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.
‘Search for a way to make it natural’
The other day I was listening to a pianist playing the fearsome second movement of the César Franch Sonata for violin and piano. The piano part is highly virtuosic and, apart from anything else, a very good proof of the fact that these big piano parts are not...
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Music and longevity
I go to quite a lot of concerts given by amateur musicians - partly because there's a big amateur music scene in the city where I live, and partly because I often have friends and neighbours playing in the concerts. Of course my particular interest is piano. It dawned...
Women of older generations
By chance, two different people have spoken to me recently about their late mothers, who experienced difficulties in following their chosen career when they were young. One of those women was born in the 1920s, the other in the 1930s. One was a doctor, the other a...
So few notes
A lovely moment during the BBC radio programme 'Desert Island Discs' with 90-year-old Dame Fanny Waterman, founder of the Leeds International Piano Competition. Dame Fanny recalled an evening some decades ago when the composer and pianist Benjamin Britten was in her...
Aging rockers
An uncomfortable experience watching a TV programme about ‘aging rockers’. Rock musicians were interviewed about the experience of growing older, especially in the light of the fact that their teenage lyrics were dismissive of this possibility. I cringed through a...
International Piano magazine review
Out of Silence has been reviewed by Julian Haylock in the July/August issue of International Piano magazine. The review is not online, so here's a glimpse: 'It is remarkable just how much Tomes manages to find illumination in things that may initially appear musically...
Not ‘all in this together’
I went to a lunchtime concert in the City of London, the district where many bank headquarters are. It’s an area I don’t often visit. As I was early, I walked around the streets for a while. They were thronged with incredibly affluent-looking suntanned bankers in...
Musical Recipes
Our much-used copy of Claudia Roden’s ‘Book of Middle Eastern Food’ has finally fallen apart, and we’ve bought a new, updated copy. In its honour, Bob made some lovely pastries filled with spinach, aubergine and onion with various cheeses, and a tabouli bursting with...
The classical music of the sports world?
The other night, Lindsay Davenport and John McEnroe were discussing on BBC TV the poor results of British tennis players in the opening round of this year’s Wimbledon Championships. They agreed that it’s tough at the moment, and not only in Britain, to develop a...
‘Out of Silence’ mentioned in New Yorker
My new book is mentioned in this week's New Yorker magazine by the leading writer on music, Alex Ross. Alex's column in the magazine this week is about ballet and its sometimes vexed relationship with the musical score. Read the article in the New Yorker. Order 'Out...
The power of negative example
I finally managed to sign up for the digital music service Spotify. The first thing I did was to listen to some recordings of pieces I’m currently learning, to see what other artists had made of them. I regarded my mind as being still open on the subject, was...
Expanding in performance
A curious thing happened at a concert of mine last week. We had rehearsed in the afternoon (piano plus string quartet) and when everyone was comfortable with the positions of their chairs and instruments, we marked up the stage with various colours of sticky tape so...
More book reviews
Two more reviews of my book 'Out of Silence' have appeared. As neither is online, here's a glimpse of what they said: ‘In my experience, highly gifted musicians often find it extremely difficult to articulate their ideas about music and reveal the secrets of their...
A kitten steals the show
I played a piano recital the other evening at the home of some friends. It was a lovely evening, and behind the piano, the French doors were wide open to the garden. About ten minutes from the end of my recital, as I was sailing full steam ahead with the final piece,...
The Florestan Festival at Peasmarsh
I’m off to take part in the Florestan Festival at Peasmarsh for the next few days. The festival takes place in a lovely little Norman church in the middle of the East Sussex fields (see photo). This year’s festival, the 13th Florestan Festival, celebrates the work of...