Philip Reed is an independent scholar whose many publications include co-editing six volumes of Letters from a Life: The Selected Letters of Benjamin Britten, 1913-1976; Benjamin Britten: Billy Budd (edited with Mervyn Cooke); The Travel Diaries of Peter Pears, 1936-78 and On Mahler and Britten, as well as contributions to studies of Britten's operas and War Requiem, and books on Poulenc and Elizabeth Maconchy.

• Part 1 On Mahler: Mahler and Viennese Modernism, Paul Banks; Gustav Mahlers sprache, Herta Blaukopf; Mahler and the BBC, Asa Briggs; Gustav Mahler - memories and translations, Peter Franklin; Mahler and the New York Philharmonic - the truth behind the legend, Henry-Louis de la Grange; Vestdijk on Mahler, 1924-69, Eveline Nikkels; Mahler on Stamps, Gilbert Kaplan; Mahler and self-renewal, Colin Matthews; in search of Mahler's childhood, David Matthews; a new transition - pages from the Third Movement of Mahler's Ninth Symphony, Edward R. Reilly; the song of the Earth - some personal thoughts, Peter Sculthorpe; Mahler the factual, Erwin Stein; Mahler and Pfitzner - a parallel development, John Williamson. Part 2 On Britten: from No to Nebuchadnezzar, Mervyn Cooke; Britten and his fellow composers, David Drew; a (Far Eastern) note on "Paul Bunyan", Somsak Ketukaenchan; the key to the parade, Oliver Knussen; notes on a theme from "Peter Grimes", Ludmila Kovnatskaya; the making of Auden's "Hymn for St Cecilia's Day", Edward Mendelson; Edinburgh diary 1968, Kathleen Mitchell; towards a genealogy of "Death in Venice", Christopher Palmer; Venice, 1954, Myfanwy Piper; on the sketches for "Billy Budd", Philip Reed; "Abraham and Isaac Revisited" - reflections on a theme and its inversion, Eric Roseberry; not all the way to the tigers - Britten's "Death in Venice", Edward W. Said; Donald Mitchell as publisher - a personal recollection, Peter du Sautoy; writing and copying - a superficial survey of Benjamin Britten's music, Rosamund Strode; along the knife-edge - the topic of transcendence in Britten's musical aesthetic, Arnold Whittall; a bibliography of Donald Mitchell's writings, Maureen Buja.