I am delighted to be able to write this introduction to a long-overdue biography of a remarkable composer, performer and musical polymath. I met Erik Chisholm in Cape Town during a four-month stint there with the Cape Town Municipal Orchestra. We got on very well, partly because of a common interest in Janáček at a time when there were not so many experts on this composer as there are now. Ever since then I have held Erik Chisholm in high esteem and am very happy that through this volume his creativity and individuality will become better known.

Erik Chisholm was a musician of rare capabilities. He was a pianist and organist, a conductor, a composer, a lecturer on music, an entrepreneur and administrator, and to all these he brought a unique blend of originality, flair and energy. After an early start as a performing pianist, Chisholm established himself in Glasgow as an important influence on the progress of music in Scotland and Scottish music in general. He founded the Active Society for the Propagation of Contemporary Music and through this and the Glasgow Grand Opera Society he brought many first performances to that city. Berlioz's Les Troyens, for example, was first heard in the UK under his baton, as was Beatrice and Benedict and Mozart's Idomeneo. He formed many other organisations, including the Scottish Ballet Society, and in the meantime composed prolifically. Chisholm's passion for traditional Scottish music should also be noted. His time in South Africa, notably as Principal of the South Africa College of Music and Professor of Music at Cape Town University, was equally productive. Here he focused on the promotion of opera (including some of his own fascinating works) and introduced much new music to South Africa.

John Purser's biography is written with great affection for Chisholm the man and musician. He takes us on an exciting journey from his early Scottish and Pibroch-influenced works to his Hindustani influences, his interests in Russian music and his vital essays in modernism. Chisholm's restless nature and his extraordinary passion and originality, is truly captured in a biography of great quality.

Sir Charles Mackerras CH, AC, CBE