There is a word that strikes fear and terror into the hearts of most humans. You may want to close your eyes before you get to the end of this sentence – but here it comes… MISTAKE. Awful, isn’t it? Did you feel a frisson of fear as you saw that ghastly word hovering there like Hamlet’s ghost? Somehow we have talked ourselves as a society into the belief that mistakes should never happen, that they are an assault against the natural order of the world. If a politician or a person in public life puts a foot wrong, the media swoop in like Nazgul (Tolkein) or Dementors (Rowling) shrieking with glee, and we all watch with delight as the perpetrator is torn to shreds.

Musicians are trained to live in fear of mistakes. The bogieman of a bum note, the spectre of a memory lapse. Classical music is supposed to be flawless, which explains a whole generation of depressed and anxious players, popping pills to get over the terror of error. The medication must work because whole symphonies and string quartets and piano sonatas fly by in live concerts and there isn’t the slightest...