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.
Looking over the list of books I read this year
On the last day of the year I have been looking through the list of books I read during the year. This year I seem to have read 36 books. I used to read books from the library, but the pandemic (when libraries were closed for ages) trained me out of that habit, and...
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‘Women and the Piano’ wins a Presto Music award
At last night's Presto Music Awards, my book Women and the Piano was a Book of the Year. I'm very happy to have this recognition of a book that means a lot to me. Thanks again to Yale University Press for commissioning it.
Schubert’s early piano sonatas
I've been playing through Schubert's piano sonatas, starting with the early ones, which I admit I don't know very well. Like most people, I'm much more familiar with the late sonatas, considered some of his finest works. The sonatas I've played so far were written in...
One chord, two chords, three … or more
Lou Reed of the Velvet Underground, who died this week, famously said (tongue in cheek, I suppose) that when you're composing a song, 'one chord is fine, two chords are pushing it. Three chords and you're into jazz'. I had that quote in my mind last night as I...
City Music Society on 16 Oct
City Music Society, which holds its concerts at Bishopsgate Institute near Liverpool St Station in London, is starting its 'early evening' autumn series on Wednesday night, 16 October, with a piano recital by me. Tickets are free for students under 25 with valid ID....
Ragtime piano hands
I'm preparing an interesting recital programme at the moment for a concert in Salzburg on October 23. Tomorrow I'm trying it out for an invited audience in London. The programme focuses on Billy Mayerl and his favourite composers. Billy Mayerl, the pianist at the...
An open gate at Prussia Cove
I have spent the week down at Prussia Cove in Cornwall at the autumn IMS chamber music seminar, together with 50 musicians from around the world. We battle up and down the cliff paths against the wind. Musicians and their instrument cases loom out of the mist in the...
Cognitive advantage
A doctor friend has sent me an excerpt from the current edition of the British Medical Journal in which their writer 'Minerva' reports: 'Great composers have tended to die young, but great performing musicians often carry on getting better as they get older. An...
Munich competition afterthoughts
Since the end of the ARD Competition in Munich I have been mulling over the concept of competitions. Of course we all understand the point of competitions, and many are prepared to put up with the negative aspects in the hope of benefitting from the positive ones....
Munich competition ends
The ARD-Competition in Munich ended with three out of the four categories (violin, viola, bassoon, piano trio) awarding no first prize. Only Yura Lee won a first prize in the viola category. I wonder if it is generally realised by the public that the rules in Munich...
Tools of the trade
I am still working on the jury of the ARD Competition in Munich, which reaches the Final of the piano trio competition on Saturday. Obviously I can't write anything about the competitors, but I can say how interesting it has been to hear so many different groups...
‘The Walk’
At the weekend I went to watch a tango club at which an old friend of mine teaches. I know nothing about tango, though I've been to a few Argentine tango shows in London, and recently I had a lot of fun playing in a late-night performance of some Piazzolla tangos....
A little summer break from the blog
I'm having a little summer break from writing this blog. This is a good moment for me to crack on with the book I've been writing at every peaceful opportunity this year. It's over 80,000 words now, and the end is in sight (unless it turns out to be one of those...
The Cerne Abbas Festival comes to an end
Another Cerne Abbas festival has come to an end. Remembering last year's dreadful weather, during which one of the group had to drive to Dorchester to buy some thermal undergarments, I had packed some rather warm concert clothes, which I regretted as soon as I...
Reminiscing about Billy Mayerl
Someone has drawn my attention to the fact that last Saturday, in the Family section of the Guardian, a reader submitted a favourite recipe along with a recollection of her childhood, in which her late mother played the piano music of Billy Mayerl on the family's...