"[1] "Fons Juventatis" refers to a Roman myth wherein Jupiter fell for the goddess Juventas and later turned her into a fountain, whose waters rejuvenate all who bathe in it.
George Grella of the New York Classical Review called it "a distillation of the brilliant, aphoristic style of Carter’s work from his ninth decade on."
"[2] Anne Midgette of The New York Times similarly remarked:Taken together the three pieces, based on literary works, make an appealing orchestral showpiece, with little of the thorniness that is supposed to be a hallmark of Mr. Carter's larger-scale music.
"Micomicón" is tipped with shimmering cymbals; "Fons Juventatis" ("Fountain of Youth") offered bubbling winds and deep crosscurrents of low strings in a sunny mélange; and "Utopia," based on Thomas More's austere vision, is a dark place of ominous sounds both sharp and loud, ending with a lash of percussion.
[3] Andrew Clements of The Guardian called the three movements "glitteringly polished miniatures" and wrote:Each of three pieces has a literary inspiration, and each is the evocation of an imaginary world.