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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.
Smetana’s piano music and the use of ‘vibrato’
A little while ago I wrote something about a piano piece by Robert Schumann, in which he had instructed the player to play 'con accurezza' - with accuracy. It still seems an amusing little moment because of the questions it raises. I came across another such moment...
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‘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...
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...
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...
Baby Alpaca
Far be it from me to add to the deluge of cute animal pictures on the internet, but I couldn't resist posting this photo of a baby alpaca, taken by my daughter a few weeks ago near Lake Titicaca in Peru. This alpaca lives in a little compound with his best friend, a...
Guessing the dynamics
In November, my trio is giving the premiere of a new work which has been written for us – is being written for us, I should say – by Huw Watkins. Earlier in the summer I pestered Huw to let me have what he’d written so far, and though the parts aren't fully finished...
The student purse then and now
Several good letters in today’s Guardian on the subject of university fees. Various people point out that the older generation in Britain benefited from non-repayable grants. Today’s students have loans, and the average debt when a student graduates is now £15,000....
The language of handwriting
In Monday’s Guardian, Umberto Eco laments the decline in children’s handwriting ability. He gives various reasons why he thinks it’s a shame that we don’t handwrite letters any more, but surprisingly doesn’t talk about the impact that someone’s handwriting can have on...
Goodbye, older women
There's been a lot in the press this summer about middle-aged women and the way they're unceremoniously dropped from positions such as BBC newsreader or presenter. Newsreader Selina Scott brought the topic to everyone's attention with her age discrimination claim...
Pulling out the stops
I was in the audience this week at a concert of ‘early music'. At one point, a harpsichordist played a piece. Between two of its variations he pulled out a harpsichord stop which produced a different tone colour, and then he played a fast variation. When it was over,...
Pibroch
When I was in the Highlands recently I had the pleasure of meeting the eminent Scots musicologist Dr John Purser, who has been presenting a long-running series of radio programmes on the history of Scots music - much of which has come as a surprise to today's radio...
Over the sea to Skye
Just returned from a ‘summer' holiday on the Isle of Skye, in the Highlands of Scotland. It rained almost continuously, so we were hardly surprised when we learned that our visit was part of the most prolonged spell of wet weather recorded on the island since 1861....
Rattling Cello
A friend has been telling me about a DVD of cellist Bernard Greenhouse giving masterclasses. Greenhouse spoke about the great Catalan cellist Pablo Casals, with whom he had studied. Casals was well-known for his love of smoking a pipe. Asked how much he smoked, he...
Our cat’s 14th birthday
This is our cat at her 14th birthday party. She has been having chemotherapy for 15 months now. She's responded to it extremely well, but all the same we felt that her 14th birthday was something to celebrate. Now that the cat is on steroids, she has changed the...