ABSTRACT
I have always been interested in composer interview books. As a composer myself, I find the insight they provide into the working process invaluable, in addition to their essential documentation of composers’ views on their work and the issues which surround them. They have informed much of my own development, helping to shape my views on music.1 In 2003 I decided to start my own project with the aim of producing a book of interviews with composers, later expanding its remit to include improvisers. I considered doing face-to-face interviews but decided that this would be logistically quite difficult and would not necessarily produce the same depth of thought in the final texts. Having already conducted a series of email interviews in 1999 whilst running a website called new music, I felt this would again be the best way of producing the texts. One of the advantages of the correspondence format is that participants (ideally) have more time to consider their questions and responses, resulting, I hope, in a clearer view of their work. The trade-off is the lack of spontaneity perhaps: this is how they write, rather than how they speak. As it turned out, some of the interviews took many months to complete, whilst others involved a fairly rapid correspondence. It also became necessary to interview some of the participants orally, although these interviews, with the exception of Alvin Lucier, ended up taking place over the telephone.
