One positive aspect of this year's lockdowns has been seeing more wildlife in the city's green spaces. Earlier in the year, when there was very little traffic, animals seemed to pluck up courage to venture on to the quiet golf courses, parks and hillsides. We saw lots...
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Edvard Grieg and Shakespeare’s Macbeth
It's been a turbulent week, and I have found some distraction in playing through a volume of Grieg's Lyric Pieces. I've always liked them, though I admit I knew only the more famous pieces, and only recently discovered that there are many more - all worth getting to...
Musicians fighting for their jobs in an age of recorded music
At last there is more commentary about the challenges facing freelance artists. Yesterday there was a strongly-worded cry for help in The Observer from several leading musicians, warning that if the UK's musicians are not supported, we could lose them for ever. I have...
Costume drama
Every year I feel I have to update my wardrobe of concert clothes, which is a pain because each season I have less and less of a clear idea of how I should look. But what I wear has always been noticed by people in the audience, who comment on it enough to make me...
Where are the best reviews?
My trio's latest record came out recently. Friends were soon sending us reviews they'd found, in newspapers and magazines as well as on the web. I read them all and I started to realise something interesting: the best writing was often found in amateur publications,...
The joy of cake
It's a funny thing, but when you spend hours of every day on something as intangible as music, you become very conscious that there's nothing to show for it at the end of the day. You may have twisted your brain into wild unruly shapes (shapes resembling Beethoven)...
Things of note
Welcome to my blog. I thought I wanted a static website, but my website designer had other ideas. As I'm old enough to be his mother I tried to tell him not to be silly, but somehow I found myself agreeing to try a blog. I hope to give an insight into the world of a...