'Anderson's wondrous new score glistens with elliptical rhythms and scatters sounds like stars in the night sky...The Comedy of Change bears repeat viewing.'
The Times (Debra Craine), 5 November 2009

'...In many ways, Comedy of Change is all about the dance.  You don't need to know much Darwin to see the point of its unison formations, mating duets and competing solos.  THis is especially true as Baldwin is choreographing at peak form, using the scintillating orchestral colours and clustering rhythms of Anderson's score to create dense, shape-shifting patterns and to marry soaring lines with quirky detail.'
The Guardian (Judith Mackrell), 5 November 2009

'...a magnificent score from Anderson, such a fine composer, particularly for dance for which he somehow allows air within his sumptuous, highly sprung and yet light-touched music - and a score that, even if it exists thanks to the Drummond Fund for dance commissions, begs to be played in concert halls.
...Baldwin has created some of his most lyrically serious dance to Anderson's lyrically serious music, a confident, constantly absorbing flow of invention that often makes something unusually interesting out of simple, uncluttered movements...'
theartsdesk.com (Ismene Brown), 4 November 2009

'The result is greater clarity despite being a celebration of Darwin's On The Origin Of Species, a subject that could easily clot a work of choreography.  Instead it has unexpected mysticism, in part Yaron Abulafia's temple and void-like lighting, part Julian Anderson's striking new score, and part Baldwin's choreography which is a variant on Merce Cunningham's strain of contemporary hieratics.'
Evening Standard (Sarah Frater), 4 November 2009

'...Julian Anderson's score provides fascinating sonorities...'
Financial Times (Clement Crisp), 6 November 2009


‘...The piece is inspired by Darwin’s observation of nature as a moving force, ambivalent and fluctuating – a concept well-suited to music and dance.  Describing himself as an armchair ornithologist, Anderson says he became fascinated by Darwin’s observation of how birds indulge in ornate creations that do not always reflect the purpose for which they were intended…The idea of evolution “pushed me towards gradual change [as a determining factor in the music]. I started with one chord – a sonority that, when you hear it, will be threedimensional. I worked a lot on it, to get a depth of sound.  There are very low notes on bass clarinet and harp, and very high string harmonics, the combination of which leads to a strange sort of resonance.”’
The Financial Times (Andrew Clark), 22 August 2009