I heard a bit of the Adams interview today, plus my first chunk of Dr. Atomic. What struck me was how much that chunk seemed to represent a return on Adams' part to the soundworld and harmonic preoccupations of the Klinghoffer era. My impression had been that his style actually was 'evolving', so that by the time of, say, 'Transmigration of Souls' it would have been impossible to recognise him as the same composer as that of, say, 'Harmonium'. And yet, here we went again, as it were. Ron's example of Stravinsky is a salient one; but there are also instances of composers (wilfully or not) changing style quite radically mid-career. Carter springs to mind. And even - ahem - John Tavener.

Using, or making reference to, previous works is another issue, I think. There are a lot of composers (myself included) who like to build on different 'strands' within their output, sometimes (as did Berio quite a bit) taking pre-existing works as a kind of canvas for new ones and layering fresh material on top of the familiar. I think this is a very interesting thing to do, potentially, and not at all a sign that the composer is necessarily being lazy, has got into a rut, or has run out of ideas (although it can mean any of those things, of course).

And Tippett, of course.

Lutosławski?

Hm. Of the famous late-twentieth-century Poles Lutosławski is the one that fits the least, I reckon. Górecki, Penderecki, certainly...