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.
World Piano Day and a little video
Today is 'World Piano Day' (as if every day wasn't piano day!) and Yale University Press has been tweeting a little clip of me talking about the French pianist-composer Hélène de Montgeroult. De Montgeroult is one of the pianist-composers featured in my new book Women...
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Read reviews of my new book
Last night I gave a talk about Women and the Piano at the gorgeous Toppings Bookshop in Edinburgh. (Photo of me signing books before the talk.) The room was full and there were some expert questions from the audience. It felt like being at a little book festival. I...
‘An important book’, says BBC Music
The April 2024 issue of BBC Music magazine carries a short but sweet review of my book Women and the Piano. As the text is too indistinct to read in the photo, this is what it says: 'Revealed within the pages of this elegantly written book by pianist and author Susan...
New Year’s Day
This new year has found me in thoughtful rather than celebratory mood. So here is a photo of the tide gracefully looping its way along Portobello Beach in the winter sun in Edinburgh, where I spent Christmas. There is much to look forward to in 2010, and I wish you...
Felix Wurman – in memoriam
Yesterday brought the very sad news that American cellist Felix Wurman has died, age 51, of cancer. Felix was an inspiring person with a passion for adventure and an extraordinary gift for making friends. He was the founder of the music group Domus, which had its own...
Yule Blog
While everyone is busy with Christmas festivities, this blog is going to sink into a cosy armchair with a slice of home-made Christmas cake and gaze out of the window for a while. Season's greetings!
A layer of icing
Richmond Park yesterday was full of children sliding happily on the icy paths. Not on the ponds, though – the ice is rarely thick enough to take a person’s weight. Everyone seemed to be chatting about the Eurostar trains which got stuck in the Channel Tunnel on Friday...
Voices raised (or lowered) in song
The other night I went along to join some friends who sing in a little choir. They had relaxed the membership rules for their last meeting of the year, a time for Christmas carols and mulled wine. Snow had fallen in London for the first time this winter, and it felt...
News of my new book
I’m delighted to announce that my third book, 'Out of Silence', will be published by Boydell and Brewer in March 2010. Boydell, who specialise in history books, published my first book, ‘Beyond the Notes’, in 2004. Since then, they’ve developed a very strong music...
The Birds
Visiting King’s College in Cambridge the other day, Bob and I were horrified to see that several of the lawns had been badly damaged (see photo). It looked as if hooligans had been let loose there, or as if a rugby scrum had taken place there during the night. What on...
O magnum mysterium
Yesterday I was in King’s College, Cambridge to hear the ‘Carols from King’s’ service, which will be broadcast on Christmas Eve on BBC2. When I was a student at the college, the choir sang Evensong every day and I missed most of the services, telling myself that I...
Small is beautiful
Still feeling cross that the Guardian, in its review of classical music in the past decade, did not say a single word about chamber music. Guardian writer Tom Service devoted almost his whole summary to opera and orchestral music. This happens year after year, no...
Gramophone magazine
At last Gramophone, the UK's leading classical record magazine, has reviewed the Florestan Trio's latest Hyperion disc of Haydn Trios (volume 2). Here's an extract: 'The Florestan Trio display their customary virtuosity, elegance and caprice, once again capturing the...
Brain patterns
I was fascinated to read recently about an experiment to find out what goes on in the brain of actors when they pretend to be other people. Actress Fiona Shaw volunteered to recapitulate her celebrated performance of TS Eliot’s ‘The Waste Land’ while lying motionless...
The changing popularity of accents
Here are Eva Hoffman, Janice Galloway and me at the Royal Festival Hall discussing what it’s like to write about music and musicians. Janice got us all laughing, and it turned into a fun evening. We three speakers all said something about why we wanted to write about...