Stephen Downes

Mural is a haunting 'confession' by a psychopath known only as D. Held in a secure facility, he has been asked by his psychiatrist to write down his thoughts, admissions, anxieties, and uncertainties. They are at first revealed through the stories of other people's lives and obsessions. Specifically, D is preoccupied with a British man who spent his early years...

Gustav Mahler's status as an icon of fin-de-siècle Viennese music is assured, with his works now staples of the concert repertoire. His life story has been told in numerous biographies, films, and novels, yet he remains an ambiguous, provocative figure. Mahler was a composer who challenged musical form and style but identified with German Enlightenment and Romantic culture, disliking many...