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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.
It’s a wrap
We're having the windows of the piano room double glazed this week. For safety, the piano has been closed up, wrapped in blankets and swathed in plastic sheeting. To give the workmen more space to bring things in and out of the door (perilously near the end of the...
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Fractions of a second apart
I've been watching some of the Winter Olympics on TV and marvelling at the way that the top competitors all seem to achieve times which are within a fraction of a second of one another's. Time and again the commentators point out that the winning margin is...
Every part of the brain
This morning I listened to a pleasing report on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, about a neuro-scientific experiment to observe a pianist's brain activity while he played the piano. The leader of the 'Glass Brain' study commented that playing the piano is one of the...
Exploring the Shelves, 13: Schumann’s obsessions
I have tons of piano music by Schumann and in lockdown I've been working through the volumes. Now, I've always been a huge fan of Schumann, but I have to admit that when you spend a day going through some of his, shall we say, less focused piano music you become very...
Identity
It's been eight weeks in lockdown now. (Photo: Edinburgh Castle with no visitors.) On the whole, I have been coping fine. Long experience of working at home had prepared me for #stayhome. However, it turns out that my peace of mind during solitary periods of...
Exploring the shelves, 12: Dvorak’s Humoresques
Another find in a secondhand book sale was a volume of Dvorak Humoresques. Who knew there were eight of them for piano? I confess I only really knew the Humoresque made famous by Fritz Kreisler, Jascha Heifetz and others in arrangements for violin and piano....
Exploring the Shelves, 11: Haydn’s little jazz riffs
I do have some volumes of Haydn piano sonatas, but I confess I didn't realise until quite recently that they didn't contain all his sonatas. In a charity book sale, I came across a slim volume of selected Haydn sonatas which contained a couple of early works I don't...
Scotsman Sessions #30: a bit of lockdown music-making
The Scotsman newspaper is offering readers some lockdown entertainment, or solace, in the form of contributions from various artists who've recorded themselves playing, reading poetry, singing, or whatever in their own homes. There's an accompanying article written by...
Exploring the shelves, 10: Felix Arndt’s ‘Nola’ of 1915
A sad one today! In the course of reading about the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918, I came across the fact that American composer Felix Arndt had died at the age of only 29 during the second wave of the pandemic in New York. I couldn't help being struck by this,...
Digesting what you’ve practised
I mentioned last weekend that I've been trying to learn Chopin's fourth ballade, a wonderful piece of music although not easy to master. After some days of quite intensive effort, I felt like having a rest from it. Some parts of it are very difficult, and day by day...
Exploring the Shelves, 9: Chopin’s 4th Ballade
I'm trying to learn some new pieces during this lockdown. My latest project is Chopin's Fourth Ballade. I've half-known it for years, but never tried to learn it properly. It requires quite a big stretch, which I don't have, and I've never been sure I could get my...
What does the future for concerts look like …?
A music-loving friend and I were discussing the prospect of concerts resuming after lockdown. It might be months away, but most musicians are eagerly, indeed desperately looking forward to this point. 'Trouble is', said my friend, 'I might not feel all that confident...
Exploring the Shelves, 8: Mozart’s piano sonatas
Over the past week or two, as a lockdown project, I've been playing through all Mozart's piano sonatas. There are eighteen of them, mostly in three movements. Mozart is my favourite composer. His piano writing is always of a high standard. After all, he was a famous...
Exploring the shelves, 7: mysterious last movements
It's amazing how often the last movements of multi-movement works are a disappointment. Time and again, my chamber groups would bemoan the fact that the finale of whatever we were rehearsing wasn't as inspired as the rest of the piece. I once observed that composers...
Richard Morrison’s Times article on musicians in lockdown
A friend has sent me (in the post!) Richard Morrison's excellent Times article from April 3: 'Note to artists: it's not a sign of weakness to be unable to work now.' This is the link, but The Times is behind a paywall so you can only read it if you're a subscriber....