‘To hear a work for the first time and to be immediately convinced of its outstanding qualities is an astonishing sensation. There was initially the revelation of simplicity combined with powerful atmosphere; Irkanda I is a completely Australian work; the undisturbed, primeval land is like a silent presence summoned by the music, which is free of all sophisticated influences. The composer has shut himself off from tonality and there is a wordless searching as if language had not yet been invented; the music portrait of a non-human environment.’
The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) (Romola Costantino), 19 November 1965