The volume is dedicated to the distinguished novelist and writer on music Étienne Barilier on the occasion of his seventieth birthday. Beside an interview with the honoured, and an article of his on the Diabelli variations, it contains a general appraisal of his personality by Christophe Sirodeau, a reader's response to his 'Chinese piano' by Xavier Bouvier, two essays, one on Mahler and one on Busoni, by Hans-Christian Günther, finally contributions by Wilfried Gruhn on Kestenberg and Busoni, and by Christophe Sirodeau on unknown composers.