Malcolm MacDonald

Who was Malcolm MacDonald?

Malcolm MacDonald was a British author, mainly writing about music. He was born in Nairn, Scotland on 26 February 1948 and educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh and Downing College, Cambridge; he lived in England from 1971 until his death, first in London and from 1992 in Gloucestershire. He died on 27 May 2014 at Leckhampton Hospice.

He wrote several books, notably volumes on Brahms, Schoenberg, John Foulds, Edgard Varèse, the Scottish composer-pianist Ronald Stevenson and a three-volume study of the 32 symphonies of Havergal Brian. Other books include a tourist guidebook to the city of Edinburgh and a multi-volume edition of the musical journalism of Havergal Brian. He contributed chapters to symposia on Brahms, Alan Bush, Erik Bergman, Shostakovich, Bernard Stevens, Ronald Stevenson, Varèse, an essay on Czesław Marek to a symposium on Swiss Composers and another on Scottish composers to a symposium on Musical Nationalism in Great Britain and Finland. He also compiled catalogues of the works of John Foulds, Shostakovich, Luigi Dallapiccola and Antal Doráti and contributed articles to many musical encyclopedias such as the New Grove.