The two substantial works from the 1980s on which this Jonathan Harvey CD centres are complementary studies of the sublime‚ in nature and the spiritual life. Nachtlied (1984) is a meditation on the visionary images of peace and transcendence which links poems by Goethe and Rudolf Steiner. Valley of Aosta (1988) responds to the turbulent vortex of colour in Turner’s well­nigh abstract landscape painting of that name‚ whose subtitle is ‘snowstorm‚ avalanche and thunderstorm’. Both compositions involve the interaction of live and electronic material. In Nachtlied the material on tape adds a numinous – at times also capricious – dimension to what is in effect a cantata for soprano and piano‚ and in this well­balanced recording from 2001 Jane Manning brings out all the inherent drama as the protagonist­singer aspires ecstatically to ‘ever­radiant forms of light’. The recording of Valley of Aosta was made in 1989‚ and issued then on the Ricercar label. A new recording might manage a more spacious perspective on the interaction between the two DX7 synthesisers and the other instruments (especially the soprano saxophone)‚ but this remains a thrilling realisation of one of Harvey’s most volatile and virtuosic scores. These works are framed by shorter items. To begin‚ a characterful account of The Riot (1993) by the Dutch group Het Trio whose name‚ as an anagram‚ gave Harvey his title. Mythic Figures (2001) is a short tape piece for a dance company bringing together material which relates to several of Harvey’s earlier pieces‚ starting with the seductive dance­rhythms of One Evening‚ and evolving into the more restrained aura of what the composer calls ‘a multidimensional spatial dream­landscape’. This IRCAM­engineered tape concludes an impressively diverse programme‚ and an engaging addition to Harvey’s rapidly­expanding discography.