In the afternoon I felt suddenly very tired and lay down to listen to Radio 4’s Open Book programme. Tim Parks (author of ‘Teach Us to Sit Still’) was talking about his recovery from a strange illness a few years ago. He spoke about the healing role of meditation, and said that the experience of ‘letting go of words’ in meditation had profoundly changed his approach to writing. As he signed off, he quietly said something like, ‘It made me wonder whether narrative is actually a bit perverse, and somehow sick.’ This fascinating thought chimed mysteriously with what we were talking about in the morning.

Not telling a story is a post from the Susan Tomes: Pianist & writer blog

After the performance, Bob was talking about ‘the Russian crescendo’, a concept I hadn’t come across before. Stephen Hough, a supreme Rachmaninov interpreter, writes about it on his blog. Apparently the ‘Russian crescendo’ refers to Rachmaninov’s own piano playing style, in which he often eases off as a long crescendo reaches its climax. Bob said that this type of crescendo struck him as psychologically truer than a simple, inflexible ‘getting louder’. He compared it to climbing a mountain where, when you realize that you’re about to reach the top and see a wonderful view, you instinctively slow down, notice your surroundings and step gently onto the summit rather than pressing on relentlessly with no alteration in your pace. An inspiring image!

Russian Crescendo is a post from the Susan Tomes: Pianist & writer blog

The following night we stayed home and watched the second Prom, this time on television. The marvellous Bryn Terfel was singing the role of Hans Sachs in Wagner’s ‘Meistersinger’. It was far easier to hear and see properly, and because of the BBC’s recording skills we almost forgot that the performance was being relayed from the very same hall whose acoustics we had deprecated the day before. Without television, we would have missed the play of emotions on Terfel’s expressive face and the fascinating detail of his singing. How ironic that a televised performance should be more satisfying than a live one!

The Proms: live v. televised is a post from the Susan Tomes: Pianist & writer blog

Independent review of new music books is a post from the Susan Tomes: Pianist & writer blog

The draw closes on the 9th August, so if you’re interested, click the link above and have a go.

Win a free copy of Out of Silence is a post from the Susan Tomes: Pianist & writer blog

another oldie

Richard Osborne devotes a large part of his Music column in ‘The Oldie’ magazine (Summer 2010) to my new book. As I don’t have a picture of the magazine I’ve chosen instead an illustration of an real oldie, one of the 700-year-old oaks in Richmond Park.

Richard Osborne writes in The Oldie: ‘Pianist and five-star essayist Susan Tomes … The twelve months [of Out of Silence] deliver twelve chapters each containing nine or ten short essays. Some are prompted by a concert or an event; others are simply serendipity, such as the delightful ‘In Praise of Idleness’, inspired by a Bertrand Russell volume discovered in a charity shop. For a parent with a musically gifted child the collection is essential reading.’

The Oldie magazine review is a post from the Susan Tomes: Pianist & writer blog

Britten seemed preoccupied and worried. Dame Fanny asked him, ‘Why are you so worried? The notes of the piano part aren’t particularly difficult.’ Britten answered, ‘My dear, it is because there are so few notes on the page that I’m worried. I have to conjure up a whole world of sound.’ What a wise answer!

So few notes is a post from the Susan Tomes: Pianist & writer blog

I cringed through a 1967 BBC clip of Austrian-born musicologist Hans Keller interviewing Roger Waters and Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd. Keller, cigarette in hand, pontificating in his crisp Viennese-flavoured English, pointed out to viewers that Pink Floyd’s music was repetitive, extremely loud, and that he was ‘perhaps too much of a musician to enjoy it’, a damning remark if ever there was one.

If this was hard to watch, so were Waters and Barrett as they smirked through their replies. I disliked both sides yet identified with them both. I remembered how it felt to be a teenager, proud of my generation’s music. But I also agreed with Hans Keller. Though I disliked his superior manner, I suspect I would have agreed with his observations even as a teenager. And I found it admirable that he was willing to make himself unpopular and stand up for his views, unlike today’s media-trained presenters, so desperate to appear non-judgmental.

