‘Every complex accompaniment in this song-cycle was beautifully and precisely judged, with wind and brass chords that seemed to ring with the clarity of bells.’
Malcolm Smith (Daily Telegraph), 9 March 1992

‘None of the four songs lasts more than a few minutes, yet they pack in an astonishing range of emotional and vocal nuance…with wonderfully lucid colours drawn from a vast ensemble; each song seems to define its sound world within a couple of bars, compressed into a phrase or a couple of chords.  They are beautifully achieved little songs, brought off with the lightest of touches.'
Andrew Clements (Financial Times), 10 March 1992

'...perhaps in the future we shall just refer, idlly and affectionately, to the 'Sendak operas', and speak of them in the same breath as Ravel's 'Enfant et les Sortileges?'
Paul Driver, Sunday Times, 11 August 1985

'...the confidence and accumplishment with which an entirely original plan has been fulfilled by Knussen...a pair of classics.'
Tom Sutcliffe, Guardian, 7 August 1985

'...a truly successful and indissoluble double bill.'
Nayan Northcott, Sunday Telegraph, 11 August 1985

'Oliver Knussen’s Whitman Settings begin with their feet on the ground and end in ecstasy.'
Richard Dyer (Boston Globe), 25 August 2000
 
'The new Knussen songs were a treat… As in his operas, Knussen displays a rare feeling for word-setting and graceful melodic writing.'
Hugh Canning (The Sunday Times), 23 June 1991