Michael Steinberg, the late Globe classical critic-musicologist and later orchestral program notes writer, is an authoritative occasional presence in these pages, thanks chiefly to his Oxford University Press compiled-notes reference books. Truly old oldtimers here may remember hearing about the days of 1960s scandal when Steinberg was severely critical of the BSO and they tried to have him banned from Symphony Hall. (A few years later he went on to become their publications director and annotator.) Classical criticism ain’t like that anymore.

Now, with the April publication of “Defending the Music: Michael Steinberg at the Boston Globe, 1964-1976,” we can relive those and later, better times for local music and music reviewing. Conceived by Steinberg’s widow, the violinist Jorja Fleezanis, this compilation of some 300 reviews and features was seen to completion after her death, a few years ago, by Marc Mandel, Susan Feder, and Jacob Jahiel. (Mandel succeeded Steinberg as manager / editor of the BSO program book; Feder assisted Steinberg at the San Francisco Symphony, going on to become important in music publishing and arts funding; and Jahiel, a former student of Fleezanis, is a doctoral candidate in historical musicology, also annotator and violist da gamba.)  The 600-page volume, to be published in print and digital formats, is already available for preorder at Amazon, with unusually long preview samples.