Comprising conversations with John Palmer and essays on aspects of his music by an impressive array of musicians and artists, Looking Within offers a kaleidoscopic view of this uniquely creative and inspirational composer. The breadth of Palmer’s output is covered by ten groups of topics ranging from opera to instrumental music, electroacoustic to orchestral works, including the importance of poetical forms and the significance of dialectics as a living musical force. These dialogues and essays reveal Palmer carrying forth a modernist tradition as an enquiry into sound and the spiritual in music, infusing it not only with his own aesthetic ideals but with personal expressivity and an intense search for transcendence. Reading through the interviews, one feels face to face with the composer in deep conversation. Despite the breadth and variation of Palmer’s works, this book makes clear how all could originate from the same man. In a time when few composers are willing to go on record about their thoughts and positions in the field in fear of being pigeonholed, this book will become an important document for current and future listeners and performers of Palmer’s music.