'…a wonderfully rich score … which left the Prommers cheering.'
The Observer (Nicholas Kenyon), 16 August 1987

'… during the performance I was struck by the capacity of Maw's idiom to appear to bend time in the Wagnerian manner … There are very few post-war works whose substance, technical control, sheer range of thought, wonderful playability and - above all - whose magnificent attitude look set to ensure that they're still going to be played in 50 years' time (and beyond).  I think that Odyssey will be one of them.'
Tempo (Malcolm Hayes), Autumn 1987

'Easily the most impressive new music release of the year, and one of the most accessible: a landmark score of towering dimensions … has attracted an almost cult following …'
The Independent on Sunday (Michael White), 8 December 1991

'Maw has managed to combine toughness of vision with beauty and openness of texture.  This is music that will surely last.'
The Observer, Records of the Year, 22 December 1991

'Maw is a composer who has been at pains to remake connections with the late-romantic tradition, and Odyssey is a convincing reassertion of its continuing relevance, a demonstration that long-range harmonic thinking and thematic development can be still potent resources for the right composer … at times the musical language is close to early Berg, at others it recalls the English tradition of the same period.  It is a tapestry of long - limbed melodies pregnant with thematic possibilities and often punctuated with timpani motifs, magical horn solos suspended in space, massive climaxes crowned by flaring trumpets, lush, minutely detailed string writing and intricate webs of woodwind tracery.'
The Guardian (Andrew Clements), 13 March 1999

'Jede Sequenz erzählt ihre eigene Geschichte.  Lyrische Schönheit versteht sich blindlings mit der dramatischen Zuspitzung im Finale.  Ebenso wie im Epilog auf wundersame Weise eine einfühlsame Reprise der aufgegriffenen Themen gegeben wird … Musik aus dem 20.Jahrhundert nicht nur über den Intellekt, sonder über die Emotion erfahrbar ist.'  
Wiener Zeitung (Christine Dobretsberger), 22 March 1999