Compiling a selection of letters for publication is a vexing task. Inclusions and exclusions tend to satisfy only the editors. Specialist readers will inevitably find their particular interests inadequately represented, while others will find material included to be offensive or inappropriate. The success of this volume has been secured partly because both editors have worked on books of Grainger ... (read more)
David Pear
David Pear has written extensively on Australian music and culture. His Self-Portrait of Percy Grainger (OUP, 2006), edited with Malcolm Gillies and Mark Carroll, gained the Deems Taylor Award of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers in 2007.
There is too much Percy Grainger for one person. Having studied the man for twenty-five years, I still cannot account for his ability to achieve so much in so many fields. The thousands of lengthy letters he wrote alone constitute a lifetime’s work, irrespective of the music, the concert performances, the teaching, the publishing.
... (read more)