My Hyperion recording of the Bach Flute Sonatas along with top flautist Andrea Oliva is now available. And it’s in the charts--along with André Rieu! Get it now to hear some really beautiful flute playing. It is unusual for a major flautist to record these with piano, so it’s something different! When I'm home in a few weeks, I'll put it in the online shop on this website. But of course you can find it on Amazon, and also through Hyperion.

http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA67897&vw=dc

The New Year has started off wonderfully, playing and conducting Beethoven 2 and 4 with the Britten Sinfonia in the same concert! It’s great to have done it now, and know that I can do it again in the future if asked. It’s a huge pleasure to work with that orchestra who have really come a along way during their 20 years. Thomas Gould led them brilliantly in works by Wagner and Sibelius as well. We got full houses in Norwich and Cambridge, and I was especially glad to see so many young people in the latter. On Wednesday it’s live on BBC Radio 3 and you can listen to it at 7:30 pm (UK time). But first tomorrow morning I have a three-hour masterclass at the Royal Academy of Music, teaching works by Bach, Schubert, Chopin, and Debussy.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01pqcy2

A very Happy New Year to all my readers! Normally I just stay at home on New Year's Eve and go to bed, but this year I did something different, as I had had no vacation at all in 2012. After Christmas in Italy, I went to Paris for several days to see where I had lived from 1978-1985. It had been a while since I had visited that city (where unfortunately I'm never asked to perform), so I walked for miles--going into seven of my favourite churches (including the "Couperin" church, St Gervais) and seeing some good friends. I also practised just two hours a day.....! Then it was on to Vienna where I also had never been. Meeting up with friends there, I again walked for most of the day, seeing the places where Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms (and many other composers) lived and worked. It was especially moving to see where Schumann composed his beautiful Humoreske, and where Mozart gave his last public performance--the premiere of his Piano Concerto K.595. I have written about those events for my CD notes, and so to actually see the spots was important. We heard Beethoven's 9th Symphony performed at the Konzerthaus, and I went to New Year's Day mass at the Jesuitenkirche during which they sang a mass by Mozart. I couldn't eat Sachertorte, but I found a gluten-free cake that wasn't far off. And I ate the Viennese speciality, Tafelspitz, in a restaurant which Schubert used to frequent. It was a change for me, and I enjoyed myself. I also practised my two hours each day at the Stingl piano house--Fazioli's dealer in Vienna.

Now the concerts begin again--with a "first" for me: playing and conducting Beethoven! Of course I've played the 2nd and 4th concertos many times, but never directed them simultaneously, so let's see. The Britten Sinfonia is a great group, and I'm sure we'll have fun. The concerts are in Norwich, Cambridge, Birmingham, and London's Barbican.

Another year is almost over. It's hard to believe. Even if 2012 had its unexpected moments, it was also full of wonderful concerts, people, and places. More is in store for next year. I have now filled out most of my website schedule at least until mid-May. There are still a few things to put in. Of course what is not visible is all the preparation that goes into each and every concert. I must now start on the second part of Bach's Art of Fugue which I will perform for the first time in Istanbul in March. There is lots of solo repertoire to brush up, many Mozart concertos as well, plus all that repertoire that I will present in next year's Trasimeno Music Festival (Liszt Sonata for the first time in many years; Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time--for the first time!). And much more. Three new CDs will be released: the second volume of Mozart Concertos; a solo Fauré disc, and the fourth volume of Beethoven Sonatas. Plus all the notes that have to be written for those releases (i just did the Mozart ones in the past few weeks). Still, I feel I have the energy to start another year, and I hope once more to see many of you along the way. Have a wonderful holiday season, and here's to 2013! The photo is of the carolling angels on my fireplace in Umbria, with berries from the garden.

The recording of Schumann's piano concerto (and other works for piano and orchestra) that I made last year with the DSO Berlin and conductor Hannu Lintu has been chosen by CBC Radio in Canada as the top CD of 2012! For those of you in Canada, you can hear the concerto streamed on their website for the next few days only. Otherwise, the CD is available through the online shop on this website. The same recording was also in the Guardian's list of best recordings for the year. Click on the links below to read more. The photo was taken during a performance of the Schumann at the 2011 Trasimeno Music Festival in Perugia, in the Basilica of San Pietro, just a month before we recorded it.



http://music.cbc.ca/#/genres/Classical/blogs/2012/12/Top-5-classical-music-albums-of-2012

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2012/dec/19/best-classical-albums-2012-choices

My concerts for 2012 are now finished! And the last one was a good one for sure! This week I played and conducted four Bach concertos with the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI in Torino (the other five we did together exactly three years ago). It is always very meticulous work preparing those pieces, and it gave me great satisfaction to hear how the musicians brought them off in concert. Members of symphony orchestras get so few chances to play that repertoire, and they really enjoyed it, I think. Tonight's concert was broadcast live on Italian radio. Thank you to soloists Roberto Ranfaldi (concertmaster) and Marco Jorino and Luigi Arciuli (flautists). And to Fazioli Pianos for providing me with the F308 from the showroom in Milan.

