Well, it could be argued that the incorporation explicit citations, generic references and so on, in particular ways, itself constituted one of the 'latest developments' in a post-1968 musical world (taking some time to take off, but definitely doing so), and in that sense composers who were doing so were engaged in a not-so-dissimilar process to that of Telemann in his later years? Ligeti's late work, for all its particular relationship to certain traditions, doesn't sound like anything that could have been composed earlier, at least not to my ears. The same is true of the use of tonal or other historical harmonies and gesture in Lachenmann or Ferneyhough (in very different ways), the continuing development of certain aspects of tradition in Dillon, and so on and so forth.

Yes, indeed - whilst this notion of "re-engagement" with earlier traditions and persuasions may be seen by some as carrying with it that of "returning" thereto (whether as pure and genuine change of heart / priorities or as cop-out or as anything in between), this certainly does not have to be the case. To me, the central point seems to be that the more that one absorbs of musics past and present, the more the totality of that experience might influence one's creative priorities at any given time and that any such changes that come about as a result may do so either subconsciously and subtly or manifest themselves as something apparently not unakin to a volte-face; likewise, the "wisdom of age" factor may act similarly here, in that one's ability to deal with such absorptions after, say, 40 years of composition will inevitably be different to the ways in which one reacted to the melting-pot of persuasions that one encountered in one's earlier days. Does this make any sense?(!)...

Best,

Alistair