Robert Layton

Robert Layton studied at Oxford with Edmund Rubbra for composition and with Egon Wellesz for the history of music. He spent two years in Sweden at the universities of Uppsala and Stockholm. He joined the BBC Music Division in 1959 and was responsible for Music Talks including such programmes as Interpretations on Record. He contributed 'A Quarterly Retrospect' to Gramophone magazine for thirty-four years and writes for the BBC Music Magazine, International Record Review and other journals.

His books include studies of Berwald and Sibelius as well as a monograph on the Dvorák symphonies and concertos for the BBC Music Guides, of which he was General Editor for many years. His prize-winning translation of Erik Tawaststjerna's definitive 5-volume study of Sibelius was completed in 1998. In 1987 he was awarded the Sibelius Medal and in the following year made a Knight of the Order of the White Rose of Finland for his services to Finnish music. His books include Grieg: An Illustrated Life and he has edited the Guide to the Symphony and the Guide to the Concerto (OUP).