I missed updating this blog during the last few weeks--not least because my email programme crashed and I am still without my data. So many messages that needed answering got lost. Sorry about that! Plus we opened the bookings for next year's Trasimeno Music Festival in Umbria which will be held from June 29 to July 5, 2013. If you become a Friend of the festival, you can now book for all the concerts. It's an exciting programme! Have a look on:

http://www.trasimenomusicfestival.com/program.php

So much can happen in a week! After my recital in the Bath Mozart Festival, I returned to perform the Mozart C minor Concerto with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Hannu Lintu (who was conducting them for the first time). For the Mozart we only had one short rehearsal at 3 pm on the the concert day, although the two of us had gone over it beforehand of course. Working with Hannu, I wasn't worried about this, and indeed it turned out beautifully. The LPO had a very satisfying way with Mozart--which isn't the case with a lot of symphony orchestras. The Tchaikovsky "Pathétique" after the interval was fantastic! I couldn't get it out of my head for days after that. A second concert was held the next night in Reading, and then I immediately took off for Rome where I gave two concerts in the same day: one in the morning for school kids and an evening recital at La Sapienza. That was quite exhausting! The next morning I at least had a few hours to walk around the city in beautiful weather, before boarding the fast train to Florence (the photo is of the view of the Cupola of the Duomo from my hotel room window). There I gave a day and a half of masterclasses for the Amici della Musica, teaching six students from Italy and Germany. That was even more exhausting, but we had fun, and I took them all out for some pasta at the end of it. The next afternoon was my Art of Fugue recital programme again--using my own Fazioli piano at the Teatro della Pergola. It will arrive home only tomorrow morning, so today I was without it. Just as well, as there was too much catching up to do at the other keyboard--this one!

Oh dear. It seems I haven't written for ages. My news gets on Facebook much more quickly than here these days. I got out of New York on the Thursday after the storm, on one of the first flights to Eastern Canada. Then it was back to London just in time to recover and get up to Edinburgh to play them the Art of Fugue, as I did tonight in Bath. Both places had full halls and great audiences. The main bulk of the past week, however, was spent in Hamburg where I performed, for the first time, Messiaen's "Réveil des Oiseaux" with the NDR Symphony under conductor Kent Nagano (see photo). That was a real experience. All that birdsong! We gave three performances of it in four days--two in a packed-out Laeiszhalle in Hamburg. and one in Lübeck. I think it got better each time. It's not an easy thing to play together, although there are a lot of solo piano passages--including a final cadenza that is eight pages long. It's always great to do Messiaen with Kent who knew the Messiaens very well. I love hearing his personal anecdotes about them. And the orchestra musicians were completely taken with my iPad on which I had my score and the foot pedal I used to turn the pages. Kent said it stressed him out, thinking that something might go wrong with it, but I told him not to worry. If you want to hear the performance, then click on the link below before next Sunday. Now at least I get three days at home in London before returning to Bath to perform in the final concert of the Mozart Festival, performing the C minor Concerto K.491 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Hannu Lintu.

http://www.ndr.de/ndrkultur/programm/audio136161.html

A fantastic night at Le Poisson Rouge in New York yesterday (an underground venue in the Village that serves food/drink while the show is on). It was great to see a packed house, despite the authorities doing their best to make sure we all stayed at home. If this apocalyptic storm comes, at least we will have gone out having listened/performed both the Goldberg Variations and the Art of Fugue in the same evening! Somebody has written on Twitter that I gave Hurricane Sandy a “Category Five bitchslap” by going ahead with my concerts. The audience was so quiet—much quieter than at Carnegie Hall. Totally rapt. Only a few noises from the bar staff, and at one point (fortunately a loud one) the air conditioning went off with a whoosh, but was silenced in about 45 seconds. Many people couldn’t make it, but those who did were so happy, even if it meant walking miles to get home. Driving back to the hotel in a cab, New York was a total ghost town. But now I’m stuck. All flights cancelled to where I have to go. So I'm with friends up by Columbia University in a very solid building that for sure won't get blown away. I have a grand piano on which to practise Messiaen, great company, and a house full of books. Hopefully on Wednesday things will move again.

Also here in New York on Saturday I gave a short masterclass at the Third Street Music School Settlement--the nation's oldest community music school. A wonderful place, teeming with life. The American Friends of the Trasimeno Music Festival also hosted a private event at the studio of painter Caio Fonseca during which several of the students, along with myself, performed. In the days before that I was in Copenhagen, performing in the small but lovely Mogens Dahl concert hall. Hopefully I'll make it to Edinburgh for my concert there on November 5th. I'm sure I will--just that I might end up being more jet-lagged than planned.

An author friend says I should write books rather than be a concert pianist because then I would be taken everywhere by limo. Yesterday train to Nottingham. Straight to concert hall to rehearse. Check-in at hotel. Quick dinner at hotel. Did hair and make-up. Back to hall. Recital with a huge programme including the larger half of The Art of Fugue (see photo). CD signing. Back to hotel. Two crowded trains today to Bristol. Building works at Nottingham station mean lift (elevator) out of order as they were yesterday. Went up all these steps carrying two small but heavy bags, then realizing that I had to get my ticket in the machines down below. So back down and back up. Then up and down more steps to get to the platform. Got on train already exhausted. And Birmingham New Street station where I had to change is always depressing. Arrived in Bristol. Straight to hall (first taxi driver didn’t know where it was—had to get out of his cab and into another one). Carried luggage down all these steps to get into the church. Rehearsed. Ran out to get some dinner, having missed lunch. Found some Pad Thai in a Chinese restaurant across the street that was at least quick. Back to do my hair and make-up. Concert again with that monster programme, including a mini-talk on the Art of Fugue as I did also in Nottingham. CD signing. Then rushed to station to get last train back to London, arriving home at 1 am. Taxi driver didn't help with luggage. Back sore. The life of a concert pianist. At least the audiences were warm and appreciative. That makes up for the hassle of travelling. Tomorrow Copenhagen (promoter doesn't do airport pick-ups); two days later Ottawa (hurrah for my friends there!); two days later New York (nobody ever helps you in New York). What am I going to do now? Pack suitcases. And hopefully practise Messiaen before the day is over.