This year sees the centenary (on 1 May) of the birth of the composer Jón Leifs. Had it fallen just a few years earlier the occasion would have attracted virtually no attention outside his native Iceland, but over the past four years a series of CD recordings, mainly from the Swedish label BIS, has done much to establish Leifs as a figure of far more than local significance. His output included three string quartets, piano music, songs, choral works (both accompanied and unaccompanied) a sizeable number of short orchestral works, an organ concerto, oratorios and the first ever symphony composed by an Icelander. The creative personality emerging with each new recording is among the most radical and original of the 20th century and this article is intended as a short introduction to the music of this remarkable composer.