Sounding Off brings together a selection of essays on philosophy of music written by Peter Kivy—the leading expert on the subject. The essays fall into four groups, corresponding to Kivy's major interests. Part I contains two essays on the nature of musical genius. In Part II, three essays take up the subject of authenticity in performance, and explore what Kivy terms 'the authenticity of interpretation'. Part III contains four essays concerning the much
discussed issues of musical representation and musical meaning. Finally, Part IV consists of three essays on the 'pure musical parameters': these are essays on 'music alone' or 'absolute music'—music as the pure, formal structure of (sometimes) expressive sound. Eight of the eleven essays presented here are
previously unpublished, and the book includes two appendices which provide Kivy's responses to criticism.