Memory 思い出・記憶 日本語の翻訳は、英文の下にあります。 The autumn of 2019 was incredibly busy at work, so it has been a few months since my last blog post. Things eased up a little over the long New Year break and I was able to complete another piece: Four Songs of Love and Loss for...

Open Access オープンアクセス 日本語の翻訳は、英文の下にあります。 AndArt Music (the UK company which publishes the sheet music of my compositions) and I have made a joint decision to switch to open access publishing. Our hope is that by going open access, many more people will play and perform my music. The full Terms...

Art & Music 美術と音楽 日本語の翻訳は、英文の下にあります。 During the summer holiday I took a trip down memory lane. I went to a couple of Proms concerts while back in London. I was a regular at the Royal Albert Hall during my teens and early twenties. I even got to the Last Night...

Composer-Performers 作曲家兼演奏家 日本語の翻訳は、英文の下にあります。 Looking back over the history of classical music, for me the real heart of the repertoire was written by composer-performers. There are countless examples: Bach and Handel the organists; Haydn the court musician; Paganini, Liszt, Chopin and the other great nineteenth century virtuosi … Into the twentieth...

Influences 影響 日本語の翻訳は、英文の下にあります。 The CD has been on sale for a few months now. Sales are … well … slow, but I did not expect sudden interest in the first CD released by an unknown amateur. Nevertheless, I have been heartened by kind comments from people who have listened to...

Beginnings 始まり   日本語の翻訳は、英文の下にあります。 Everyone starts somewhere. For me it was in a piano lesson when I was probably around 9 or 10 years old. The memory of this moment is crystal clear, although I cannot remember exactly when it was. I must have spent some time that week doodling...

Christmas Music クリスマスの音楽   日本語の翻訳は、英文の下にあります。 On the morning of 1 November I went into a coffee shop near where I live in Tokyo, something I often do when I want to concentrate quietly for an hour or two on research. But that morning, I could not concentrate. The reason: Christmas...

Political Music 政治的音楽   日本語の翻訳は、英文の下にあります。 Most of the time, classical music is not very political. But, it can be. Think of Beethoven’s dedication of his Third Symphony to Napoleon Bonaparte, or Shostakovich’s symphonies depicting war and revolution (Symphony No. 7 “Leningrad”, by the way, is one of my “desert island...