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.
News of my eighth book
The manuscript of my new book has been accepted by my publisher, Yale University Press, and I'm delighted to be able give you some news of it. (It's due to be published in March 2026.) The book is called Nocturnes and the Fascination of Night Music. It's essentially a...
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Tasting notes
Bob went to the wine shop and returned with a few bottles and a page of 'tasting notes' supplied by the shop. As usual I was charmed by the poetic way that wine producers describe their products. 'Notes of ripe, dark fruit, tobacco, chocolate and spice'. 'Delicate...
Wordsworth windows
On Wednesday I played a solo recital in Ambleside Church as part of the Lake District Summer Music festival. My programme contained six pieces by the female pianist-composers whose work I have been performing in the past couple of years. In the context, I was touched...
The possibility for musicians of making a local career
I keep coming across articles about the importance of revising our approach to international travel. For the sake of the environment as well as public health, we're told, we should be working towards the possibility of doing everything in the places where we live....
Burns’ Night
Last night, on Burns' Night, my book group met on Zoom to read Robert Burns' poem 'Tam O'Shanter'. Several members of the group had grown up taking part in annual Burns recitations on January 25, with prizes given for the best or most dramatic performances. They...
Brahms Horn Trio on Radio 3’s ‘Building a Library’
Over the years, my recordings have often featured on BBC Radio 3's Saturday morning programme, Record Review. They have a long-running feature called 'Building a Library', where each week a reviewer sifts through the available recordings of a classic piece and...
Learning to play the spoons in lockdown
Last weekend, reading the Guardian Review, I was struck by a comment of Joe Moran's about having learned to play the spoons in lockdown. I was vaguely aware of spoons as musical instruments, but a bit of research put me in the picture: spoons have long been used to...
Leaving the EU
Now that Brexit has happened and the UK is out of the European Union, I have been reflecting on the fact that I have seen the whole arc of our membership of the EU from start to finish. I was a student when we joined what was then the European Economic Community and...
New Year’s resolution
I was complaining to a fellow musician recently about how hard it is to make myself practise the piano every day, even though there are no concerts to prepare for. Until the recent Tier 4 lockdowns, I had been hoping that concerts for live audiences could resume...
‘She taught me that every step has meaning’
The other day I was listening to a ballet dancer reminiscing on radio about the time when, as a girl, she took part in a ballet masterclass given by Dame Margot Fonteyn. Dame Margot, it seems, was more terrifying in person than the students had expected. 'She hardly...
‘Zonal Attachment’ for Musicians
I was half-listening to the radio this morning when they were talking about fishing rights. The concept of 'zonal attachment' was being explained. I learned that this was a new and scientific way of approaching the issue of fishing rights. Fish move around; from year...
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...
Edvard Grieg and Shakespeare’s Macbeth
It's been a turbulent week, and I have found some distraction in playing through a volume of Grieg's Lyric Pieces. I've always liked them, though I admit I knew only the more famous pieces, and only recently discovered that there are many more - all worth getting to...
Musicians fighting for their jobs in an age of recorded music
At last there is more commentary about the challenges facing freelance artists. Yesterday there was a strongly-worded cry for help in The Observer from several leading musicians, warning that if the UK's musicians are not supported, we could lose them for ever. I have...
Fatima, and an excerpt from ‘J is for Job (not a proper)’
In response to yesterday's outrage about an HM Government ad showing 'Fatima', a young ballet dancer as an example of someone who might switch to 'working in cyber', I'm posting an excerpt from 'J is for Job (not a proper)', from my book A Musician's Alphabet (Faber,...