A reader has asked me to specify my favourite books of the year. I keep a note in my diary of the books I read, and this year I read 42 books in their entirety, plus a few more I didn't finish. Here are my top five favourites: 1. The Radetzky March by Joseph Roth....
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On Saturday there was a lovely article in The Guardian about Paul Barton, a man who plays the piano to elephants at an elephant sanctuary in Thailand. The elephants have often been overworked or mistreated before they come to the sanctuary, but it seems that they...
There was an article in The Guardian this week about the dwindling number of highly-trained piano tuners in Australia. Not only is the pool of piano tuners getting smaller, it is in danger of not being replenished because there aren't enough training courses in this...
Last night I saw the Japanese edition (published by Shunjusha) of my book 'Out of Silence' for the first time. Its translator, the concert pianist Noriko Ogawa, flew back from Tokyo yesterday and very nobly came straight from the airport to visit me, bringing me a...
Adam Gopnik, speaking yesterday on Radio 4’s ‘A Point of View’ about the Beatles, ended his talk with a thought-provoking idea about melody and harmony. ‘Melody lies behind us, and calls us to our memories of a better past’, he said. ‘Harmony always lies ahead… as the...
After a week of dreadful weather, the sun actually came out in London this morning. Bob and I abandoned our plans and rushed up to the local Common, along with lots of other people who were clearly thinking the same thing. Grab a bit of sunshine while it lasts!...
I'm down in Dorset for the annual music festival of the Gaudier Ensemble in Cerne Abbas. Last night I finished my rehearsals in time to join a crowd of people walking from the centre of the village and up the hill where the famous Cerne Abbas Giant is depicted. On top...
In this part of London it rained heavily during most of Sunday, the big day of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Weekend. I can't imagine what happened to all the street parties. What strange weather we're having! A week ago it was glorious; we sat in the garden late into...
For weeks I've been watching the development of buds on our roses. The buds started to open last week, but the sudden burst of hot weather seems to have accelerated everything. The buds open in the morning, are full-blown by the middle of the day, and by the evening...
A very interesting discussion the other day at an event organised by the Worshipful Company of Musicians to find out whether young musicians feel they're getting enough career advice. Many young musicians said sadly that in music the bar is set very high for...
Last night my TV recorder failed to record the Final of BBC Young Musician. I had been so looking forward to it and was crushed to find that I couldn't watch it when I got home from a coaching session. BBC iPlayer tantalised me with 'Coming Soon', but didn't say when....
Suddenly lots of baby birds have appeared in the nests we've been watching for weeks on our local pond. A few days ago, everything was still quiet as the mother birds sat on their nests. Now there are six gorgeous cygnets on the lake, and three baby coots in their...
Through a fog of jet-lag I nevertheless enjoyed watching the finals of the Piano and String categories in BBC Young Musician 2012. The level of technical mastery in these young players is quite astonishing. I'm constantly amazed at how they manage to combine...
This blog is taking an Easter break while I go to Cuba with my daughter, leaving Bob peacefully at home to write his book on orchestral music. Oh yes, I agree: it's hard to imagine me in Cuba, even for me. I'm a bit scared of the tropical mosquitoes, but I'm...
More depressing reports about Bach, Vivaldi, Handel and Mozart being used to deter gangs of young people from hanging around at bus stations and the like. Once again it's not clear what is really being said about classical music. On the one hand, transport bosses say...