Also included on this disc is perhaps Coates’s best-known composition, Music on Open Strings (1973, later renamed Symphony No. 1). Dedicated to the memory of Alexander Tcherepnin, another of Coates’s composition tutors, the opening Theme and Transfiguration is based on a Chinese scale. A ponderous melody is stated without adornment, then gradually embellished with glissandos and percussive details until the movement reaches its conclusion with a thunderous climax. The following Scherzo uses the identical pitches, but in the third movement (Scordatura) the instruments gradually return to their conventional tuning. The symphony’s finale, Refracted Mirror Canon for 14 Lines, follows a pattern Coates seems to favor. The movement starts simply, then builds to a cacophonous din before ending abruptly. The CD ends with Coates’s Symphony No. 7 (1990). “Dedicated to those who brought down the wall in PEACE,” it uses a formidable orchestral force that includes brass and percussion.

Since 1969, Coates has spent much of her time in Germany and these works are performed with great conviction by the Munich Chamber, Siegerland and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestras. Although this disc spans 30 years of the composer’s career, all three symphonies utilize similar techniques and demonstrate her obsession with the glissando (an enthusiasm that I can’t confess to share). The music often sounds more complex than it actually is, an effect Coates achieves through her use of counterpoint, alternate tunings and sheer volume. Kyle Gann’s excellent liner notes help to shed light on the composer’s processes. Working in the shadow of other more accessible composers, Coates is a prolific symphonist whose music deserves not to be overlooked.