Imposing … explores the expressive limits of music… somber and impressive.
- David Weininger, The Boston Globe
I watched the water pour down the mountainsides, like tears. … It was an extraordinary piece. … I scribbled in my notebook something about how do you prepare an audience for this? “Do you tell an audience that their hearts are about to be broken?”
- Fiona Talkington, BBC
So beautiful it hurts… This is music that demands the greatest emotions.
- Aksel Dalmo Tollåli, Aftenposten
A completely special work…. high-caliber sound art.
- Henrik Friis, Politiken
Infinitely beautiful ... many had to wipe away tears after the concert … Splendid.
- Svein Knutsen, Hardanger Folkeblad
Gives the feeling of a special event - conquers the room in a quiet yet powerful way. Clear … daring … uncompromising.
- Eystein Sandvik, NRK
References and allusions that are torn apart and reassembled in surprising combinations. … Even the most romantic passages trembled ominously in the constant awareness of the terrible sorrow that lay just within reach.
-Rasmus Weirup, Seismograf
The contrast pierces every time the soprano starts a phrase high in the register. At the limit of what is possible. At the limit of what can be endured. On the verge of a scream. The orchestra lies faintly below, with long notes that without warning leave the beautiful and slide into noise… Towards the end, the noise penetrates the orchestra. The human is breaking apart.
- Bodil Maroni Jensen, Ballade
Futrell creates a sore, painful world of sound … enormously effective.
- Aksel Tollåli, Scenekunst