[1] The work is scored for a large orchestra comprising three flutes (3rd doubling piccolo), two oboes, cor anglais, three clarinets, three bassoons, four horns, four trumpets, timpani, three percussionists (on glockenspiel, rototoms, and tomtoms), harp, and strings.
[1] Reviewing the United Kingdom premiere by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Andrew Clements of The Guardian called The welcome arrival of rain "an enchanting piece" and wrote, "the elements of Weir's quarter-hour orchestral evocation seem simple enough—a recurrent Janacek-like brass refrain, a pattering of drums that sets in halfway through and gets more insistent, a pawky trio of bassoons, sky-bound flutes, flaring clarinets—but these ingredients are combined in unexpected ways, through sly orchestral doublings and sleights of pacing.
[3] Geoffrey Norris of The Daily Telegraph was slightly more critical of the work, however, observing, "The ending to this piece, in part inspired by a Hindu text about the monsoon, has a sweet freshness to it, but the rest is harder to fathom.
As one who normally responds keenly to Weir's music and likes its healthy diversity, I found The Welcome Arrival of Rain slightly disappointing.
A firm rhythmic momentum is maintained, but the texture becomes mired in detail and a profusion of material, and somehow loses a sense of structural grip and direction.