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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 right tempo for this music’
The other day I was playing through some of Schubert's 'Deutsche Tänze' or German Dances, little dances in triple time which were very popular in Schubert's day. His many 'Deutsche' were clearly designed for practical use, such as someone playing them on the piano...
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London Piano Festival this weekend
On Sunday of this week I'll be playing a programme of piano music by historical women pianists at the London International Piano Festival at King's Place. Mine is the closing concert of the festival, at 3pm on 6th October. If you live in or near London, please...
Competitions then and now
I've been watching the BBC Young Musician competition on television for many years now. Slowly, the competition has slipped from the major channels and is now shown on BBC4, whose output currently seems to consist of repeats, archive material and cultural things that...
Dancing at altitude
No dancer myself, I nevertheless love to watch good dancers, especially if they are musical. That may seem an odd qualification to make about dancers, but it often seems to me that the rhythm of the music and the steps of the dance are on parallel tracks. Because my...
Rainbow over Edinburgh
Well, I wasn't sitting in an empty room, but I can't pretend that my discussion session in Glasgow was a great success. Had it not been for several members of the teaching faculty coming to my rescue, it would have been a rather silent room. My masterclass was most...
Talking about performance
In the past few days I’ve spent some time studying scores of pieces I’m going to be teaching in a masterclass at the RSAMD this week. The date has been in my diary for a long time, but because the academic year only began a couple of weeks ago, it was impossible to...
‘Alison’s House’
It’s a double-edged feeling when you come across something superb by someone you’ve never heard of. Happy to discover them, but sad that they seem to have fallen through the net of history. That’s how we felt on seeing ‘Alison’s House’, by the American playwright...
Choosing a piano
To Steinway Hall in London, to choose a piano for the Florestan Trio’s Hyperion recording of Shostakovich next January. Whenever I'm able to select an piano, I have to do my research well ahead of time, because the best ones get booked up months in advance. Each...
Harvest Blues (and Reds)
It’s always seemed rather odd to me that the academic year and the new concert season start in the autumn. I understand that historically it’s to do with the harvest being gathered in, and a season of work being finished, after which it’s time to start new things....
Aubergine with attitude
I wasn't intending to buy an aubergine when I went shopping in Sainsbury's today, but how could I resist this one? Luckily it sneaked past EU guidelines on the acceptable face of vegetables.
Pots of money
At the weekend we visited lots of different artists’ studios under an ‘Open House’ scheme run by the borough of Wandsworth. We’ve been attending this event for years and always enjoy the chance to see artists in their home settings, often with their art displayed for...
Waving a stick
Philippa Ibbotson’s article in Wednesday’s Guardian about ‘the myth of the maestro’ has stirred up a lot of interest. Last time I looked, there were about 130 comments on the Guardian blog. The article questioned the enormous fees paid to orchestral conductors,...
First review of the trio’s new CD
The Florestan Trio’s new disc, a second volume of Haydn piano trios (Hyperion CDA67757), is just arriving in the shops, and the first review appeared yesterday. The magazine International Record Review (October) has given it their ‘Oustanding’ mark. The review is...
Not a museum of glass and stone
After lamenting the lack of music in Venice churches, I had the opposite experience yesterday when attending Evensong in the Chapel of King’s College, Cambridge. It’s always uplifting to hear the Chapel resounding to the pure intonation and chiselled phrases of the...
Silent churches
I’ve just been in Venice for a few days. The city was on the cusp of autumn – warm and sunny but with thunderstorms looming, and mist in the morning on the day we left. We visited about 547 churches. As ever in Italy, I’m disappointed by how rarely one hears any music...