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.
Different audiences, different reactions
I have been going to events at the Edinburgh Jazz Festival. There seems to be a lot of overlap between the audiences, because I keep seeing the same faces. It's interesting to observe the effects that different performers have on the audiences. Some performers banter...
Search the Blog
Get The Latest Posts
Interested in what Susan has to say about all things classical music? Subscribe below and whenever Susan writes a new blog post you will be notified by email. Simple!
Wimbledon fortnight improves my playing
Wimbledon Championship Fortnight is halfway through and I have spent quite a lot of time watching tennis, with occasional breaks for some piano practice. Whenever I watch a lot of tennis, or more particularly when I listen to a lot of expert commentary, I feel that my...
Professions which have no amateur version
The other day I was talking about piano-playing with some very good amateur pianists. As it happens, they were all high-flyers in other professions. A surgeon was saying ruefully that people don't realise how much work it takes to be a very good amateur pianist,...
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...
Off to a summer festival (fingers crossed)
I'm off to Cerne Abbas in Dorset for another of the lovely chamber music festivals run very successfully each year by the Gaudier Ensemble. Concerts are on 8-11 August inclusive. As far as I know, most concerts are sold out, but if you live nearby it's always worth...
Jealousy
I'm coming towards the end of my week in Fiesole, a week of baking heat during which I have realised that much of the music we've been studying must have been written in a cooler climate. In this kind of intense heat we can hardly face playing, or even hearing, some...
ECMA in Florence
I'm off to Italy to teach for a week on the European Chamber Music Academy course. ECMA is an unusual organisation which moves around during the year, holding courses at a number of 'host institutions' in different parts of Europe. It offers high-level coaching to...
Trying to gain a larger readership …
A few months ago, disheartened by the difficulty of 'growing' my blog readership, I consulted some of my students about the situation. I say 'students' but in fact they are all high-achieving young professionals who come for the occasional coaching. They all agreed...
I am a published photographer!
The Guardian weekend magazine has a page, 'Your Pictures', where they ask for photo contributions on a given theme. For today, the theme was 'produce'. I sent in a photo of our favourite Egyptian geese, whom we've been feeding for years on visits to Richmond Park....
My Mozart on ‘Summer CD Review’ this Sat
This Saturday, BBC Radio 3's 'Summer CD Review' has selected my Mozart piano and violin sonatas e-album, made with violinist Erich Höbarth, as one of their summer recommendations. You can see Saturday's playlist for the programme here. The recordings were made live at...
The piano on which John Lennon recorded…
Sad news this week that Steinway Pianos is to be sold to a private equity company. What does this mean for pianists? On the face of it, nothing; it's just a change of owner for the firm. But a friend writes from New York that the Steinway showroom on Manhattan's 57th...
Glasto musings
Listened to Sir Mick Jagger being interviewed about his upcoming Glastonbury appearance by John Humphrys on the Today programme this morning. John asked Mick what had changed about rock music since he started his career. Mick's reply ranged over things like lyrics,...
Selling books in Tokyo
Noriko Ogawa, who translated my book 'Out of Silence' into Japanese, has been giving concerts in Japan, from where she sent me this photo of our lovely Japanese editor from the publishing firm Shunjusha. Fumiko-san, our editor, had brought some copies of the Japanese...
Sunday’s Wigmore
I'm really looking forward to Sunday's concert at Wigmore Hall with Erich Höbarth. It's the second in our pair of concerts this season featuring duo sonatas by Mozart for piano and violin. What a treat it has been to be so closely involved with this music - and this...
Prussia Cove fundraising concerts
I have had a lovely day playing chamber music with two fine musicians I met last year at Prussia Cove during the IMS 'open chamber music seminar' - Bogdan Bozovic and Anita Leuzinger. They flew in specially from Switzerland. Together with Erich Höbarth we're doing a...