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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They were talking on the radio about the good things that reading can do for your brain. Reading a book, that is, as opposed to scrolling through social media. When you read, you read one word at a time. Your brain tries to guess the next word. the interaction between...
I've finished reading several novels I received as Christmas presents. All were enjoyable, but at least two of them seemed to run out of steam before the end. I won't say which they were, because it doesn't seem fair to books which were very well written overall, but...
In the past few days I’ve spent some time studying scores of pieces I’m going to be teaching in a masterclass at the RSAMD this week. The date has been in my diary for a long time, but because the academic year only began a couple of weeks ago, it was impossible to...
In Monday’s Guardian, Umberto Eco laments the decline in children’s handwriting ability. He gives various reasons why he thinks it’s a shame that we don’t handwrite letters any more, but surprisingly doesn’t talk about the impact that someone’s handwriting can have on...
In the Review section of today's Guardian, I've written a review of Daniel Levitin's book, 'The World in Six Songs'. If you'd like to read the review, here's the link.
The Author, the newsletter of the Society of Authors, has just dropped on to the doormat. It's full of doom and gloom about the effects of the recession on writers, particularly freelance writers. Fewer reviews are being commissioned by newspapers. Rates of pay have...
I'm reading the American poet Mark Doty's memoir about his two beloved dogs. It's a charity shop find in a Large Print Edition, the oversize print giving me the impression that the author is talking to me slowly and in a loud voice. The sensation fades away as I get...
Last night the Royal Philharmonic Society announced their 2009 awards for music. One result that I found particularly pleasing was the Creative Communication Award to Alex Ross for his book The Rest is Noise, which has already won the Guardian First Book Award. I gave...
The BBC's poetry season included a sweet programme last night about Wordsworth's poem ‘Lines Composed Upon Westminster Bridge'. Presenter and poet Owen Sheers shared his lovely insight that the poem has become more, not less resonant over the years. The surprise of...