This extensively revised edition of John Bird's acclaimed biography of Percy Grainger gives the first circumstantial account of the life and works of one of the strangest figures in twentieth-century music. Behind Grainger's highly original compositional achievements, folksong collecting and glittering career as a virtuoso concert pianist lay a tragic and chaotic personal life—long domination by his mother, unorthodox sexual predilections, an eccentric athleticism,
a demonic spiritual drive and wildly inconsistent personal philosophy with Anglo-Saxon obsessions such as his famous `Blue-Eyed English'. A list of published compositions, a current discography of performances by Grainger, and a selection of his seminal writings complete what has already proved to
be a standard work. In their Prefatory Note to the first edition, Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears wrote: `In his sympathetic and tactful biography John Bird has beautifully balanced the brilliance with the turbulence of this unbalanced genius—we are grateful to him'.
- ISBN10 0198166524
- ISBN13 9780198166528
- Publish Date 18 March 1999 (first published 21 October 1976)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Oxford University Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 404
- Language English