This is an authoritative survey of the music of modern British composers - composers whose work in the last quarter century has made London the musical capital of Europe, if not the Western world. Francis Routh's purpose is not to be encyclopaedic but to identify the individual motivation of certain composers and the direction in which their creativity has led; but his book at the same time provides an analysis of virtually all the significant music produced in this country since 1945, ranging from the work of Walton and Britten to the experiments of the avant-garde. The word 'contemporary' is sometimes misused and made to apply to works which are consistent with a particular and immediate philosophy. For Francis Routh, the only question is whether a work is artistically effective. What matters about a composer's style is not that he adopts this or that particular idiom, but what use he makes of it. If a work is effective, it will contribute actively to its tradition - and thus an active contemporary tradition is both cumulative and a constant growth. It is this approach which enables Francis Routh to do equal justice to the most conservative and the furthest-out of British composers. Contemporary British Music has most useful appendices and an excellent bibliography. It contains numerous musical examples in the text and sixteen pages of very interesting photographs, many of original and annotated scores. - Dust jacket.