This is the fourth book I've written about the music I love. With every passing year the task seems to become more important as the world in which we live seems to have less and less time for anything that demands patience, perseverance and long-term thinking.

These are at the heart of what ‘classical’ music is all about. Ever since I took up the piano as a child, I've found that this kind of music is not only beautiful and entertaining, but is a serious mental resource. It tries to do something which cannot be done by the three-minute song. The best classical music is long-form music, reflecting upon how things are transformed by time. We still need ways to help us think about the experiences that life requires us to undergo. There may be a lot of short-term thinking around at the moment, but life itself hasn't changed. It still presents us with complex extended experiences we seek to understand. Long-form classical music, with its intricate layers and messages, is a wonderful way to symbolise our experience because of the way it unfolds in time, as our experiences do. Understanding when to look back, when to look forward, what part memory plays in it all – this is one of life's greatest tasks.