Inflated egos, corporate insanity, slave labour, sexual excess, dazzling genius. Welcome to the world of classical recording. "Maestros, Masterpieces and Madness" is a sparkling expose of the strange truth and sheer brilliance behind the classical music recording industry. Leading music critic Norma[...]

Gustav Mahler is the most influential symphonist of the twentieth century. This book reveals the man and musician through the words of his contemporaries. It includes the artist Alfred Roller's description of Mahler's naked body, and a Nazi-era reappraisal by one of his closest relatives.[...]

Why Mahler? Why does his music affect us in the way it does?
Norman Lebrecht, one of the world's most widely read cultural commentators, has been wrestling obsessively with Mahler for half his life. Following Mahler's every footstep from birthplace to grave, scrutinizing his manuscripts, talking[...]

Here is one of the most enjoyable and illuminating books ever published for the music lover, a feast of delightful anecdotes that reveal the all-too-human side of the great composers and performers.
There are stories of appetites (Handel eating dinner for three), embarrassments (Brahms falling a[...]