A musician of imagination and finesse, Michael Tilson Thomas is the Principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra and the Artistic Director of the New World Symphony. Next year he takes up the position of Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony. This book is based upon conversations between the conductor and Edward Seckerson and ranges in content from essays on championed works by Russian, European and American composers, including Tchaikovsky, Mahler and Charles Ives, to accounts of the conductor's exotically crowded childhood and early association with, for instance, musicians like Bernstein, Stravinsky and Copland. Not least the book offers insights into the arts of conducting, from baton technique to orchestral tact, and of bringing the classical and contemporary repertoire to a wider audience.