A little while ago I wrote something about a piano piece by Robert Schumann, in which he had instructed the player to play 'con accurezza' - with accuracy. It still seems an amusing little moment because of the questions it raises. I came across another such moment...
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The other day I was playing through some of Schubert's 'Deutsche Tänze' or German Dances, little dances in triple time which were very popular in Schubert's day. His many 'Deutsche' were clearly designed for practical use, such as someone playing them on the piano...
I've been watching the BBC Young Musician competition on television for many years now. Slowly, the competition has slipped from the major channels and is now shown on BBC4, whose output currently seems to consist of repeats, archive material and cultural things that...
We were listening to a jazz station on the radio as we cooked dinner. A saxophone player meandered interminably through a long dull solo without ever finding a way to extricate himself. It was like listening to a fly struggling in a spoonful of honey. Bob went over...
The clocks went back last night, and we all had an extra hour in bed. This should have been ideal at the end of a day of recording Shostakovich. Recording is an arduous process and I was looking forward to relaxing when it was all over. But could I take advantage of...
This weekend, the Florestan Trio is recording the first piano trio by Shostakovich, a student work of the composer's. We're adding it to a Shostakovich disc which we recorded a little while ago, and the whole CD will come out in the New Year on the Hyperion label. On...
Yesterday, when I was coaching at King's Place, we had a tea break between sessions. Some of the younger participants were airing their current dilemmas about fees and conditions. In particular, they were wondering aloud about their situation as young professionals:...
Inspired by a couple of recent articles about writers who were well-known in their lifetimes and forgotten afterwards, or never acknowledged at the time but discovered years later by accident (like Hans Keilson), I’ve been researching unusual repertoire in the hope of...
It's getting cold... When I was out for a walk on a chilly morning this week and saw this little round creature staring into the lake, I felt I was seeing a kindred spirit.
I’m excited about Sunday, my first day of teaching at ChamberStudio, the new venture at King’s Place in London. ChamberStudio offers high-level coaching for post-graduate and young professional chamber groups who don’t have access to regular tuition any more. As...
Bemused by all the talk about university degrees and their supposed link to salaries. Lord Browne’s report seems to assume that if you go to university you will inevitably have more earning power than non-graduates in the years ahead. In the performing arts, however,...
In the mysterious world of performance there aren't many markers of how far you've come, so it was a pleasure to walk into the backstage area at Wigmore Hall on Monday and see the Florestan Trio's photo on the wall of the stairwell (see right of picture). I have been...
In BBC Music magazine, Rebecca Franks muses on why the musicians who write books about their experience of music tend to be pianists. Read her article. It's a fascinating topic and one I'm often asked about. There are various possibilities: pianists are loners, and so...
The first concert of the new season for the Florestan Trio is on Tuesday 5 October at 7.30pm at Wigmore Hall, part of the Schumann bicentenary celebrations. What is it about Schumann which makes him such a favourite of musicians? He isn’t always a favourite at the box...
Yesterday I was at a conference about creativity in performance. There were many interesting speakers, several of whom told anecdotes to make their points clear. At one point we were talking about the curious blend of involvement and detachment that seems to be...