Aging rockers is a post from the Susan Tomes: Pianist & writer blog

‘It is remarkable just how much Tomes manages to find illumination in things that may initially appear musically unpromising. … even celebrity chefs unwittingly provide much food for musical thought in this unputdownable volume. By the end, I felt I not only knew more about the author, but also about myself. Highly recommended.’

International Piano magazine review is a post from the Susan Tomes: Pianist & writer blog

Observing all this, I was struck by a powerful feeling that the banking crisis has changed nothing in the financial district. It was clearly business as usual, and people were feeling jolly good about it. Our government keeps telling us that ‘we’re all in this recession together’, but clearly we’re not. As I entered the mediaeval church for an hour of chamber music, I felt as if I were entering another world.

Not ‘all in this together’ is a post from the Susan Tomes: Pianist & writer blog

We talked about how our favourite cookery books combine cultural glimpses with helpful recipes. Claudia Roden’s book is a good example. You move smoothly from reading about bean soups made in pots on the roof-top, or the daily task of making yoghurt, or the doughs and shapes of pastries favoured by different communities, to discovering how to make these things yourself. As you cook, you feel you’re entering into the world described by the cookery writer. I lamented that this can’t really happen with books about music. Yes, you can describe concerts and so on, but you can’t end each section with a recipe for how to make a lovely piece of your own:

500g of assorted notes
125 grams of accidentals
100 grams of minims
200 grams each of crotchets and quavers
50 grams of dots
A sprinkling of triplets
A generous cupful of rests

Pick through the notes carefully, removing any double flats or sharps …

Musical Recipes is a post from the Susan Tomes: Pianist & writer blog

The words ‘any more’ surprised me. I had never thought of tennis as ‘old hat’. During the Wimbledon Championships, the only time I pay close attention, it seems such an appealing sport. Especially when the current crop of players contains people from all kinds of nations and backgrounds, such a wealth of good-looking athletes, and so many potential role models, it seems inexplicable that young people should find it resistible. The plus points of tennis remain the same as ever, so it must be the victim of some random and mysterious swing of fashion. And the thought suddenly struck me: maybe tennis has become the classical music of the sports world?

The classical music of the sports world? is a post from the Susan Tomes: Pianist & writer blog

Read the article in the New Yorker.

Order ‘Out of Silence’ from Amazon.

To order by phone from Boydell and Brewer’s US outlet in Rochester NY, call 585 275-0419 in the US. To order from Boydell in the US by e-mail, write to boydell@boydellusa.net

‘Out of Silence’ mentioned in New Yorker is a post from the Susan Tomes: Pianist & writer blog

However, as soon as I heard the recordings I immediately thought, ‘No’. I was struck by the ‘wrongness’ of the tempo, or the mood, or the instrumental tone, the loudness and softness, or the interaction between the players. I hadn’t previously thought of myself as having fixed ideas about the right way to play the pieces, but it turned out that I was ruthlessly quick to spot the wrong way.

In a curious way this kind of ‘negative example’ is just as helpful as hearing a model performance which inspires you with good ideas. I’m not suggesting that the performances I listened to were unsatisfactory in any objective way (indeed, some of them were ‘classic recordings’), just that they helped to clarify my own thinking. Suddenly knowing that a certain way is not your way is quite a powerful energiser.

The power of negative example is a post from the Susan Tomes: Pianist & writer blog

A few hours later, we all came back in concert clothes. We went on stage, bowed to the audience and sat down. Almost at once, one of the string players turned round to me and said, ‘I’m sorry, I haven’t got room to play. You’ll need to move the piano back a bit.’ I glanced down and saw that the piano was exactly in the agreed place, its legs precisely within the yellow tape box. And my colleague’s chair was precisely in the same spot as it had been. However, he was waving his arms agitatedly to demonstrate that he didn’t have room to play, so I stood up, and several of us moved the piano a foot or so backwards.

