offered the possibility...

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Tickets go on sale for my Wigmore recital in April

Tickets go on sale for my Wigmore recital in April

Tickets have just gone on sale for my lunchtime recital at Wigmore Hall in London on Friday April 17. Click here for booking information. As you'll read on the Wigmore Hall website, the concert marks the publication of my book on the history of the nocturne. To give a...

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Independent review of new music books

Today's Independent newspaper has a review of new books on music, with several paragraphs devoted to mine. Click here if you'd like to read the article by the Independent's literary editor Boyd Tonkin.

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Win a free copy of Out of Silence

BBC Music Magazine is giving away eight copies of my book 'Out of Silence'. To enter the draw, all you have to do is answer the question: of which trio is Susan Tomes the pianist? The answer's easy to find on this website. The draw closes on the 9th August, so if...

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The Oldie magazine review

The Oldie magazine review

Richard Osborne devotes a large part of his Music column in 'The Oldie' magazine (Summer 2010) to my new book. As I don't have a picture of the magazine I've chosen instead an illustration of an real oldie, one of the 700-year-old oaks in Richmond Park. Richard...

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International Piano magazine review

Out of Silence has been reviewed by Julian Haylock in the July/August issue of International Piano magazine. The review is not online, so here's a glimpse: 'It is remarkable just how much Tomes manages to find illumination in things that may initially appear musically...

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Musical Recipes

Musical Recipes

Our much-used copy of Claudia Roden’s ‘Book of Middle Eastern Food’ has finally fallen apart, and we’ve bought a new, updated copy. In its honour, Bob made some lovely pastries filled with spinach, aubergine and onion with various cheeses, and a tabouli bursting with...

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‘Out of Silence’ mentioned in New Yorker

My new book is mentioned in this week's New Yorker magazine by the leading writer on music, Alex Ross. Alex's column in the magazine this week is about ballet and its sometimes vexed relationship with the musical score. Read the article in the New Yorker. Order 'Out...

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More book reviews

Two more reviews of my book 'Out of Silence' have appeared. As neither is online, here's a glimpse of what they said: ‘In my experience, highly gifted musicians often find it extremely difficult to articulate their ideas about music and reveal the secrets of their...

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Listen to Australian radio interview

I did an interview yesterday with Australian Radio's 'The Music Show', hosted by composer Andrew Ford for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It was broadcast in Australia a few hours ago and is now available via their website for downloading or to listen online....

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TLS review of ‘Out of Silence’

TLS review of ‘Out of Silence’

An exciting moment this afternoon: a friend called to say that he'd just read a review – the first one, in fact - of my new book in the Times Literary Supplement. I couldn’t find it online, so I ran down the road to the newsagent’s to buy a hard copy. Here’s a snippet...

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On the shelf (or table)

On the shelf (or table)

Yesterday a friend was visiting Oxford and sent me this photo of my new book on the 'welcome table' in Blackwell's bookshop. It's the one with the black cover in the centre of the picture. As I haven't yet seen any copies of the book in a store near me, I was...

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Book excerpts in the Guardian

Book excerpts in the Guardian

The Guardian is publishing excerpts from Out of Silence in the Review section on Saturday 20 March. I’ll post the link on Saturday when I know it. In the meantime, many thanks to everyone who silently toasted my book from several different countries and three...

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