Reviewing the world premiere, Zoë Madonna of The Boston Globe highly praised the concerto, writing, "Gubaidulina here imbued the element of breath into every instrument. The sound of the bayan appeared with a dark major seventh dyad, and low swells of sound rolled from the basses and tuba, introducing ascending intervals in the solo cello and violin and subtle dynamic arcs in the strings. Baiba Skride drew whistling harmonics out of her violin, and in dialogue with it, Harriet Krijgh’s cello line fluttered upward. It seemed a new universe was being born onstage, a cosmic egg crisscrossed with intervallic paths. Set against passages of chromatic haze, consonances and triads resounded with extra luminosity." She added, "The music created the illusion of human voices, the purest representation of breath, and time seemed to expand and contract with the spectrum of sounds. Near the end, the music seemed to wind back toward the muted primordial frequencies from which it came, but it was not to be. The full force of the orchestra rushed in with a blazing ascent to the heavens, Jacob's ladder in terrifying brightness."[3] Aaron Keebaugh of the Boston Classical Review similarly lauded the piece as "one of [Gubaidulina's] most important works," adding, "The audience seemed to recognize this, showering the composer and the musicians with cheers of appreciation."[5]
