John Adams's Short Ride in a Fast Machine (1986) is four minutes of concentrated, archetypical, minimalist energy. The 40-minute Harmonielehre (1984-5) is at the other extreme: a juggernaut that rolls enthusiastically through the lush orchestral styles of the 20th-century as well as a minimalist epic that would change the face of minimalism. The 25-minute Doctor Atomic Symphony, reworked from the 2007 opera Doctor Atomic, is so dark with dissonance that, from a 1980s perspective, it would surely have seemed like a defection to the enemy camp. Peter Oundjian seems more attuned to the more recent style. His Harmonielehre roars, swirls, and goes songful. But its swells and energy don't move it in any particular direction. url.ie/f1f2