"Die 1983 in Houston uraufgeführte und drei Jahre später für die Aufführung in Wien umgearbeitete Oper har viele musikalische Reize ... Das Stück gewinnt noch mehr die Atmosphäre eines Kammerspiel, zumal Kent Nagano und die Musiker aus Montreal vorzüglich zu Werke gehen. Lucas Meachem und Gordon Bintner mit intensiven und höchst flexiblen Baritonstimmen sowie Claudia Boyle als Tochter mit angenehm metallischem Koloratursopran ragen aus dem sehr guten Ensemble heraus"

"Operaen fra 1986 om den dysfunktionelle familie, som er en slags fortsættelse af Trouble in Tahiti, er fra Bernsteins kreative periode ... Denne CD-udgave er en kammerudgave, hvor komponisten Garth Edwin Sunderland har reduceret orkesteret fra 72 til 18 musikere ... Hermed fremhæves værkets poetiske dybde ... Meget følsom og stilfuld udførelse og med melodiøse mindelser om Gershwin og Stravinskj"

"This new recording ... offers a 2013 chamber reduction of the score by Garth Edwin Sunderland that scales down the orchestration while returning the opera to something much closer to Bernstein's 1983 original conception ... Conducted with missionary fervour by Kent Nagano, who had worked with Bernstein on the 1986 premiere, the latest revision seems to bring A Quiet Place into sharper focus than its baggy predecessor ... This is a very personal meditation on loss and its consequences, and Nagano's cast ... make its seriousness very clear"

"This is a recording of a hypothetical. What if Leonard Bernstein had rewritten his opera A Quiet Place for a third time ... Then he might have created something like this chamber version ... Sunderland has radically reworked the score ... On its own terms it's impressive ... The story ... is closer to John Updike than West Side Story, and ... the four central cast members are entirely inside their characters ... And in truth ... it's possible thath the slimline scoring ... might offer a musical advantage. Nagano paces it tautly and his Montreal forces play with sensitivity and style"