The manuscript of my new book has been accepted by my publisher, Yale University Press, and I’m delighted to be able give you some news of it. (It’s due to be published in March 2026.)
The book is called Nocturnes and the Fascination of Night Music. It’s essentially a history of the nocturne, which we all know as a lovely peaceful kind of Romantic piano music. I follow the nocturne from its first appearance in St Petersburg, where the Irish composer and pianist John Field was living at the time, through its development in the hands of Chopin and Fauré, with glimpses of who else was writing nocturnes alongside these three great exponents of the form. I take a look at other kinds of night music – because not everyone sees night as a tranquil time – and discuss how the nocturne has found a contemporary identity as the ‘sleep music’ so popular in our insomniac society.
I also look at how the nocturne has influenced artistic spheres beyond music.
Not knowing that my favourite colour is blue, my publisher has by chance designed the perfect cover for the book. Entirely blue! I love how the tiny stars could be seen as musical notes tumbling through the firmament. If I saw this book cover on the table in a bookstore, I’d definitely gravitate towards it, no matter what its subject matter was.
Congratulations! I can’t wait to read it.
I am so delighted to hear this and very much look forward to it. I “discovered” you only recently and am making my way through all your books to date with great pleasure.
This is exciting . I look forward very much to reading it.
I’ve always wanted to know more about the origin of Nocturnes – and how interesting to be able to follow the journey to the present day. Congratulations!
That’s great news. Blue is my favourite colour too and I agree the cover looks splendid. The contents will surely be as fascinating as the music they are about.
Thank you all for these supportive comments! Much appreciated.
I sometimes wonder what our subconscious choice of favourite colours says about our personalities. Blue speaks to me perhaps more deeply than any other – a colour of day and night, peace and mystery. That is a truly inspired idea for a book.
This is splendid news.
And given your previous post on Tasting Notes, and the comments above, my head is trying to associate music with colours and styles of wine. Thank you!
I look forward to reading Nocturnes.
What a beautiful cover! I can’t wait to read it!
Susan
Good evening
I will be interested in reading this book. I finished your book “The Piano” last weekend having been intrigued to see whether having the great Jaki Byard as your teacher would have covered your perception of Classical music. I felt that it the book covered a wide range of piano styles very fairly. My piano teacher used to belong to Billy Mayerl’s Club but was not a fan as he preferred Errol, Bud and Monk.
My interest in Classical comes out of my love of jazz and I worked my way backwards through the likes of Debussy, Messiaen, Bartok, etc having been a massive Gil Evans fan as a teenager. It is the rhythm and colour in Classical music which interests me so I tend not to listen to the Germanic stuff. I appreciate your Haydn piano trio recordings though – just feel that Haydn would have really “got” jazz.
Look forward to reading the Nocturnes book. Surely there has got to be room for some Duke in their too ? I am hoping you write “100 Great Jazz piano solos” next.
Cheers
Ian