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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.
A podcast for the ‘Brainland’ series
I have done an interview for the 'Brainland' podcast, a series 'where neuroscience, the arts and humanities mingle'. An old college friend, doctor and cellist Steve Brown, interviewed me about how I got started in music, how I got into chamber music, what motivates...
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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...
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...
The joy of Mendelssohn
The July issue of Classic FM magazine, just out, is devoted to 'discovering the genius of Mendelssohn'. They asked me to write a little 'artist's view' of playing Mendelssohn's piano music, and my article is on p48. For those who don't have the chance to buy the...
Fame’s feathery crowbar
My days of being able to be knocked down by a feather are past, but you could have knocked me down with a full-grown marrow, or possibly a crusty baguette, when I discovered that my birthday was the featured one in The Times’ birthday column on Thursday, at the bottom...
Old roses
Isn't it funny how our tastes can change over time? I used not to like the 'old English roses' as much as the simpler kind. I found the structure of 'old roses', with their mass of tiny petals, too fussy and complicated. I preferred the classic rose of the kind that...
Cygnet ring
... Couldn't resist the pun! After watching the swan on her nest on a little island in the middle of the lake in the local park for weeks, we were delighted to see her on the water with these handsome cygnets at the weekend.
Beethoven in China
I've been adjudicating a couple of prizes recently at music colleges. As usual these days, some of the most striking performances have been provided by musicians from China, Korea and Japan. I'm starting to get used to the excellence of their contributions, but from...
Connoisseurs
A while ago, Bob was given a special bottle of wine by way of thanks for something. We kept waiting for the perfect opportunity to drink it, but as nothing perfect ever presented itself, he finally decided that we should stop being so fussy and just drink it to...
Signs of spring
Children collecting tadpoles in our local park this week. The things frogs have to put up with! I looked up 'tadpole' in the dictionary. 'Tade' is the Old English word for toad. 'Poll' means head. Toadhead: a rather graceless image, I find. Somehow the tadpoles' tails...
‘Don’t be a DNA’
A hospital appointment date arrives in the post. Along with the letter is a leaflet pleading, 'Don't be a DNA!' It turns out that 'a DNA is someone who Did Not Attend hospital for an appointment and did not advise us beforehand. The clinic was ready, the staff were...
Remembering Jacob
A few weeks ago I attended an astonishing concert given by the pianist Jacob Barnes and three of his friends from the Royal Academy of Music. Jacob had been suffering from a rare kind of leukaemia for two years. His presence on the platform was a source of wonder and...
Shostakovich CD just out
I read last week of the death of ex-Sony chief Norio Ohga, the ‘father of the CD’. When Sony launched the CD format in 1982, Mr Ohga insisted that a disc must be long enough to contain his favourite piece, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. This determined the 75-minute...
Two years on
On the day the world is glued to the Royal Wedding in London, it seems slightly beside the point to mention that this is the second anniversary of my blog 'going live', but then, why not? I’m quite pleased about it. I wasn’t sure I’d manage to keep the blog going for...
The power of Radio 4
It was exciting being on Radio 4 yesterday, especially when I looked at my website afterwards and saw there was an enormous surge in the number of visitors – more than a ten-fold increase on the usual number. I had never seen such a number before on my ‘site stats’....