The above quote, extracted from his L'Opere per Flauto (1977–1990), provides not only a colorful introduction to the effusive imagination of Italian composer Salvatore Sciarrino, but also a preview of what an unfamiliar listener may expect to find in his music. His largely unchanging musical language has slowly yet deliberately – like the four-minute unbroken cello glissando found near the end of his Vanitas for voice, cello and piano (1981)– captured the attention of composers, performers, scholars, and new music enthusiasts for over 30 years. Moreover, examination of Sciarrino's music provokes consideration for fascinating compositional comparisons, particularly in 20th-century Italian music, as his oeuvre demonstrates similarities with, and advancements of, the music of his compatriots. In this article, we will ‘reconnoiter’ the music of Sciarrino on two different levels, by: 1) contextualizing the formulization of his compositional language from developmental and sociological perspectives, and 2) conceptualizing these investigations in All'Aure in Una Lontananza (1977), a work which would perhaps forecast goals of his life output.

The following interview with Pierre Boulez contains arresting statements from the composer, casting new light on his musical and historical thinking. New insights emerge in an elaborate discussion of his compositional techniques in Pli selon pli and other main works. Surprising to some readers, Boulez the modernist here admits his constant dependence on personal choices and musical taste. He gives his views on modernism's intriguing relation to the classical musical tradition. He describes the cultural situation immediately following the Second World War and he discusses the complex relation between ‘life’ and ‘work’. Boulez takes up his experience as a conductor and points to the influence of Wagner, Debussy, and Mahler on his later conception of musical form. He finally airs his opinions on some lighter issues like Parisian culture, early music, rock, and opera.

Karlheinz Stockhausen embraced the potential of electronic music to generate new timbres and acoustic typologies early in his career. After first experimenting with magnetic tape in works such as Gesang der Jünglinge (1955) and Kontakte (1958–60), he later embraced other synthesis technologies for the production of large-scale spatial electro-acoustic works such as Sirius (1970) and Oktophonie (1990–91). His interest in technological advances in sound design and sound diffusion also managed to penetrate his highly evolved Klavierstücke.

In January 2009 the third part of a triptych of orchestral compositions by Vic Hoyland was performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Each of its constituent compositions relates to a particular city: Vixen to Palermo, Qibti to Alexandria, and Phoenix to Venice. This article seeks a positive heuristics and proposes a reading of Phoenix that contemplates some of the ways in which freeing Hoyland's recent music from old arguments and discourses reveals music that is responsive to contemporary thought, fascinating, virtuosically idiosyncratic, and which presents new challenges to musical design.

• London: Proms 2010 Martin Anderson, Rodney Lister, Robert Stein, Paul Conway

• Fifteenth Israeli Music Festival Jehoash Hirshberg

• Bregenz: Mieczysław Weinberg festival ‘In der Fremde’ Martin Anderson

• Liverpool: Shchedrin's Oboe Concerto Helen Thomas

• Glasgow: Sorabji's ‘Sequentia Cyclica’ Alistair Hinton

• London: James MacMillan's Violin Concerto

• Further reports from Presteigne, London and Cyprus Paul Conway, Jill Barlow, Martin Anderson

• Pierre Boulez ‘Tombeau’ facsimiles Peter O'Hagan

• The Letters of Gertrude Stein and Virgil Thomson Rodney Lister

• Comrades in Art: Correspondence of Ronald Stevenson and Percy Grainger James M Floyd

• Helmut Lachenmann Arnold Whittall

• David Matthews round-up Paul Conway

• Jonathan Harvey Colin Clarke

• Further reviews Bernard Hughes, Arnold Whittall, Colin Clarke, Peter Palmer, Tim Mottershead, Bret Johnson, Paul Conway