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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.
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...
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The difficulty of ending in tempo and without a pause
When you play a lot of Romantic piano music, you get used to the final notes being extended by a written pause. Composers like Chopin and Schumann often wanted the last chord to ring on gently (or triumphantly) while the mood of the piece hung in the air. We pianists...
Brian Kellock, great Scottish jazz pianist, has died
Very sad news that the Scottish jazz pianist Brian Kellock died last night. Brian was revered in the Scottish jazz world and far beyond. I didn't know him well, but I had got to know him a bit through attending his Sunday afternoon performances (with double bassist...
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...
‘The Artist’
As an antidote to all the stress of last week, we went to see The Artist, the French film which is now starting to win all kinds of awards. I had read of its producer's difficulties in persuading people to back his eccentric idea of making a silent, black-and-white...
Florestan Trio reviews
Here are a couple of reviews of the Florestan Trio's Beethoven trio concerts in the Wigmore Hall this week. The series came to a memorable close on 13 January with a standing ovation from the Wigmore audience. The Independent five-star review of the first concert The...
Exit, pursued by a waiter
On the day after the first of the Florestan Trio's Beethoven Cycle concerts in the Wigmore Hall on Friday, a kind member of the audience invited me to lunch in Le Caprice, a lovely restaurant to which I had never been before. The bread basket on our table contained a...
My Japanese colleagues
Over New Year I have been corresponding quite a bit with pianist Noriko Ogawa, who has almost finished translating my book 'Out of Silence' into Japanese. Though I am really looking forward to the Japanese edition, due out in spring, I am rather sorry that the stream...
New Year greetings
On the last day of the year, I find myself pondering the things that gave me most satisfaction during 2011. To my surprise, I realise that some of my happiest working moments were to do with teaching masterclasses. I say ‘to my surprise’ because I fended off teaching...
Short and Sweet
One of our Christmas presents this year was Dan Lepard’s Short and Sweet, a wonderful new book of baking recipes – breads, cakes, pies, desserts. The word ‘short’ presumably refers to pastry and not to the book itself, which is notably long (and sweet). My eye fell...
Beowulf
Coming back from Edinburgh on the train, I was sitting next to a girl who was knitting something very intricate on four slender knitting needles. She was following a pattern so complicated that she had to pause every other stitch and consult it. Eventually I asked...
Perth Advertiser review
I've only found one review of my concert last week in Perth with Erich Höbarth, but it's a lovely one, so I thought I would give the link. Once again we were so grateful to the several people who travelled long distances to be there. 'In this second of the series,...