A portrait of the American composer by Robert Layton who visited him at his home in Vermont some months ago. Walter Piston, now in his 80s, is one of the most distinguished American composers of our day. A pupil of Nadia Boulanger in the early 1930s, he became Professor of Music at Harvard, the author of important books on orchestration and harmony, as well as an influential symphonist. In this programme he talks about his early life in New England and his beliefs as an artist and teacher.