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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.
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,...
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The imaginary concert hall at the end of the street
A friend and I have been discussing the career of a mutual friend who died recently. He was a fabulous musician who wasn't as well known as he should have been. Writers and visual artists can stay put in the place where they choose to live, and create their work...
Watching the Van Cliburn piano competition
I have been keeping half an eye on the 2025 Van Cliburn piano competition in Texas, partly because when I was writing Women and the Piano I did a fair amount of research into the gender disparity one can see in the lists of piano competition prizewinners around the...
BBC Young Musician 2012
Through a fog of jet-lag I nevertheless enjoyed watching the finals of the Piano and String categories in BBC Young Musician 2012. The level of technical mastery in these young players is quite astonishing. I'm constantly amazed at how they manage to combine...
Back from Cuba
I am back from Cuba, but too jet-lagged to write much. It has been a big adventure. I am not sure if I have ever been in a country which seemed so clearly on the edge of change. The old socialist regime now co-exists with an influx of tourists whose money and spending...
Easter blog holiday
This blog is taking an Easter break while I go to Cuba with my daughter, leaving Bob peacefully at home to write his book on orchestral music. Oh yes, I agree: it's hard to imagine me in Cuba, even for me. I'm a bit scared of the tropical mosquitoes, but I'm...
Bus station classics
More depressing reports about Bach, Vivaldi, Handel and Mozart being used to deter gangs of young people from hanging around at bus stations and the like. Once again it's not clear what is really being said about classical music. On the one hand, transport bosses say...
Ceylan’s ‘Anatolia’
Last night we saw 'Once upon a time in Anatolia', Nuri Bilge Ceylan's haunting film which won the Grand Prix at last year's Cannes Film Festival. Reviews and viewers' comments had suggested it was either a masterpiece or a shocking waste of two and a half hours. Both...
Playing music during surgery
The press has been reporting recently on the successful use of music during surgery in a couple of different hospitals. Apparently it can 'lessen fear' and reduce the heart rate of patients who are played 'easy listening' and 'chart classics' while having...
Third anniversary of this blog
It's three years today since I started this blog, three years in which I've thoroughly enjoyed corresponding with readers around the world. I've also learned to use a camera (well, a bit). I looked at the website statistics to get an overview. The number of...
Guardian Open Weekend
King's Place, the building behind King's Cross which houses two concert halls and also the Guardian offices, was heaving today for the first Guardian Open Weekend (see photo). It was great to see the place so full, and full of such interesting-looking people too. I...
Parakeets in Richmond Park
This morning I managed at last to get a photo of one of the green parakeets which live in Richmond Park. They're usually too quick for me. The parakeets have been a feature of the park for some years, but still strike an exotic note with their vivid green plumage and...
Blood orange tart
Bob made a gorgeous tart using blood oranges and lemons (see picture). The colour was quite lovely, a deep golden yellow which reminded me of Renaissance fresco paintings. I started to search around on art-history sites and paint history websites for a description of...
My youngest reader
Noriko Ogawa has finished translating my book 'Out of Silence' into Japanese, after more than a year's work. As Noriko zooms about the world, she and her editor in Tokyo have been corresponding about the precise choice of words and the appropriate tone, and I have...
To talk or not to talk
Our discussion at the Guildhall on Friday, about talking to the audience, turned out to be unexpectedly interesting. It would take too long to report on all the facets of the discussion, but here's one of them. All the performers agreed that talking to the audience is...