"Yes, this was thoroughly modern music, with all that implies: an abundance of percussion, the occasional deployment of extended techniques, and well-masked quotations from the musical past. But it was also modern music that fell more on the sensual side of the scale than the intellectual. Ryan prefers smooth textures to thorny melodic conundrums, and his first symphony shows, appropriately enough, that he has a masterful command of instrumental colour.

It's hard to grasp anything this complex and innovative in one sitting, but I was impressed by Ryan's use of percussion--gongs, drums, and marimba--to shoot sustained, almost electronic washes of sound through his first-movement string andhorn arrangements. The work's second section contained a series of slow melodic upwellings, culminating in a lenghty passage of shimmering, near-ambient strings. And my notes for the third and fourth movements, which run together, contain only a single word: Clang!

…

Vancouver needs a symphony orchestra that is of its time, and it's wonderful to hear the VSO applying itself to the task with commissions as elaborate and gratifying as Ryan's symphonic debut. May it receive many more hearings!"

Alexander Varty, Georgia Straight

"…Nocturne (Magenta) begins strikingly with a trio of muted trumpets. There are other fine moments: a strong, dark passage with resonant gong-like sonorities from the piano, and, near the conclusion, a particularly effective section for strings, harp, and marimba.…[T]his movement is an impressive achievement (and music that could successfully stand on its own).

…

With the concluding Viridian the symphony's underlying planning and logic become clear as the work's shape and content is brough into focus…HIs conclusion, with significant violin solos and a mood of measured seriousness, took time to create music of substance."

David Gordon Duke, Vancouver Sun