Norman Lebrecht

Martin, a lonely child in wartime London, has his world enlivened when Dovidl, a refugee violinist, comes to live with the family. The two boys become very close and Martin is devastated when Dovidl disappears on the day of his international debut. Forty years later Martin finds the answer to this riddle.

A century after his death, Gustav Mahler is the most important composer of modern times. Displacing Beethoven as a box-office draw, heard in Hollywood films and on state occasions, his music inspires particular devotion. Some believe it helps heal emotional wounds, others find intellectual fascination in its contradictory meanings, and many feel that the music captures the yearnings and anxieties of our post-industrial society. In this highly original account of the composer's life and work, Norman Lebrecht explores the Mahler Effect, asking why Mahler's music has become the soundtrack to our twenty-first-century lives.