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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.
Australian ‘Late Night Live’ interview now available to listen to
The other day I did an interview about my Nocturne book for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's flagship 'Late Night Live' programme. Presenter David Marr and I talked about the character of nocturnes, their history, and why the piano has always been the most...
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Hyperion releases a first track from my forthcoming album
I think I've mentioned that I have an album coming out on the Hyperion label in October. It's a selection of piano music by some of the women featured in my book Women and the Piano, and adopts the same title. I hope it will work as a sort of companion to the book,...
CDs as artefacts you like to own
On the radio the other day they were talking about albums of recorded music, and whether the concept of 'an album' still makes any sense in an era of singly streamed tracks. Commentators thought that there were certain albums, for example Amy Winehouse's 'Back to...
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...
A travelling force
I've been reading An Angel at my Table, the autobiography of New Zealand writer Janet Frame. It's an unusual and absorbing read. Janet Frame grew up without much access to music, but when she first came across classical music she loved it. Gradually she gathered some...
Measuring-sticks and ‘the canon’
I learned something the other day when visiting the Hunterian Art Gallery in Glasgow. In one of the rooms, there was an explanatory sign (see photo) about the word 'canon', meaning a collection of works recognised as being of enduring value and importance. I had never...
Tickets go on sale for my Wigmore recital in April
Tickets have just gone on sale for my lunchtime recital at Wigmore Hall in London on Friday April 17. Click here for booking information. As you'll read on the Wigmore Hall website, the concert marks the publication of my book on the history of the nocturne. To give a...
Reading books, reading music
They were talking on the radio about the good things that reading can do for your brain. Reading a book, that is, as opposed to scrolling through social media. When you read, you read one word at a time. Your brain tries to guess the next word. the interaction between...
Fading before the end of the story
I've finished reading several novels I received as Christmas presents. All were enjoyable, but at least two of them seemed to run out of steam before the end. I won't say which they were, because it doesn't seem fair to books which were very well written overall, but...
Marmalade
At last, Seville oranges have appeared in the shops, which means it is time for marmalade making. Bob is the marmalade maker around here. Each January he tries to make enough Seville marmalade to last us through the year. You can make marmalade from other kinds of...
Hallucinations
Historian Tom Holland was guest-editing the 'Today' programme on BBC Radio 4 recently. He spoke about his experience of AI 'hallucinations', that now increasingly well-known phenomenon whereby Artifical Intelligence makes up information in response to a question. Tom...
My top books of the year 2025
I seem to have read an unusually high number of books this year - surprising, because it was a unusually busy year. Looking back, I realise that long train journeys provided hours of reading time. I often took two books with me on a trip in order not to run out of...
Words stamped into icing
Today I've been icing my home-made Christmas cake. It's taken months to reach this point. I made the cake in October and fed it with malt whisky through holes made in the cake with uncooked sticks of spaghetti. I wrapped the cake in tinfoil and stored it away. Each...
A dream of a former home
I woke up in total darkness early this morning and for a few moments thought I was back in my house in London. In the darkness I thought the wardrobe was on my right and the windows straight ahead at the end of the bed, as they were in London. I realised fairly...