This is the most extensive survey on disc of music by the American composer Peter Lieberson (b1946). Avoiding the piano works by which he has been represented so far‚ it traces a path from the early 1970s to the late 1990s‚ and charts a stylistic evolution that moves from the tough‚ Babbitt­inspired abstraction of the Concerto for Four Groups of Instruments to the more laid­back‚ almost Adams­like manner of Free and Easy Wanderer. In his informative notes‚ Lieberson identifies two principal changes in his development. The first‚ in the mid­1970s‚ was the result of his embrace of Buddhist thinking‚ and the transformation might not have been all gain. In both Accordance (1975­76) and Drala (1986) an undoubted harmonic coherence is not always matched by memorable invention. Yet the music never sinks into a nebulous meditative haze: Drala moves from quasi­Ravelian diaphony to a jubilant conclusion‚ glossily orchestrated but retaining an appealingly tensile strength‚ and a comparable mix of volatility and reticence works even better on a smaller scale in Ziji (1987). Lieberson sees a further shift‚ in his later works‚ to compositional procedures which owe less to system and more to spontaneity. Raising the Gaze (1988) is more turbulently dance­like than Ziji‚ but includes strong contrasts in an economical‚ well­balanced design. Fire (1994­95)‚ one of five projected pieces for large orchestra‚ is too brief to make much of an impression‚ but Free and Easy Wanderer (1998)‚ the result of a London Sinfonietta commission‚ is a complete vindication of Lieberson’s new direction. Brimming with character and attitude‚ its hints at minimalist repetitions are offset by more intricate and often witty instrumental flights. These recordings were made between 1994 and 1998 in various locations: all are excellent‚ the performances no less so. Peter Lieberson could not wish for better advocacy.