French composer Henri Dutilleux has died at the age of 97, it was announced earlier today . I recently wrote about his exquisite catalogue of pieces in my contemporary music guide . His is music of luminous enchantment that was only becoming more popular with audiences and performers towards the end of his life - and will go on doing so. If you haven't already, immerse yourself in this magical,...

The Liverpudlian composer's music is full of top tunes, infectious rhythmic power, and bold, poster-paint colours, writes Tom Service. Steve Martland, whose death from a heart attack at 53 has just been announced, was an inimitably brilliant, charmingly provocative, and musically and physically unmistakable presence on the new music scene. It's hard to believe that he's not around any more.

Our contemporary composers series ends with the most divisive figure of them all: Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen has arguably done more to transform 20th- and 21st-century music than any other single composer: from serialism to electronic music, from consciousness-expanding musical happenings to cycles of pieces for every day of the week and every hour of the day, from a musical mantra to some...