'Beautiful, individual... Matthews is at his best when he's most unashamedly romantic'
BBC Music Magazine 2003
'…there is a series of unison or near unison lines for contrasted orchestra voices, thrown up decoratively over static harmonies. The effect is at once beautifully fresh and dramatically intriguing: a sense of expectancy for bigger things is built up which amply pays off when harmonic bases are finally “discovered”, at the movement’s end. Having whetted in the listener an appetite for both long-range thinking and unexpected approaches to symphonic structure, Matthews then satisfies the hunger in various lively and elegant ways… a syncopated moto perpetuo, a quietly brooding Andante con moto, and a delicious tango… Few new compositions possess its combination of tough clarity of thought and ebullient good humour'
The Financial Times (Max Loppert), 30 May 1991
'…there’s a confidence of expression in this composition that is rare in contemporary music…'
Classic CD (Erik Levi), July 1994
BBC Music Magazine 2003
'…there is a series of unison or near unison lines for contrasted orchestra voices, thrown up decoratively over static harmonies. The effect is at once beautifully fresh and dramatically intriguing: a sense of expectancy for bigger things is built up which amply pays off when harmonic bases are finally “discovered”, at the movement’s end. Having whetted in the listener an appetite for both long-range thinking and unexpected approaches to symphonic structure, Matthews then satisfies the hunger in various lively and elegant ways… a syncopated moto perpetuo, a quietly brooding Andante con moto, and a delicious tango… Few new compositions possess its combination of tough clarity of thought and ebullient good humour'
The Financial Times (Max Loppert), 30 May 1991
'…there’s a confidence of expression in this composition that is rare in contemporary music…'
Classic CD (Erik Levi), July 1994