Some readers will know that this is not the first book of its kind. The precedent was established by Murray Schafer's British Composers in Interview, whose enduring appeal lies partly in the fact that while most of its interviewees can no longer contribute to the musical history of which they have become part, we have a sense of their returning temporarily to life as we read their words. Its continuing popularity may also reflect nostalgia for a period in British cultural life that is imagined as simpler and more secure than our own: as classical music becomes ever more difficult to define, some music lovers may yearn for a time when its boundaries were challenged by the young progressives but held largely in place by the traditional values of the old guard.

To look back half a century at the musical Britain that Schafer explored and to discover how much time he spent discussing the twelve-tone method of composition is to be reminded that most composers of the 1960s were required to react to or against a dominant aesthetic trend. While this may have been a stimulus to their creativity, it also risked categorising them according to their degree of commitment to a particular technique. In fact few of them embraced it fully; most adapted it in order to suit their own musical needs, finding that the apparent restrictions it imposed paradoxically empowered them creatively. In contrast, today's music is not judged on its degree of adherence to formulae and it is free to flourish in a multitude of forms and styles.

So one of the most obvious characteristics of contemporary classical music is its diversity. To some music lovers this reflects a welcome breaking down of barriers; to others it brings confusion and a belief that artistic standards have declined. Depending on their optimism or pessimism, they argue that music has either diversified or fragmented: while some suggest that much has happened, musically, since Schafer's book was published, others argue that not enough has happened and that progressive music has been sidelined by the more conservative. What might surprise some readers today is the apparently modest scope of that book, which featured contributions from only sixteen composers.