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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.
Thinking back to my first time at Wigmore Hall
Preparations are going well for my recital at London's Wigmore Hall on 17 April at 1pm. If you live near London, I hope you might come along. I can't remember if I've told this story before, but I can't track it down in a previous blog post, so here it is, with...
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Guardian article online now
To go alongside my new book, The Guardian has commissioned an article from me about the history of the nocturne. You can read the article here and it should be in the print edition tomorrow, Wednesday 1 April. One nice thing about online articles is that they can...
A visit to Toppings Bookshop in Edinburgh
Last night I gave a talk, with Bob interviewing me, at Toppings Bookshop in Edinburgh (see photo of me with piles of Nocturne books waiting to be signed). It was a pleasure to speak at a sold-out event in this lovely bookstore. The book has had another good review,...
Gramophone magazine review of Speaking the Piano
A fine book from an underrated pianist ‘When my biography of Leopold Godowsky was first published some thirty years ago [writes Jeremy Nicholas in Gramophone magazine], I prefaced the narrative with a quote from Confucius: "I do not seek to be known. I seek to be...
Tackling Chopin’s F major Nocturne
One of my summer projects has been to learn all the Chopin Nocturnes. Strangely enough I have never tackled them properly, and some of them, it turns out, I hardly knew even by ear. Getting to know them has given me tremendous respect for Chopin's compositional skills...
Talking about memory on BBC Front Row
Last night I was on the BBC Radio 4 arts programme Front Row, taking part in a discussion about playing from memory. Presenter Stig Abell spoke to me and Torun Saeter Stavseng, principal cellist of the Aurora Orchestra, who are about to perform Shostakovich's 9th...
Old friends at the Cerne Abbas Music Festival
I'm just back from a week at the Gaudier Ensemble's annual Cerne Abbas Music Festival in Dorset - my 25th year at the festival, I think. Some of the core players have been doing it for 28 years! But there are always new players and guest players, and this year we had...
Blackwell’s Bookshop
Here I am signing copies of my book Speaking the Piano this morning in Blackwell's Edinburgh bookstore. Blackwell's is my favourite bookshop in Edinburgh. I'm usually there as a customer browsing the latest novels, buying a greetings card or having a coffee, so it was...
My new book is noted on ‘The Rest is Noise’ blog
My new book 'Speaking the Piano' is noted as being of interest on the Bookshelf page of New Yorker music critic Alex Ross's influential blog 'The Rest is Noise'. Let's hope this mention will bring the book to the attention of some American readers! Some of my best...
BBC Music: book review, July 2018
My book 'Speaking the Piano' was published last week, and by a happy coincidence on the same day it received a five-star review from Jessica Duchen in the July issue of BBC Music magazine. (see photo) 'Susan Tomes's insights as a performer and teacher are fully...
How would Robert Schumann design his own record cover?
I have been practising a lot of Schumann's music lately in preparation for various music festivals over the summer. It's always a pleasure to play Schumann and when you play a lot of different compositions, you get really into his way of thinking. His mindset feels...
First glimpse of ‘Speaking the Piano’
My new book 'Speaking the Piano' is due out from Boydell Press in about three weeks' time. It's about my experiences of learning and teaching music. In essence it's a love letter to the joys and benefits of learning an instrument to a high level. Today I received my...
BBC Young Musician and being comfortable with the cameras
I was away at the time of BBC Young Musician but have been catching up with the final instalments. As usual, I was tremendously impressed with the standard of playing in every instrumental category. Really, did my colleagues and I play as well as that when we were...
The ‘heavenly length’ of Schubert’s late works
This week I'm preparing for the last of my lecture-recital series in The Brunton Theatre in Musselburgh. On Saturday afternoon I'll be speaking about - and performing - Schubert's late A major piano sonata, one of the masterpieces of his last year. These...
In Lyon with fellow jury member Sergey Kravchenko
Today I received this nice photo from the Russian violinist and Moscow Conservatoire professor Sergey Kravchenko. It was taken by his wife and shows me and Mr Kravchenko at the drinks party aboard the houseboat 'La Platforme' in the Rhone after the final concert of...