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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.
Unyoking the horses
Today's blog post is on quite a niche subject. When I was writing a short biography of pianist Sophie Menter (1846-1912) for Women and the Piano, I mentioned some of the extravagant things her fans used to do to show their adoration. When she played in Copenhagen in...
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Proofreading your own words
I have been proofreading my book about Nocturnes, which has reached the stage of being typeset. This is the point at which it starts to look like a proper book. As the author, you dare to believe that it will one day really be published and start to live in heads...
‘… a mad attack upon your hands’
When I was playing in Birmingham a couple of weeks ago, I had an interesting conversation with a student there. (Birmingham University is rightly protective of its students' identities, so I won't name her.) She was studying aspects of the history of women playing...
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...
Balloons
There's been a lot in the press recently about coughing in classical concerts, and whether it's acceptable or not. We classical musicians (and listeners) tend to get upset about performances being marred by loud coughing. However, compared with some musicians, I...
‘Maurice Guest’
Readers who followed my enthusiastic recommendation of 'The Real Charlotte' may be interested in another recommendation from the same period. I've just finished reading 'Maurice Guest', published in 1908 by Henry Handel Richardson, the pseudonym of Ethel Richardson,...
Kyung Wha Chung’s response to coughing
Lots of people have written to me today about coughing. Why? Because of a BBC News report about violinist Kyung-Wha Chung's comeback recital at the Festival Hall in London. She was disturbed by a child coughing in the audience, and remonstrated with the parents. Her...