I mentioned a couple of days ago that my book was about to be published in the US. This morning I was delighted to find a generous review in the Wall Street Journal (see photo), headed 'Musical Light in the Darkness'. The link is this, but after a couple of paragraphs...
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Today my Nocturne book comes out in the US. I'm looking forward to having access to an enormous new group of potential readers. Yes, I know it will be of interest only to a certain subset of them - but still an enormous subset! I tell myself that a book like mine...
I was on my way to Wigmore Hall in London for my recital a few days ago when this very pleasing review of my Nocturne book popped up on Presto Music. I think reviews are a new kind of offering on Presto Music, so in case readers haven't come across it, I thought I'd...
It's a great moment in our household because my husband Robert Philip's epic study of orchestral music is about to be published by Yale University Press. Pre-ordered copies have started to land on people's doormats, probably with a thud. The Classical Music Lover's...
I've been reading the 'Childhood Memories' (published 1958) of Giuseppe Tomasi de Lampedusa, the Sicilian aristocrat and author of 'The Leopard', an award-winning Italian novel published posthumously and later made into a film starring Burt Lancaster. Lampedusa's...
One never knows whether to fear or look forward to 'customer reviews' on Amazon. Ever since a couple of high-profile rows involving well-known authors hiding behind false names in order to rubbish their rivals' work on Amazon, we've all been alerted to the possibility...
A fine book from an underrated pianist ‘When my biography of Leopold Godowsky was first published some thirty years ago [writes Jeremy Nicholas in Gramophone magazine], I prefaced the narrative with a quote from Confucius: "I do not seek to be known. I seek to be...
Here I am signing copies of my book Speaking the Piano this morning in Blackwell's Edinburgh bookstore. Blackwell's is my favourite bookshop in Edinburgh. I'm usually there as a customer browsing the latest novels, buying a greetings card or having a coffee, so it was...
My new book 'Speaking the Piano' is noted as being of interest on the Bookshelf page of New Yorker music critic Alex Ross's influential blog 'The Rest is Noise'. Let's hope this mention will bring the book to the attention of some American readers! Some of my best...
My book 'Speaking the Piano' was published last week, and by a happy coincidence on the same day it received a five-star review from Jessica Duchen in the July issue of BBC Music magazine. (see photo) 'Susan Tomes's insights as a performer and teacher are fully...
My new book 'Speaking the Piano' is due out from Boydell Press in about three weeks' time. It's about my experiences of learning and teaching music. In essence it's a love letter to the joys and benefits of learning an instrument to a high level. Today I received my...
Over the last few days I have been checking the proofs of my new book, Speaking the Piano, due out in June from Boydell Press (see photo). Before we got to this point, there have been several other stages of editing. Various friends read the manuscript and gave their...
I have a new book, Speaking the Piano, due out in June from Boydell Press. My previous four books are about performance. This new one is about my experiences of learning and teaching (though performance sneaks in too). The title was inspired by a remark of Artur...
I've been reading 'Tales and Travels of a School Inspector' by John Wilson, an account of travelling round the Highlands and Islands of Scotland in the Victorian era, in the years after the groundbreaking 1872 Education Act which gave every child between the ages of 5...
I'm reading Andrew Solomon's fascinating 'Far from the Tree', a 900-page study of parents 'who learn to deal with their exceptional children and find profound meaning in doing so'. Many of the chapters focus on conditions which are obviously challenging for families:...