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.
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...
Search the Blog
Get The Latest Posts
Interested in what Susan has to say about all things classical music? Subscribe below and whenever Susan writes a new blog post you will be notified by email. Simple!
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...
Different kinds of live music
I was lying awake in the night, with music playing in my head as it usually does when I'm awake in the wee small hours. Sometimes I set the music going consciously, as for example when I'm 'practising' something I'm currently trying to learn or memorise. At other...
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,...
‘Best modern recording of Schumann’s D minor Trio’
Yesterday Radio 3's 'Building a Library' feature on CD Review focused on Schumann's first piano trio, in D minor opus 63. Erica Jeal's overall recommendation was for a 1958 recording of Emil Gilels, Msistlav Rostropovich and Leonid Kogan, and her choice for the best...
Boydell’s widget
'A widget?' I hear you ask. No, I didn't know either. But it seems that a widget is a clever little package of information, in this case about my book 'Out of Silence'. Its publisher, Boydell Press, is embracing widgets as a new kind of promotional material. If you...
Cheese scones
I'm off to Scotland for the second concert in my Mozart Series with Erich Hobarth. While I'm there, I'm hoping to visit the newly refurbished Scottish National Portrait Gallery which has been closed for the past two years. It opened again in Edinburgh on December 1....
Herald interview
Today there's an interview with me by Kate Molleson in the Herald, one of Scotland's leading newspapers. The interview was triggered by the interest in my Mozart Series with violinist Erich Höbarth in Perth Concert Hall. The next concert in the series is on December...
Coping with unkind remarks
Since I wrote about attending a masterclass the other day, several people have told me about their own bruising experiences with ‘masters’ who specialised in devastating criticism. Years after the event they could still recall the words with searing clarity: ‘Shall I...
Sunday at Conway Hall
I've promised to help promote the Conway Hall Sunday Concerts, where I'm playing a recital on Sunday 4 December at 6.30pm. Conway Hall (25 Red Lion Square, Holborn, London WC1) is Europe's longest-running chamber music series, and has been going since 1887. The series...
‘The most dangerous words are whispered’
To King's Place to hear the Hungarian piano professor Ferenc Rados teach a public masterclass for several chamber groups. I know lots of people who have had memorable lessons with Ferenc Rados in recent years, though I myself hadn't seen him since I played to him in...
November sun
To Cambridge for a dinner at my old college. In order to check what I wore last year at this event, I looked up some photos I'd taken at the time (just as well, as I was about to wear the same thing) and was surprised to see how much colder it was last year in...
Perthshire Advertiser review
Lots of people seem to have been interested in the Guardian review, (see previous post), so here's another one of the same concert which appeared yesterday in the the Perthshire Advertiser: 'Since the opening of Perth Concert Hall, last Friday evening's concert was...
Five-star review in today’s Guardian
Blowing my own trumpet, or rather hammering my own Klavier - but it's not so often that one gets a five-star review in the Guardian! Here's the review of my concert in Perth last Friday with violinist Erich Höbarth: 'Some of the most intuitive, candid and affectionate...