Blog
I’ve been writing this blog since 2009, but there still seem to be plenty of interesting topics to mull over. You can subscribe (it’s free) to follow the blog by email – each new post will pop into your inbox.
Take 1, 13, 21, 47, 109, 205
I've returned from London, where I recorded an album for Hyperion of piano music by some of the women featured in my book. I had a wonderful recording team. Incredibly, it's now 40 years since I first recorded an album with producer Andrew Keener, now a doyen of the...
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!
Unyoking the horses
Today's blog post is on quite a niche subject. When I was writing a short biography of pianist Sophie Menter (1846-1912) for Women and the Piano, I mentioned some of the extravagant things her fans used to do to show their adoration. When she played in Copenhagen in...
Proofreading your own words
I have been proofreading my book about Nocturnes, which has reached the stage of being typeset. This is the point at which it starts to look like a proper book. As the author, you dare to believe that it will one day really be published and start to live in heads...
A ‘Strictly’ for pianists?
I was discussing 'Strictly' with a friend who's also a fan of the show. He asked me: 'How do you think it would work if celebrities were partnered with professional pianists, to learn to play the piano in a few weeks and then perform, say, a piano concerto in front of...
‘This is a hugely stimulating book that inspires and enlightens’, says International Piano
Renowned piano teacher and educator Murray McLachlan has reviewed my book in International Piano: https://www.rhinegold.co.uk/international_piano/the-piano-a-history-in-100-pieces/ To read more reviews of this book, click here
Musical Opinion review of ‘The Piano – a History in 100 Pieces’
The quarterly magazine Musical Opinion has a review of my book in its October-December 2021 issue. Some excerpts from Julian Jacobson's review: 'Susan Tomes' new book is aimed at the informed amateur or mélomane, in the untranslatable French word: the Radio 3 (perhaps...
In the pocket of the music
The autumn season of Strictly Come Dancing is under way and this year the judges seem inclined to give us a bit more insight into what they are looking for. I have enjoyed learning more about posture, weight, inside edges, head position, arm extensions, 'spotting' ( a...
Review of my piano book on David Barton Music
Another nice review of The Piano - a History in 100 Pieces, this time on David Barton Music, the website of an educator and researcher. He begins with a description of the book's contents - and here's how he sums up: 'Tomes explores each selected piece in turn,...
Playing without effort
I'm playing through the whole volume of Mozart sonatas again. The other day I came to the B flat Sonata K333. This has difficult associations for me because I learned it for one of those endless exams one always seems to be taking in teenage years - I can't now...
Continual assessment
A friend of mine has been musing on this question: How many other professionals are subjected to continual public assessment the way musicians are? For a long time, musicians have put up with being publicly reviewed because good reviews can bring them quickly to the...
‘Gramophone’ review of my book
The October issue of the venerable Gramophone magazine has a review of my new book. I reproduce some of it here as the magazine is behind a paywall. The reviewer, Jeremy Nicholas, has quibbles about my choice of pieces, wondering why I included this and not that, but...
A walk down Piano Street
I did an interview this week about my new book for Piano Street, a Swedish-based website which celebrates all things to do with the piano, pianists and news from the piano world. They asked some interesting questions. The interview is up on their site now and can be...
‘Es ist genug’: Bach’s chorale opens a BBCSO concert
One of the most depressing sights of lockdown in Edinburgh - for me, anyway - was the sight of the Usher Hall being turned into a Covid test centre. I know that test centres are important. But it seemed a sad change of fortune for the first big concert hall I got to...
Interview and podcast for ‘The Music Show’ on ABC Radio in Australia
This week I did an interview about my book 'The Piano' with Andrew Ford, the knowledgeable host of ABC's long-running 'Music Show' in Australia. He has woven in archive clips of other pianists talking or playing favourite music, so it has become an pleasing mosaic of...
Knitting
Last week I was thinking of writing a blog post about knitting. What is the connection between knitting and pianism, you may ask? Well, I had been reading about the 19th-century pianist Clara Schumann, who continued to tour and earn money for the family after her...