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.
The difficulty of ending in tempo and without a pause
When you play a lot of Romantic piano music, you get used to the final notes being extended by a written pause. Composers like Chopin and Schumann often wanted the last chord to ring on gently (or triumphantly) while the mood of the piece hung in the air. We pianists...
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Brian Kellock, great Scottish jazz pianist, has died
Very sad news that the Scottish jazz pianist Brian Kellock died last night. Brian was revered in the Scottish jazz world and far beyond. I didn't know him well, but I had got to know him a bit through attending his Sunday afternoon performances (with double bassist...
Signing paperbacks
Here I am signing paperbacks in Toppings Bookshop in Edinburgh this morning. Whenever I'm in a big bookstore, especially a well-curated one like Toppings, I look at all the tables with their piles of new books on a thousand fascinating subjects and wonder what chance...
Gramophone magazine review
The March issue of Gramophone Magazine carries a review of my book 'Sleeping in Temples'. As the review is not available online except to subscribers, here's an excerpt: " 'Out of Silence' [my previous book] was written in diary form. 'Sleeping in Temples' is a series...
The character of each audience
After writing about my preparations for Monday's concert at Wigmore Hall with Erich Höbarth, I'm delighted to report that we had a wonderful time. In fact, it was one of my most favourite concerts of recent years. Erich was tremendous, and I felt that I was 'in the...
Schubert at Wigmore Hall on Monday
It's getting close now to my concert on Monday 16 Feb at my favourite hall (London's Wigmore Hall, in case anyone didn't know) with the marvellous Austrian violinist Erich Höbarth, leader of Quatuor Mosaiques, Concentus Musicus Wien, and an old friend of the Wigmore...
Metaphors, not modulations
I'm pleased to say that my audience for the Beethoven lecture-recital yesterday was much bigger than I or the organisers had anticipated. Extra chairs needed to be put out, and there was a lovely buzz in the room when I came in. It seemed that people were pleased by...
Beethoven in words and music
I'm preparing for a lunchtime lecture-recital on Tuesday in which I've been asked to speak about, and then play, a late Beethoven sonata, the A flat major opus 110. It's an experiment for all concerned; I've performed the sonata before, but have never tried to speak...
Scotsman article today
There's an article by music critic Ken Walton about me and my book in today's Scotsman newspaper - click here to read it. For now, an excerpt: 'Just read her recent fourth book, Sleeping in Temples, in which she muses, in 16 essays, on issues that challenge and...
Practising in the dark, 1812
I've been reading the wonderful 'Memoirs of a Highland Lady', written by Elizabeth Grant of Rothiemurchus. What a series of unforgettable pictures she paints of her life in the Highlands of Scotland in the early years of the 19th century! As a teenager, I used to get...
Guardian review of ‘Sleeping in Temples’
There's a review of my new book in today's Guardian. Here's an excerpt: 'Fascinating essays from the celebrated pianist ... Susan Tomes has devoted her career largely to chamber music - a niche market within the niche market of classical music, and one in which she...
Ex Libris
At New Year we played a game we hadn't played for ages - Ex Libris. It's a game where all the players have to write the opening or closing sentence of a book which already exists. Each player in turn selects a book from the shelves (obviously you have to have lots of...
International Piano magazine review
There's a nice review of my new book, Sleeping in Temples, in the Jan/Feb issue of International Piano magazine. I know from my own attempts that it isn't always easy to track down this interesting magazine, so I thought I'd take the chance to reproduce an excerpt...
Freedom to add, change and take away
I've been listening to recordings of pieces I'm currently working on. One is a Moment Musical by Schubert, represented by many different performances, including a YouTube clip of Horowitz playing it in front of a rapt audience in, I think, Carnegie Hall. Horowitz's...
Dame Fanny’s observations
Dame Fanny Waterman, who is standing down from the Leeds Piano Competition she co-founded in 1961, has caused quite a storm with her remarks about the decline of piano-playing in the UK. She attributes this partly to the growing popularity of electric pianos ('a waste...