The composer Robin Walker is 60 this year. David Matthews, who has known Walker and his music well since the composer was 23, gives an overview of his life and the development of his musical language from serial modernism to what Walker calls ‘modal chromaticism’ – essentially a renewal of tonality, with strong links to both Wagner and Sibelius. The thinking that led to this development, which is linked to Jungian psychology, is discussed, and there is an examination of five major works from Walker's extensive catalogue, including his seminal orchestral piece The Stone Maker.