In this book the direction of readers' attention is naturally drawn into music but more often
it is drawn outwards. This is the metaphoric idea of 'autopsy': music can not only conduct
investigations into extra-musical thoughts of discipline but also into political and
socio-cultural arenas. Admiration for Adorno and Bernstein does not inhibit sharp criticisms of
their philosophical and political aporias. Interviews with George Crumb and Kevin Volans unveil
surprisingly intimate portraits of the composers and their unique aesthetics. Essays on
composers as diverse as Alban Berg György Ligeti Frank Corcoran and Barry Guy reveal Dwyer's
multi-lensed and eclectic musicological methods. Focus on Guy and Mats Gustafsson prepares the
reader for an intense exploration of free improvisation as a means of 'extending our reach into
the polymorphous strata of consciousness.' Analysis of Dwyer's own works never falls into
self-regarding autoethnography but serves to understand music as 'the supreme mystery of the
science of man a mystery that all the various disciplines come up against and which holds the
key to their progress.' (Levi-Strauss)
