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'.