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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.
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...
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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...
Signing paperbacks
Here I am signing paperbacks in Toppings Bookshop in Edinburgh this morning. Whenever I'm in a big bookstore, especially a well-curated one like Toppings, I look at all the tables with their piles of new books on a thousand fascinating subjects and wonder what chance...
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...
Looking for reviews
A friend of ours is in a West End play at the moment, and I wanted to read the reviews. Simply by typing the name of the play into Google News, I had all the reviews lined up neatly before me. Click! click! click! click! click! and I had surveyed the full range of...
Mould on the Christmas cake
I was so pleased with myself this year for baking my Christmas cake six weeks before Christmas. It's an especially moist cake because I soaked the fruit in strong tea overnight before baking. The finished cake was wrapped in four layers of greaseproof paper and foil...
‘Of Gods and Men’
Went to a marvellous French film, ‘Of Gods and Men’. These days I’m often disappointed when I go to the cinema but this was an exception. The film tells the story of a group of Cistercian monks in a small monastery in the Atlas Mountains of Algeria at a time of...
Instant Commentary
Interesting article the other day in The Guardian about the fact that many people now chat online about what they’re watching on TV, while they’re watching it. They don’t wait for the end of the programme, but start commenting on Twitter right away about things that...