“as bejewelled and compact as most of his scores,  but with an unusually easy flow and a soulful centre of particular beauty”.
Geoff Brown (The Times), 16 August 2003
 
 
 
 
'..the effects are magical; the scoring is full of sleights of hand and brilliantly imagined moments, while the harmonic world is sure and never for a moment predictable. If Knussen set out to write something that would become a repertory piece, he has certainly succeeded.
The high point of the piece is the gorgeously lyrical Aria, in which the soloist soars above a gently syncopated accompaniment…So generous and tireless an advocate of other composers’ music is Knussen that it is easy to forget what a creative genius he is himself…'
 
 
Barry Millington, (Evening Standard), 15 August 2003