[1] Edward Rothstein of The New York Times called the concerto "an obsessive work" and praised it as "distinctive, unsettling, yet structurally clear.
"[2] Gramophone also praised the piece, likening it to the music of Mahler, Copland, and Shostakovich, and lauded it as "pack[ing] a formidable punch.
"[5] Christopher Mowat of BBC Music Magazine commended the work, further noting:Thirty minutes is long for a trombone concerto.
Neither of these concerns has restricted Christopher Rouse... From the soloist’s first slow entry, in the lowest register, you know that nothing is going to be rushed.
When it finally settles back in the same sombre depths after its three linked movements, the formal achievement is satisfactorily apparent.