Toccata Press is an independent publisher of books on music, expressly dedicated to tackling important subjects that other publishers have failed to address. Harold Truscott's book on the orchestral music of Franz Schmidt, for example, was the first to be written in English on that composer. No one had written a book on Enescu in English before Toccata Press brought out Noel Malcolm's pioneering study of this great musician. Brian Newbould's examination of the Schubert symphonies, amazingly, was the first full-length analysis they had had in any language. Vol. 1 of Andrew Ashbee's study of the music of John Jenkins was not only the first book on Jenkins but also the first book on the viol fantasy. Owen Toller's monograph of Pfitzner's opera 'Palestrina' was likewise the first full-scale examination in English of this neglected masterpiece. And so the list goes on. Toccata Press also makes available for the first time in English writings by important musicians from other countries: Szymanowski's writings translated from the Polish, Vagn Holmboe's from the Danish, Dallapiccola's from Italian. Other titles are in preparation, among them writings by Martinu and Frank Martin and a further volumes of Havergal Brian's and Luigi Dallapiccola's perceptive essays.

The most recent Toccata Press title, after Lionel Pike's penetrating analysis of the Vaughan Williams Symphonies, is a collection of essays on the life and music of the Scottish pianist-composer Ronald Stevenson, and an edition of Stevenson's correspondence with, and writings on, Percy Grainger is nearly ready to go into production. Among other forthcoming titles are Tully Potter's monumental biography of the violinist Adolf Busch, a life-and-works of the Norwegian composer Ludvig Irgens-Jensen (Norway's greatest composer, Grieg notwithstanding!) by Arvid Vollsnes, the late John Parkinson on Thomas Arne and William Melton on Engelbert Humperdinck. Among other titles in preparation are a full-length analysis of Mahler's Tenth symphony by Steven Coburn, a symposium of essays on Berthold Goldschmidt, an edition of Martinu's correspondence and an analysis of his symphonies and a study of the influence of French music on Nordic composers from the beginning of the twentieth century until the outbreak of the Second World War. Toccata Press titles are now distributed by Boydell & Brewer (click on the Distribution tab), a fact noticed by Ralph Locke in his 'Dial "M" for Musicology' entry the other day (at http://musicology.typepad.com/dialm/2008/06/why-we-do-resea.html#comments, where he also mused on the impetus that started Toccata Press in the first place.