Oh, to be multi-talented! Susan
Tomes is the pianist of the much-admired Florestan Trio, and
before that, the quintet Domus. In that role, she is "top of the
pops" for me as chamber musician - her groups' recordings of the Fauré
quartets and quintets and Mendelssohn
trios, to name but three, are simply
marvellous. It is one of my lasting
regrets, which I hope to put right in
the future, that I have not seen either
Domus or the Florestans in concert,
the former not having toured Australia
and the latter's tour not taking them
to the city where I live.
However,
she doesn't simply provide the world
with her musical thoughts from the keyboard,
but also from the pen. She has written
what must be the most informative and
intelligent account of being a chamber
musician in Beyond The Notes
(Boydell Press, 2004), which includes
a number of short essays on music. She
also contributes regularly to The
Guardian and Financial Times
as well as broadcasting on the BBC.
The
present book is a collection of twenty-six
articles, each linked to a letter of
the alphabet: A is for Audience, B is
for Background Music, C is Chamber Music
and so on. Yes, this is somewhat of
an artificial way of constructing a
collection of essays, but it doesn't
really detract from the overall quality
of the writing.
By way
of example of the style and nature of
the articles, I have chosen the first:
"A is for Audience", If you'll
pardon the paraphrase, it isn't wise
to judge an essay by its title: it would
be easy to imagine that this is a diatribe
against coughers, applauders and lack
of attendees. Nothing could be further
from the truth: as with each of the
articles, it is a comfortable mix of
the author's experiences and philosophies
- yes, her frustrations do emerge from
time to time, but in a very gentle way.
She talks about choosing clothes appropriate
for the occasion (both as performer
and audience member), the relationship
between performer and audience, the
social context of a concert and the
importance of live music in these days
of recordings.
Susan Tomes' writing is conversational in
the best sense of the word, considered
and personal. With each of the essays
lasting no more than eight pages and
having no direct connection with each
other, it is an ideal book to read one
"letter" at a time, as a brief
escape from a busy life. Mind you, I
had to stop myself from reading the
whole lot at one go, like eating a bag
of lollies.
I can
thoroughly recommend this, particularly
when it is being sold at a such a reasonable
price. I bought it from AmazonUK for
less than £9.
David J Barker
