Blackwell Publishers
Pages 362

This is a readable and easy-to-use guide to contemporary music and its availability on record.
Brian Morton describes the life and work of seventy-four leading composers and full discographical details are given.

The book is divided chronologically, and can be equally used as a guide or as a history. Brian Morton begins with a list of recordings of ten key works from the first half of the century that have had a profound influence on the music of the second half.

He then discusses works by composers from all over the world.
In describing the work and its musical context, and provides a glossary of those terms - such as "atonality" and "serialism" - that have been closely associated with the contemporary repertoire. He gives suggestions for further reading on the composers' work or on the particular works in question.

In the bibliography he selects a core library for those interested in finding out more about the music of the period.