Afterwards, we mused on what had happened. Why did my colleague feel that he had enough room to move during the rehearsal, but not enough during the concert? We agreed that subtle things happen in the performer’s mind between rehearsal and performance. When an audience is present, some performers seem to feel suddenly bigger, others suddenly smaller. I often find that the piano stool, which I’ve carefully left at ‘the right height’, suddenly feels too high or too low when I come on stage for the performance. Even coming back in concert clothes may make a difference. Whatever the reason, it seems that people change in size between rehearsal and performance.

Expanding in performance is a post from the Susan Tomes: Pianist & writer blog

‘In my experience, highly gifted musicians often find it extremely difficult to articulate their ideas about music and reveal the secrets of their craft through writing. Not so Susan Tomes. Her latest book, ‘Out of Silence’, is packed full of fascinating material reflecting upon the difficult and sometimes intangible issues that face a busy professional pianist…Yet the approach here is anything but self-centred, as can so often be the case with autobiographical material. Rather, what emerges from these pages is Tomes’s strong sense of humility, her quirky humour, and above all her tremendous love and driving enthusiasm for her work. … a compelling read.’

BBC Music magazine, July 2010

‘A glorious collection of essays. ..After ‘Beyond the Notes’ and ‘A Musician’s Alphabet’, with this third volume Susan Tomes joins that small band of musicians whose literary skill runs parallel to their musical talent. All of them are male, most are pianists: Glenn Gould, Alfred Brendel, Daniel Barenboim and Stephen Hough, for example…

Tomes’s work reminds me of JB Priestly’s life-affirming collection of essays, ‘Delight’. I can offer no higher praise.… Tomes extracts on almost every page a life lesson for the rest of us, whether or not we are musicians.’

Editor’s Choice for July 2010, Classic FM magazine

More book reviews is a post from the Susan Tomes: Pianist & writer blog

About ten minutes from the end of my recital, as I was sailing full steam ahead with the final piece, a black kitten wandered in from the garden. In full view of the entire audience it advanced delicately on to the oriental rug which lay in front of the piano, glanced up to make sure everyone was watching, and proceeded to describe graceful circles around the carpet, occasionally stretching its back and pointing its little feet like a ballerina. It then tiptoed over to the listeners and started to thread its way playfully in and out of the chair legs.

Of course the audience was mesmerised by the kitten. I could feel that everyone was desperately trying to keep their attention on the music, but not really succeeding. Even I was having trouble banishing the kitten’s charming antics from my peripheral vision. I had to decide whether to continue playing, but I had worked up so much momentum that I couldn’t simply stop, and in any case a little voice in my head told me that this kind of thing is just the reason that house concerts are useful practise for coping with unexpected distractions. So I ploughed on. When the applause broke out, the startled kitten shot out from between the chairs and vanished into the garden. Once again I had learned the truth of WC Fields’ advice, ‘Never work with children or animals.’

A kitten steals the show is a post from the Susan Tomes: Pianist & writer blog

This year’s festival, the 13^th Florestan Festival, celebrates the work of Robert Schumann whose 200^th birthday was on 8^th June. Schumann has always had a special meaning for us because our trio is called after one of his imaginary characters, the Florestan who symbolised his active, energetic side. We’re playing all Schumann’s piano trios, and I’m also playing his wonderful ‘Davidsbuendler’ for solo piano. Robert Philip will be giving a talk on Sunday afternoon about Schumann’s struggle to ‘let both man and musician speak at once’ in his music. These are just a few of the events on offer during the festival, which also features the London Haydn Quartet, the cellists Jonathan Manson and Sally Pendlebury, and educational events provided by the Lawson Trio and by Sam Glazer. Normal service on this blog will be resumed next week.

The Florestan Festival at Peasmarsh is a post from the Susan Tomes: Pianist & writer blog

Listen to Australian radio interview is a post from the Susan Tomes: Pianist & writer blog

‘Tomes has a particular understanding of humanity rare in writing about music. She has indeed looked ‘beyond the notes’ and seen how the world perceives musicians.’

Click here if you’d like to read the whole review on the  ‘Out of Silence’ section of the Book Reviews page.

TLS review of ‘Out of Silence’ is a post from the Susan Tomes: Pianist & writer blog