An encyclopedia of music has died

We regret to report the death of Malcolm MacDonald, a polymath of musical knowledge who wrote so copiously that one name was not enough. He also appeared beneath the byline Calum MacDonald.

Malcolm wrote or edited some 15 books and was editor of Tempo magazine. His fields of expertise were legion, embracing Brahms, Schoenberg, Havergal Brian, Panufnik, the Scottish composer John Foulds, Alan Bush, Shostakovich, Bernard Stevens, Roberto Gerhard and Luigi Dallapiccola.

Malcolm had been suffering from cancer. He was 66. Our sympathies to his family; we have lost a veritable storehouse of wisdom and a passionate enthusiast for recondite corners of the art.