Music Biographies

Discover the extraordinary life, times, and art of Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975), great musical master and flawed but faithful witness to the survival of the human spirit under totalitarianism. He is without a doubt one of the absolutely central composers of the 20th century. His symphonies and string quartets are mainstays of the repertoire.

"I am thrice homeless, as a Bohemian in Austria, as an Austrian among Germans, as a Jew throughout the world—everywhere an intruder, never welcomed." Thus spoke Gustav Mahler (1860–1911), composer, conductor, symphonist. More than many other composers, Gustav Mahler's works are highly personal expressions of his inner world, a world characterized by an overwhelming alienation and loneliness.

Kenneth Leighton, best known for his organ and sacred choral music, was a composer of great depth and talent who wrote a significant body of works. Many of those works were written for large orchestras and a significant number of pieces of chamber music were composed for a variety of instrument groupings, as well as for instrumental solos. Anyone interested in 20th-century music as well as British and Scottish Cathedral music will find a wealth of works listed with a description of each.