After the virus, men are rare. Fertile males are even rarer. They have to be protected and milked of their semen if humankind is to survive. Whoever controls these men controls the future of the world. In this female-dominated world all but a handful of the viable males are in England, kept in a luxurious, heavily-guarded ex-SAS compound, prisoners of their own fecundity. They are serviced by 'milkmaids', whose function is to secure their precious semen, which has become prime international currency. Colloquially known as 'The Milking Shed', the very existence of this facility is a source of...

Roderick Chadwick and Peter Hill give a detailed account of the evolution of Olivier Messiaen's Catalogue d'oiseaux for piano solo, from its initial conception in the Black Forest in 1953 to its completion and premiere in the Parisian 'Concerts du Domaine Musical' at the end of the decade. Through close examination of the composer's birdsong cahiers they demonstrate how Messiaen translated nature into music in a way that had a major impact on his later work. They also consider issues of performance, and Messiaen's artistic relationship with his dedicatee and wife-to-be, Yvonne Loriod,...