Nearly 15 years have passed since Tempo devoted a whole issue to the music of Robin Holloway. And though that issue remains unsurpassed in its breadth of scope and euriditon, much has happened in Holloway's oeuvre and music generally to make a re-assessment necessary, and indeed urgent. Here I shall merely cover some of the basic ground, and attempt a slightly different view on the output of a composer whose finest works will surely stand as some of the most important produced in this country since the war.

Timeo danaos et dona ferentes is usually construed as the old tag that warns against Greeks who came bearing gifts. But shouldn't we be just as suspicious of contemporary music bearing classical texts, whether they be Greek and authoritarian in tone, or the Latin speculations of a Philosopher Saint? Particularly when the composer in question, Louis Andriessen, is a radical who espouses Anarchist politics but also writes works which feature extensive stylistic reference to Boogie-Woogie. Clearly this combination represents a curiously individual – even bizarre – viewpoint, but does it need to be taken very seriously? After all, it's open to any composer to incorporate chunks of Plato and St Augustine as an intellectual gloss or as a form of recondite titivation – added flavours in the musical recipe, expressly designed to convey gravitas. So do Andriessen's own raids on classical philosophy (among others) amount to more than a questionable sort of opportunism? And if the purpose is demonstrably serious, is the musical result able to bear the weight of the issues it seeks to deal with? In this article I shall focus on three ‘concept’ pieces by Andriessen (De Staat, 1972–76; De Tijd, 1980–81, De Snelheid, 1982–83, rev. 1984) which, together with De Materie (Parts I–IV, 1985/8) occupy a central place in his oeuvre. I shall attempt to outline the nature of the relationship in these works between the background philosophical issues and the musical result, while discussing how their musical idiom responds to the compositional challenges posed by their subject matter.

The subject of modernism in early 20th-century British music is rarely examined: partly because it is often thought that British composers were not interested in the Modern Movement before World War I, and partly because in discussing Modernism (a convenient umbrella term for the whole cultural avant-garde whose components included Expressionism, Futurism, Primitivism and Surrealism) one must be prepared to engage subjects which, in this country, are normally considered Verboten. There is no doubt, for instance, that the development of the Modern Movement on the Continent was partly inspired by a widespread awareness of Theosophy, and the interest, which it encouraged, in such esoteric areas as Indian philosophy and astrology. In this article I want to look at this aspect of Modernism in relation to Gustav Hoist, and especially in The Planets (1914–16): his, and British music's, first striking testament to the Modernist outlook. The very bases of this work are Hoist's understanding of astrology, his friendships of the time, and his Theosophical upbringing.

• Bliss, Bax etc. Martin Anderson

• Deconstructing the English Musical Renaissance Mike Smith

• Cyril Scott Diana Swann

• Sorabji – Part II Ronald Stevenson

• ‘Stone Litany/Black Pentecost’ John Warnaby

• Berthold Goldschmidt at 90 Malcolm Miller

• Henze's new symphony in Boston Rodney Lister

• Finnissy's ‘Therese Raquin’ Alwynne Pritchard

• Ultima Festival, Oslo Lawrence Hughes

• Xenakis's ‘The Bacchae’ Malcolm Miller

• Michael Parsons at the North Pole Brian Dennis

• Salzburg, 1993 George Newman

• Contemporary piano in Heilbronn and London Robin Freeman

• Maxwell Davies on Collins Classics Mike Seabrook

• Henze on EMI John Warnaby

• Holliger's ‘Scardanelli Cycle’ Michael Gorodecki

• Roberto Gerhard Piano Music Julian White

• Recent Górecki discs Jim Harley

• Recent Russian discs Susan Bradshaw

• Godowsky's Chopin Studies Alistair Hinton

• Poul Ruders John Wamaby

• Ernst Krenek Guy Rickards

• Alan Bush Mike Seabrook