Last night I gave a talk about Women and the Piano at the gorgeous Toppings Bookshop in Edinburgh. (Photo of me signing books before the talk.) The room was full and there were some expert questions from the audience. It felt like being at a little book festival. I...
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The April 2024 issue of BBC Music magazine carries a short but sweet review of my book Women and the Piano. As the text is too indistinct to read in the photo, this is what it says: 'Revealed within the pages of this elegantly written book by pianist and author Susan...
On Saturday 9th March, my new book will be featured on BBC Radio 3's Music Matters programme, which begins at 11.45am and runs until 12.30. There's more than one feature in the programme, and I haven't been told exactly when my segment begins. I've recorded an...
A reader has sent me a photo of my new book on his garden table in rural Western Australia (see photo). It's astonishing to me to think of this book, a copy of which I have photographed on my own garden table, flying to the other side of the world to start a...
Last night I did an 'author event' - the first in-person event of this year - at Toppings Bookshop in Edinburgh. This bookshop, fairly new to Edinburgh, has been beautifully designed around the many interestingly-shaped rooms of the historic building. Curved wooden...
My book The Piano - a History in 100 Pieces has just been reviewed by ArtMuseLondon. Some excerpts: '...This book is not simply a chronology of the piano, not by any means; but rather a detailed exploration of some of the greatest music composed for the instrument as...
There's a review by Gulliver Ralston of my new book in the August 2021 issue of Literary Review. As part of it is behind a paywall, some excerpts: '...Completed just as lockdown began in the UK last March, these short essays open worlds of sound and history,...
On Sunday 1 August, I'll be talking about my new book The Piano - a History in 100 Pieces on BBC Radio Scotland's 'Classics Unwrapped' programme, which begins at 7pm. The interview will be 'live' and if you're in a position to listen to BBC Radio Scotland, you can...
In London yesterday, I visited the beautiful premises of Daunt's Books in Marylebone High Street to sign some copies of my new book (see photo). The architecture of the store certainly gives one the feeling of being in a temple of books. Today I came across a nice...
I recently recorded a 30-minute podcast for BBC History magazine - talking to interviewer Ellie Cawthorne about my new book, 'The Piano - a History in 100 Pieces'. The podcast is now available by clicking on this link:...
My new book comes out today. Perhaps there's no real significance to the formal publication date, especially as pre-ordered copies have been landing on people's doormats for a week or two now - but still, it feels like a day to be happy. I made a YouTube playlist to...
I haven’t said much about my new book during the past year. In the midst of such upheaval it seemed unwise to count on things going as planned. But happily it’s not long now until The Piano - a History in 100 Pieces is published by Yale University Press on July 13th....
This week I came across the video made by cellist Felix Wurman about Domus at the beginning of the group's career. We were trying to publicise our concerts in our portable concert hall, a large geodesic dome which the players assembled out of aluminium tubes, putting...
Last night, on Burns' Night, my book group met on Zoom to read Robert Burns' poem 'Tam O'Shanter'. Several members of the group had grown up taking part in annual Burns recitations on January 25, with prizes given for the best or most dramatic performances. They...
In response to yesterday's outrage about an HM Government ad showing 'Fatima', a young ballet dancer as an example of someone who might switch to 'working in cyber', I'm posting an excerpt from 'J is for Job (not a proper)', from my book A Musician's Alphabet (Faber,...