When you play a lot of Romantic piano music, you get used to the final notes being extended by a written pause. Composers like Chopin and Schumann often wanted the last chord to ring on gently (or triumphantly) while the mood of the piece hung in the air. We pianists...
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I've now finished working my way through the volume of Mozart piano sonatas (a sonata a day keeps the doctor away) and have started playing through Beethoven's again. The early Beethoven sonatas have made me think about what makes the difference between a theme and a...
I've been gradually playing through the whole volume of Mozart piano sonatas, and the other day I reached the B flat Sonata, K333. This piece holds unpleasant memories for me because when I was doing my O-levels, or Highers, I forget which, I had to perform some of it...
On Saturday I enjoyed reading Ian Jack's fine Guardian article about the Queensferry Crossing, our striking new bridge over the Forth (see photo taken from the Pentland Hills yesterday). Many of his comments resonated with me, a fellow Scot. He recalled how the...
Recently I came across folders of notes I had made when serving on international competition juries over the past decade or more. Pages and pages of detailed notes on people's playing. Most of them played for at least half an hour, sometimes an hour, so there was...
Yesterday I had a message from someone who organises the masterclasses I teach at a university. This year she told me that there won't be any masterclasses. Students don't like them and don't see why they should have to attend them if the music being taught is 'not...
Articles and letters in The Guardian recently have explored why some of today's singers suffer from vocal problems, develop nodules on their vocal cords from singing so loudly, etc. Curiously, the use of powerful amplification has not taken away the need to sing...
Interesting discussions with friends about 'concert performances' of operas they've attended at this year's Edinburgh Festival. I have been to two: Wagner's 'Die Walküre' and Monteverdi's 'L'Incoronazione di Poppea', both excellent, and I've been told that Britten's...
Last night I went to a stupendous concert performance of Wagner's 'Die Walküre' at the Edinburgh International Festival. (Thank you, Amber Wagner, Simon O'Neill, Christine Guerke, Bryn Terfel, Karen Cargill, Matthew Rose, conductor Sir Andrew Davis and the RSNO!) The...
The Edinburgh Festival and 'Fringe' begin this week and the city is plastered with publicity posters. The trend towards anti-glamour continues. Even if a performer wants to look glamorous, they are portrayed in a jarring context. Someone in a beautiful suit lounges in...
A friend told me a tale of a violinist friend of his who came across a mass-produced violin for sale on eBay for €23. It was even cheaper than it sounds because the price included the violin, a bow, and a case. He bought the violin, which arrived with a set of...
For various reasons I've been to quite a few amateur performances recently. All were enjoyable, but I noticed something that was common to them all. It puzzled me, but I am not sure if I have simply forgotten what it is like to be a beginner or a non-professional....
Adjusting the piano stool to the right height for a concert may seem the simplest thing. When I finish rehearsing in a concert hall, I always leave the piano stool adjusted to the right height. The more old-fashioned piano stools have wooden handles that are quite...
Last night I watched a very interesting episode of a BBC Arena series about 'American Epic' music, beginning with music from the Appalachian region, featuring the Carter Family from West Virginia who in the late 1920s brought the folk music of the remote hills to the...
Bob and I went to a big book sale today and came home with lots of 'four hand' duets to be played by two people sitting at one piano. We spent a chunk of the afternoon going through volumes of Dvorak Slavonic Dances, Brahms Hungarian Dances, and eventually a mad set...