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'Matthews’s score does not talk down to the youngest in its audience – something in which he emulates his mentor Benjamin Britten… The music is more than illustrative. The Piper’s instrument of enchantment is a flute, and Matthews uses a quote from Debussy’s Syrinx as a kind of touchstone. It leads off at the beginning, then emerges from the orchestra at the moment of rat-charming, sounding beguiling over muted strings and harp. The music that charms the children away, however, is a wistful jig. The door opens to reveal the Piper for the first time with a grand, fateful theme that returns, with greater menace, when the hillside opens up… the piece is beautifully judged.’
The Guardian (Eric Jeal), 9 February 2015

‘A vivid retelling… Matthews draws from a rich pattern book for his music of infestation and enchantment, pomp and squalor. There are glistening shards of Bartók and Janácek, wry nods to Wagner and a cleverly reframed homage to Debussy’s story of a more adult seduction, Syrinx.’
The Times (Anna Picard), 11 February 2015