'Inspirations' Blog Post Archive
‘Search for a way to make it natural’

‘Search for a way to make it natural’

The other day I was listening to a pianist playing the fearsome second movement of the César Franch Sonata for violin and piano. The piano part is highly virtuosic and, apart from anything else, a very good proof of the fact that these big piano parts are not...

read more

Get The Latest Posts

Interested in what Susan has to say about all things classical music? Subscribe below and whenever Susan writes a new blog post you will be notified by email. Simple!

A competition for concertos

A competition for concertos

I spent the past couple of days popping in and out of the first round of the Concerto Class held each year by the Edinburgh Music Competition Festival. The Concerto Class is strictly for amateurs; those who get to the final are given the opportunity to play their...

read more
Otters

Otters

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...

read more
The appeal of the Green Room

The appeal of the Green Room

On Monday, cellist Philip Higham and I played one of the first post-lockdown concerts for a socially distanced live audience at Wigmore Hall (see photo). At first, we had been told that only 56 people would be allowed in the audience, but the rules changed and we were...

read more
Playing at Wigmore Hall on 14 September

Playing at Wigmore Hall on 14 September

On Monday, 14 September at 7.30pm, cellist Philip Higham and I will be stepping in at short notice to play a duo recital at Wigmore Hall in London. We're replacing two artists caught up in quarantine rules. With countries hopping on and off the quarantine list, the...

read more
Exploring the Shelves, 20: Bach’s first Invention

Exploring the Shelves, 20: Bach’s first Invention

Most people who learn piano will have come across Bach's Two-Part Inventions, but their eyes may not have alighted on his Foreword. Mine hadn't until the other day. 'Forthright instruction, wherewith lovers of the clavier, especially those eager to learn, are shown in...

read more
Exploring the Shelves, 19: Gershwin’s Three Preludes

Exploring the Shelves, 19: Gershwin’s Three Preludes

This is probably the penultimate in my lockdown series about neglected music on my shelves. It has been a helpful focus for me during a phase when more people had time to read. As we start to come out of lockdown, it seems right to wrap it up. I'll try to get to...

read more
Exploring the Shelves, 18: Antonio Soler’s Fandango

Exploring the Shelves, 18: Antonio Soler’s Fandango

Here's a curious piece from the late Baroque, composed by an 18th century Spanish priest who was a contemporary of Scarlatti. Padre Antonio Soler began studying music at his local monastery when he was only six, and by 14 had his first appointment as a cathedral...

read more
Exploring the Shelves, 16: Poulenc’s Novelettes

Exploring the Shelves, 16: Poulenc’s Novelettes

Francis Poulenc is one of those composers whose personality shows very clearly in his music. Some composers, you sense, enjoy the process of creating a pure compositional line swept clean of their personal feelings. We may know from reading their biographies that they...

read more
Exploring the Shelves, #14: Mendelssohn finds his voice

Exploring the Shelves, #14: Mendelssohn finds his voice

Volume One of Mendelssohn's complete solo piano music is on my music desk.  Mendelssohn was an astonishingly precocious chap and wrote some of his finest music - the Octet for Strings, for example - when still a teenager. He was first and foremost a pianist, so it's...

read more
Exploring the Shelves, 13: Schumann’s obsessions

Exploring the Shelves, 13: Schumann’s obsessions

I have tons of piano music by Schumann and in lockdown I've been working through the volumes. Now, I've always been a huge fan of Schumann, but I have to admit that when you spend a day going through some of his, shall we say, less focused piano music you become very...

read more
Exploring the shelves, 12: Dvorak’s Humoresques

Exploring the shelves, 12: Dvorak’s Humoresques

Another find in a secondhand book sale was a volume of Dvorak Humoresques. Who knew there were eight of them for piano? I confess I only really knew the Humoresque made famous by Fritz Kreisler, Jascha Heifetz and others in arrangements for violin and piano....

read more
Exploring the Shelves, 11: Haydn’s little jazz riffs

Exploring the Shelves, 11: Haydn’s little jazz riffs

I do have some volumes of Haydn piano sonatas, but I confess I didn't realise until quite recently that they didn't contain all his sonatas. In a charity book sale, I came across a slim volume of selected Haydn sonatas which contained a couple of early works I don't...

read more