Percy Grainger
- Author: Bird, John
the release of this revised and slightly extended edition of John Bird's pioneering biography, first published in 1976, is welcome. Bird charts the course of his subject admirably, ... he offers...
Percy Grainger
- Author: Bird, John
Purchase product
the release of this revised and slightly extended edition of John Bird's pioneering biography, first published in 1976, is welcome. Bird charts the course of his subject admirably, ... he offers...
About
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'.
Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Prefatory Notes by Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears
- Appreciaton by Leopold Stokowski
- Author's Preface
- 1 `Bubbles'
- 2 Doctors and Dustbin Lids
- 3 `Perks' joins the Frankfurt Gang
- 4 Saint and Sinner
- 5 Grettir the Strong Flexes his Muscles
- 6 `The years before the war were Hell'
- 7 The Twisted Genius and the Dinkum Aussie
- 8 Packed Houses and Zulu Warriors
- 9 `I am an Australian, not a Corsican'
- 10 Unto Brigg Fair
- 11 The Little Half-Viking
- 12 `Poor put-upon Percy'
- 13 `Adieu Old World! I would hail a New World'
- 14 `Your mad side has ruined us'
- 15 Beatless Music, Blue-Eyed English, and a Nordic Princess
- 16 `The measure of my artistic defeat'
- 17 `I shall go back to the joys of my teen-years'
- 18 `Your loving but defeated, Percy'
- Select Source List
- Appendix A. Catalogue of Grainger's Published Original Compositions and Arrangements
- Appendix B. Statements on `Free Music'
- Appendix C. Preface to Spoon River, American Folk-Music Setting No. 2
- Appendix D. Discography: Performances by Grainger
- Appendix E. Catalogue of Duo-Art Piano Rolls made by Grainger
- Appendix F. Select Bibliography: Performances of Grainger's Works by Others
- Index
Awards and reviews
the release of this revised and slightly extended edition of John Bird's pioneering biography, first published in 1976, is welcome. Bird charts the course of his subject admirably, ... he offers us an absorbing character study
