Stucky drew inspiration from the music of Jean Sibelius—specifically his Fourth and Seventh symphonies, beside which Radical Light was to be first performed.
Having long wanted to attempt something like that myself, in Radical Light I tried to emulate something about the architecture of that peerless masterpiece: a single span embracing many different tempi and musical characters, but nevertheless letting everything flow seamlessly from one moment to the next - no section breaks or disruptions, no sharp turns or border crossings.
Radical Light is considerably shorter than that work, but builds organically to a spectacular climax of blazing brass and mad string figuration.
"[3] Joshua Kosman of the San Francisco Chronicle similarly praised the piece as "encompass[ing] a wealth of moods and orchestral colors" and wrote:What proved most striking here was the composer's command of harmony, and particularly the way the piece moves deftly in and out of the world of traditional tonality.
Episodes arrive and vanish again, with formal breaks assiduously blurred, and the result has an almost dream-like logic to it.