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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.
Edinburgh Book Festival programme announced
The Edinburgh Book Festival has just announced its programme for this summer. I will be taking part on Sunday 11 August at 6.45pm, talking to Kate Molleson about my book Women and the Piano. I'm delighted to be included in this very popular festival. This year the...
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La Puerta del Vino
Debussy's Prelude 'La Puerta del Vino', from his second book of Preludes for piano (written 1912-13), has been one of my favourites for a long time. I've always loved its evocation of harsh guitar music, flamenco singing and the rhythms of the habañera. Long ago I...
New Yorker ‘What We’re Reading This Week’ mentions ‘Women and the Piano’
A kind person in the US who subscribes to New Yorker magazine has alerted me to the fact that Women and the Piano is one of their selections in 'What We're Reading this Week - the best books out now, handpicked by our editors' (Subscriber newsletter, 8 May 2024) I...
Concentration
On Saturday I played the third of my Mozart Series concerts in Perth Concert Hall with Erich Hobarth. We were both very struck by the quality of the audience's attention. In any winter season, there are often outbreaks of uncontrolled coughing in the audience, but it...
Mozart and the power law
I'm on my way to Perth in Scotland, for the third of my Mozart Series programmes with violinist Erich Hobarth. We'll rehearse today, and the concert is on Saturday evening at 7.30pm in Perth Concert Hall. Please come along, Perthshire music-lovers! Mozart popped up on...
A knife in the hand
It was lucky I didn't have to play the piano much while I was in Austria, because I have been nursing a small injury to my right hand. It happened back in December when I was playing a solo programme including Ligeti's 'Musica Ricercata'. In the second piece, as the...
Graz prizewinners
Here are all the winners of the Graz Competition on stage at their Gala Concert on Thursday evening. Two piano trios, three Lieder partnerships of singer and pianist, and three string quartets (not all of whom are visible in the photo). For details of who won what,...
Jury arithmetic
The final of the Graz competition ended last night with no first prize being awarded. We had been following jury rules which obliged us to give our scores anonymously, and to refrain from discussing the competitors with one another. Consequently the result of every...
Graz trio final tomorrow
We have now arrived at six finalists for the piano trio competition in Graz. Each group has to play a contemporary work, plus one of Schubert's late, great trios in the Final on Tuesday. This will be the first time I have ever had to sit and listen to six consecutive...
‘Franz Schubert and modern music’
I'm in Graz, Austria, on the jury of a piano trio competition, 'Franz Schubert and modern music'. Graz is a beautiful city and even more so in the snow. The competition has several parallel categories: piano trio, string quartet and Lieder. The idea behind it is that...
More on Mayerl
Thanks, everyone, for your feedback about Billy Mayerl. Thank you also to those who opened my eyes to 'wave forms' and YouTube channels and iTunes issues, and to options for self-publishing one's recordings that I hadn't known about. Food for thought! I'll definitely...
Attenborough’s ‘surprising luxury’
This morning we listened to a delightful edition of 'Desert Island Discs' featuring Sir David Attenborough, irresistible as always. What a lovely voice he has! 'Desert Island Discs' is a long-running radio series in which each 'castaway' chooses the eight records...
Billy Mayerl piano music recording project
Some years ago I recorded 'Loose Elbows', a CD of Billy Mayerl's piano music. It features some of the sparkling, good-humoured pieces Billy wrote when he was the celebrated pianist at the Savoy Hotel in London in the 1920s and 30s. My disc has been in and out of print...
Listening on computer speakers
An intriguing article in the Guardian this week about The Chemical Brothers. They’re thoughtful and interesting, but some of their comments about music and audiences were startling for me, because they showed such a different facet of the music world. "I don't really...
Not showing off
Went to a lovely concert given by a group of distinguished European string players in memory of the Hungarian violinist Sandor Vegh, whose centenary falls this year. Sandor Vegh founded the International Musicians' Seminars in Prussia Cove, an inspiration to many of...