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.
Music and longevity
I go to quite a lot of concerts given by amateur musicians - partly because there's a big amateur music scene in the city where I live, and partly because I often have friends and neighbours playing in the concerts. Of course my particular interest is piano. It dawned...
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Women of older generations
By chance, two different people have spoken to me recently about their late mothers, who experienced difficulties in following their chosen career when they were young. One of those women was born in the 1920s, the other in the 1930s. One was a doctor, the other a...
Mozart’s birthday (etc)
Today, January 27, is Mozart's birthday. 269 years since he was born! His is the only 'composer birthday' I regularly remember, I suppose because he is still my favourite composer despite stiff competition from about 25 others. I remember his birthday for its own sake...
‘Ongaku no tomo’ book review
The Japanese music magazine 'Ongaku no tomo' (Friends of Music) has published this review of my book 'Out of Silence', translated by Noriko Ogawa. The delightful translation of the review is by a friend in Japan: 'Susan Tomes sets a high values on encounters with...
My first Japanese reviews
Noriko Ogawa, who translated my book 'Out of Silence' into Japanese, reports that the first reviews have started appearing in Japan. To our great delight the book is one of three chosen this week by the Nikkei Shinbun (Financial Times of Japan) as "Connoisseurs'...
The Olympics Closing Ceremony
Last night we watched the Olympics closing ceremony, basically a long pop concert with eccentric dance interludes. I assume that the singers couldn't really hear their support groups or backing tracks in the enormous stadium - at least, I'm giving them the benefit of...
National Anthems
The Olympic medal ceremonies have proved a parade ground for the national anthems of lots of different countries. And what a lamentable bunch these anthems are, from a musical point of view. I've been struck by how most of them fail to give the slightest flavour of...
Music at the Olympics
I'm having trouble getting used to the loud music which is played at the Olympics between events and even during pauses and breaks in the action. Last night we watched (on TV) a women's basketball match with pop music carefully choreographed to plug any moments of...
Booking me as a speaker
I have joined the roster of speakers represented by the Ed Victor Agency. If you are interested in booking me as a speaker, Visit their Speakers' Bureau and scroll down the alphabetical list until you come to T. I've always enjoyed speaking to concert audiences, and...
Marginalisation
The other day I went to an orchestral concert, at the end of which the conductor held up a hand for silence and made an emotional speech about how this kind of music needs our support more than ever, because classical musicians feel 'marginalised'. He said that young...
Above the frets
Went to hear a consort of viols playing their own arrangement of Bach's Goldberg Variations, which were written for a keyboard instrument. It's such wonderful music that it has inspired various people to arrange it for different instruments - I have heard it done...
Pink garlic from our garden
Last summer we brought back some pink garlic from the French village of Lautrec, where we visited a memorable exhibition of tableaux created using pink garlic cloves as the raw material. When we got home, we divided our garlic bulbs into single cloves and planted them...
Alphonse Silhouette
This morning in the park I was trying to take moody silhouettes of my old friends the Egyptian geese (see photo). 'I wonder where the word 'silhouette' comes from?' I said to Bob. He thought for a moment and replied, 'Probably named after Alphonse Silhouette, the...
Smoking in the air
Yesterday I adjudicated a scholarship whose auditions were held at the Royal Academy of Music. Their Josefowitz Recital Hall is set into the ground at basement level. Half way up the wall behind the stage is a large half-moon-shaped window as wide as the room. This...
The language of the day
Went to the Royal College of Music to see their end-of-year student production of Mozart's 'The Marriage of Figaro'. Whenever I go to see Mozart operas, I'm struck by how one gets to see a side of Mozart not so much in evidence in his purely instrumental music. How to...