Composing intelligence creates music that somehow relates to an area that long time ago was called the Balkans.
[1] Reviewing the world premiere, Anthony Tommasini of The New York Times highly praised the concerto, writing, "From its orchestral introduction (a halting yet urgent march with fidgety dotted-rhythm string figurations and lumbering syncopated riffs in the timpani and drums) to its incandescent conclusion (with the tentative introductory music turned into a din of pungently harmonic triumph), this 30-minute concerto in three movements pulls you along its inexorable path."
"[2] Fiona Maddocks of the London Evening Standard similarly opined, "Gleefully motoric outer movements contrasted with a lyrical and nostalgic central section, which sang out in homage to Rachmaninov".
[3] Conversely, Ivan Hewett of The Daily Telegraph criticized Salonen's use of "European modernism" and called the work a "sprawling, ill-focused, windily rhetorical piece."
"[4] Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times later admonished criticisms of the concerto, writing, "Open-minded Americans (...) have enjoyed all that, finding not imitation but admirable absorption" and added, "Perhaps on encountering a new work, listeners latched on to what they already know.