'Oliver Knussen's Variations proved a chiming, clangerous exercise in compression, without a wasted note.'
Tim Page, Newsday, 13 November 1989

'Oliver Knussen devised Variations, Op 24 - twelve of them in six minutes-plus packed with pellets of atonal power as well as tiny flights of sizzlingly virtuosic fancy and wit.'
Leighton Kerner, Voice, 5 December 1988

'Oliver Knussen's Variations had a dark, almost stony faced drama to it, operating at some distance frmo the dessert-like textures that many of his orchestral pieces have accustomed us to.'
Bernard Holland, The New York Times, 13 November 1989