We went out for lunch yesterday to celebrate the publication of the paperback of Bob's book A Little History of Music. Here's to a whole new bunch of readers! Everything in the restaurant was nice except for the music playing in the background. It was a dreary, drifty...
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Recently I visited my old college in Cambridge to give a recital. While I was there, I took the opportunity to attend two services of Evensong in the college chapel. As always, hearing sacred music sung in those glorious surroundings (see photo) was a striking...
We often walk up past a farm in the Braid Hills where swallows gather each year to make their nests and raise their young. Usually the birds arrive in early May, and until they leave in August for their journey to Africa, we visit the farm regularly to see how they're...
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...
When I was in Cuba last week I saw something sweet at a concert. My daughter and I were in the Gran Teatro in Havana to see the graduation show of ballet dancers from the national ballet school, and musicians from the national music school. During the instrumental...
I am back from Cuba, but too jet-lagged to write much. It has been a big adventure. I am not sure if I have ever been in a country which seemed so clearly on the edge of change. The old socialist regime now co-exists with an influx of tourists whose money and spending...
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...
Last night we saw 'Once upon a time in Anatolia', Nuri Bilge Ceylan's haunting film which won the Grand Prix at last year's Cannes Film Festival. Reviews and viewers' comments had suggested it was either a masterpiece or a shocking waste of two and a half hours. Both...
The press has been reporting recently on the successful use of music during surgery in a couple of different hospitals. Apparently it can 'lessen fear' and reduce the heart rate of patients who are played 'easy listening' and 'chart classics' while having...
This morning I managed at last to get a photo of one of the green parakeets which live in Richmond Park. They're usually too quick for me. The parakeets have been a feature of the park for some years, but still strike an exotic note with their vivid green plumage and...
Bob made a gorgeous tart using blood oranges and lemons (see picture). The colour was quite lovely, a deep golden yellow which reminded me of Renaissance fresco paintings. I started to search around on art-history sites and paint history websites for a description of...
Our discussion at the Guildhall on Friday, about talking to the audience, turned out to be unexpectedly interesting. It would take too long to report on all the facets of the discussion, but here's one of them. All the performers agreed that talking to the audience is...
Here I am working with the Trio Paul Klee, from Paris, at my London masterclasses last weekend (I was pointing something out to the audience at the moment the photo was taken). I thoroughly enjoyed working with the eleven young professionals (three trios and a duo)...
The Guildhall School of Music and Drama in Silk St, Barbican, is running a seminar and 'round table discussion' on Friday 9th March from 5.30-7pm. The topic is 'Talking to the audience'. It's part of the 'Understanding audiences' series. Is talking to the audience a...