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.
Wall Street Journal reviews my book
This weekend my book Women and the Piano is reviewed by Diane Cole in the Wall Street Journal. I don't think my books have ever come to the attention of the WSJ before, so I am delighted to be included. Only subscribers can read the full review, but this link at least...
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!
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...
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...
Bronze age
Last time I saw Anthony Gormley's bronze figures, they were perched on top of various London buildings. When you crossed Waterloo Bridge on foot, you had time to spot several of them in perilous locations, looking unnervingly like people who might have to be talked...
‘Scotsman’ article today on piano competition
Following on from yesterday's post about the Scottish International Piano Competition, anyone who's interested in the new chamber music round may like to read Kenneth Walton's article on the subject in today's Scotsman newspaper. The chamber final is tonight at 7pm in...
Trillions of notes
I'm in rainy Glasgow, half way through my fortnight on the jury of the triennial Scottish International Piano Competition. Obviously I can't say much as the competition is still in progress, but I can say how absorbing it's been to hear so many accomplished young...
More musical if wearing a long frock
Much discussion yesterday about Ben Goldacre’s ‘Bad Science’ column in the Guardian. This time he was reporting a piece of good science, a paper by Noola Griffiths which shows that young women violinists are judged more musical and more technically proficient if they...
Herald article about SIPC
Today's Glasgow Herald has an article about the Scottish International Piano Competition, which starts next week in Glasgow. I'm on the competition jury. The board of the competition have made some wise and welcome changes to the requirements, which we all hope will...
Last roes of summer
All right, natural science correspondents, I may have got the deer species completely wrong, but I couldn't resist the pun. After so much bad weather here recently, with autumn seeming ever closer, the wind dropped today and the sun seemed to gather itself for one...
Something Good
What a pleasure to hear the John Wilson Orchestra in their Rodgers and Hammerstein Prom, which I heard on television. John Wilson’s arrangements are simply spellbinding. His hand-picked orchestra, with many individually distinguished musicians playing in it, reminded...
Yelling for silence
I was in Italy last week and was lucky enough to be in Siena on the day the fragile mosaics of the cathedral floor were uncovered, as they are each summer for a short period. My photo shows one of the central mosaics, King David who was also a musician. The cathedral...
Por una cabeza
I’ve been struggling to get rid of what the Germans call an ‘Ohrwurm’, a catchy tune that goes round and round in your head whether you want it to or not. My Ohrwurm is an early-20th-century Argentine tango, El Choclo, 'the ear of corn', which I heard played on the...
Art imitating photography
Went to the BP Portrait Award exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, which was packed with visitors. The technical standard of painting in many of the portraits was astonishing. Skin, hair, eyelashes, veins were depicted with stunning realism and skill. In quite...
Relaxing into loud music
Walking over Waterloo Bridge the other evening I decided to pop into the Festival Hall. A very good Afro-Brazilian band was playing in the foyer and a large multi-cultural crowd, people of all ages, had gathered to listen. Many of the audience seemed to be South...
Words from a Master
A gift arrives from America: a pianist colleague has kindly sent me Barbara Alex’s handsome new book about Hungarian piano professor Gyorgy Sebok, who died in 1999. Like all Sebok’s former students, I love to be reminded of how he spoke. He had a gift for aphorism...