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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.
‘We went there to learn, not to shew off’
I've been reading Volume 2 of the Memoirs of a Highland Lady, the fascinating memoirs of Elizabeth Grant of Rothiemurchus who kept this particular diary between 1814-30. In it there's a good example of the social attitude which made it so hard for young women to...
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Trying pianos at Steinway Hall
I was at Steinway Hall in London the other day to try some pianos for a recording project later this year (of which more news soon). Chief technician Ulrich Gerharz had helped me - after discussing the repertoire and the venue - to whittle the choice down to two...
The stages that lead up to submitting your book to the publisher
One of my blog readers recently asked me what stages I had to go through before my latest book was accepted by Yale University Press. He was surprised by how complex the process was, so I thought others might find it interesting too. I don't know how it is with other...
‘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...
‘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...