"Ryan's The Linearity of Light turned out to be yet another orchestral showpiece, with its high-contrast shifts between crystalline tumults in strings and woodwinds, brutal rhythmic operations in the brass, and the intense unisons that periodically reinforced the theme stated in the title.… Ryan's transitions from this single-pointed focus to various forms of prismatic difference were effective and witty, especially when the score slipped into a quasi-Brazilian bacchanal near the end."

Robert Everett-Green, Globe and Mail

"Ryan was in the audience and must have been pleased with the drive, colour and passion the musicians found in his score. There was never a moment when the forward momentum flagged and the last episode was overwhelmingly commanding."

Richard Todd, Ottawa Citizen

"Ryan knows how to flatter his orchestra...."

David Gordon Duke, Vancouver Sun

"[As part of the VSO's 2008 Asian tour] Asian music lovers will likely savour the wide-ranging palette of Jeffrey Ryan's The Linearity of Light.…The music moved along easily with the solo lines (Linda Lee Thomas' piano being the standout) ringing true…A few smiles are bound to light up for the Williams' Star Wars/Holst's Mars segment before the mighty tam-tams flood the hall and the music, quite literally, evaporates into the rafters."

S. James Wegg, www.jamesweggreview.org

"[The Linearity of Light] s'est amorcée sur des trémolos de cordes dont la puissance et la robustesse rappelaient assez l'action d'une ponceuse électrique. J'ose utiliser une telle comparaison non pour me moquer, mais plutôt pour tenter de faire sentir le caractère extrêmement direct, puissant et insistant du propos. D'ailleurs, l'écriture a beau paraître avant-gardiste, l'exécution convaincante et tout à fait inspirée servie par l'Orchestre et le chef a beaucoup plu à l'auditoire."

Richard Boisvert, Le Soleil

"…le compositeur contemporain Jeffrey Ryan est de ceux qui tentent avec assez de bonheur de convertir des idées abstraites…en quelque chose de moderne et d'écoutable."

Christophe Huss, Le Devoir