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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.
Background music that won’t stay in the background
We went out for lunch yesterday to celebrate the publication of the paperback of Bob's book A Little History of Music. Here's to a whole new bunch of readers! Everything in the restaurant was nice except for the music playing in the background. It was a dreary, drifty...
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Growing up without live music
Recently I visited my old college in Cambridge to give a recital. While I was there, I took the opportunity to attend two services of Evensong in the college chapel. As always, hearing sacred music sung in those glorious surroundings (see photo) was a striking...
Admiring swallows on either side of their migration routes
We often walk up past a farm in the Braid Hills where swallows gather each year to make their nests and raise their young. Usually the birds arrive in early May, and until they leave in August for their journey to Africa, we visit the farm regularly to see how they're...
The majestic scenery of the Lofoten Islands
I probably would never have gone to the Lofoten Islands of Norway on my own initiative, but I was very glad that a music festival had summoned me there last week. Somehow I had imagined the islands as smaller and tamer than they really are. In fact, the scenery was...
The character of audiences
It’s always so interesting how each audience has its own character, even though each audience is a random collection of people. I have been to see the film ‘The King’s Speech’ twice recently in my local cinema. On the first occasion, nobody moved when the film ended....
Inside the Arctic Circle
I’m preparing lots of music for a trip next week to the Lofoten Islands of Norway, inside the Arctic Circle. Their summer festival of chamber music is already established as a rather special event in the calendar, and their new winter festival is an intriguing...
Millionaires
I was discussing the challenges of life in chamber music with a fellow musician from one of the big London orchestras. He told me the following joke, or rather 'joke', which orchestral players tell about chamber musicians: Question: How does a chamber musician make a...
Among historians
There was lively debate at King’s College London following my talk yesterday. I had spoken about the interpreter’s task as I see it, taking as my title a remark of György Sebök’s, ‘Play the contents and not the container’. In my talk I used ‘contents’ to refer to...
At the Edinburgh Society of Musicians
I've been in Scotland, giving a talk and masterclass at the Edinburgh Society of Musicians, founded in 1887. Their meetings take place in an fascinating house now shared by several of the city's musical societies. The house was built in the late 19th century, and...
Florestan Trio’s final season
To everything there is a season .... and the Florestan Trio has announced its final season of concerts. We'll be concluding a year from now with a celebratory Beethoven Cycle in the Wigmore Hall, London. For the full text of the announcement, please click on the...
Concert in memory of Sandor Vegh
Yesterday I went to a concert in memory of the Hungarian violinist Sandor Vegh who founded the International Musicians' Seminars in Prussia Cove, which I attended as a student for many years. Vegh died on 7 January 1997 and for the past few years, a group of string...
Like in Bach’s day
I've been in Germany, where I attended a christening in a lovely old Baroque church in Bavaria (see photo). Music was provided by friends and family members playing various instruments in the gallery of the church. The baby's grandfather had composed a Pastorale for...
The strength of his up-bow
I've been in Scotland, where I enjoyed seeing Raeburn's portrait of the 18th-century Scottish fiddler Niel Gow in the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh. I was amused by the information beside the painting, which explained that 'as a fiddler, Gow was especially...
The baton and the jackboot
I've just finished reading a fascinating book published in 1944: The Baton and the Jackboot, by Berta Geissmar, the personal assistant of conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler during his great days in Germany. After Geissmar had been forced to leave Germany during the Hitler...
Changes in the air
Went for dinner with a number of friends, some young, some older. As it was our last gathering before the New Year, we found ourselves asking one another how the old year had been, and whether we had any plans for the new one. This kind of discussion usually provokes...