Cyril Scott once described Percy Grainger as a lovable eccentric'. The Australian-American pianist, composer, ethnologist, and aspiring all-round man' was, however, more eccentric to his own age than to ours. His views on the environment, food, the body, participatory democracy, and sex all anticipated by several decades views more typical of the mid-late twentieth century.

Prolific as a composer, performer, and recording artist, Grainger was an indefatigable writer. This selection of forty...