Beyond the Notes: Journeys with Chamber Music

By Susan Tomes

We knew from her recordings that Susan Tomes is a superb chamber player; now we know that she's a superb writer too. Michael Church, INDEPENDENT She is as sensitive an observer and as subtle a writer as she is one of our finest chamber musicians...This is a book that should be read by practising musicians and music-lovers alike: here's one performer who really can communicate in words as well as music. JAMES JOLLY, GRAMOPHONE Susan Tomes's book gives you an intensely illuminating picture of the life of a pianist...she is a brilliant writer...Just as she magnetises with her playing, so too with her words. EDWARD GREENFIELD, GUARDIAN In this widely acclaimed volume, Susan Tomes, a rare example of a leading musician who writes about the craft of performance, describes her experience of twenty years of rehearsal, concerts and recording. Her performing life has been centred on chamber music and the need to communicate it fully to an audience hungry for meaningful musical experience. She was a founder member and the pianist of both Domus and the Florestan Trio, award-winning groups at the top of their field. Part One is a series of diaries describing their travels and performances: Domus in the 1980s with its own portable concert hall, struggling to create the conditions for informal but intense concert performances, and the Florestan Trio, currently one of the world's finest piano trios. Part Two is a collection of thought-provoking essays about teachers, making records, practising and rehearsing, audiences, earning a living, and the particular challenges of being a concert pianist. Beyond the Notes gives an unusually candid view of the complexities of a life in music. SUSAN TOMES, alongside her packed concert schedule, is a frequent contributor, on music and other subjects, to a number of publications.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1843831600
• ISBN13: 9781843831600
• Release Date: July 2005
• Publisher: Boydell Press
• Length: 216 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Remarkable account of the professional chamber music life

I have been a fan of Susan Tomes and her trio's prize-winning recordings for several years, and when Gramophone magazine had a laudatory review of her new book, "Beyond the Notes", it was irresistible. So I bought it, and devoured it ravenously over the course of 3 days. I don't think that the review did the book justice: I think that it's one of the most remarkable books on music that I have ever read. It has so much: musical insights and useful points for the non-professional player, humor, colorful descriptions of personalities, insights about teaching, learning a piece, rehearsing, the nature of audiences, extramusical considerations in performance, etc. I marked dozens of places in the book, and listed the pages with the marks so I can return to them often. Over and above all this, the book conveys the passion for excellence and the love of music that sustained the author and her partners in the most difficult times. Splendid and riveting. A must read for music-lovers and players.