'The concert's central event…exuded confidence…it revels in invention, delight, terror, without nostalgia or irony, simply unfolding musical tales from a resourceful and richly stocked musical imagination. Like a well - loved book, this is music to return to again and again. The lyrical lines and counterpoint, the distinctive harmonic atmosphere, were all relished by the Sinfonietta players.'
The Independent (Robert Maycock), 9 May 1992'…it proceeds through variations which are masterfully constructed, fascinating, thoughtful…one of the many Maw pieces that demonstrate his concern for narrative: not necessarily in the sense of writing programme music, but of developing an argument through time and punctuating it with aural milestones that alert the ear to how things are progressing. It's a music of events, sequentially connected by a chain of logic that commands a certain space and territory. And that, I think, is what distinguishes it from the music of the 20th-century post-serial avant-garde…'
The Independent on Sunday (Michael White), 12 November 1995
'Maw swaths us in rich, tonal harmonies, varied and balanced, colorful and vague evocative … sweeping lines throughout…'
Washington Post (Pierre Ruhe), 4 February 1997