George Rafael

George Rafael is a writer on film and music based in London. He has contributed to Cineaste, The First Post, Opera News, Film Comment and Salon.

Mahler Everywhere
Was Gustav Mahler the most influential composer of the last 150 years? Two recent books by the journalist and broadcaster Norman Lebrecht claim as much; George Rafael, though, feels the question of Mahler's influence is more personal.
Free of Baggage
Who is Kevin Volans? George Rafael goes looking for an answer after hearing the composer's latest piano concerto at the BBC Proms.
Benny was Family
Seventy years after the release of Citizen Kane, George Rafael looks at the close, if often tempestous, relationship between the film's director, Orson Welles, and its composer, Bernard Herrmann – and how they changed the way filmmakers thought about music.