“A sense of wonder pervades this album – the culmination of decades of compositional inquiry … In Rósa Lind’s idiom, I hear Kandinsky’s searching rhetoric echoing through time.

The writing in Extrema oscillates between fevered Romanticism (there is a yearning in the melody, something exploratory and questioning, not least for the wonder of deep space evoked by the title) and stark modernism. At times we hear references to solo Bach, his voice splintering through Lind’s telescopic lens. As the work reaches its finale, moments of gritty tremolo follow fragile harmonics, which hang in the air like dust escaping from a profound shadow (low- frequency radio samples from Jupiter).

The album continues with Trente, a 30-movement work for piano after Kandsinky’s segmented painting of the same name. It is here that I finally understand the importance of (Gesamt)kunstwerke, as although each of the movements is named for a single constellation, Trente is a vast intertextual survey of mythologies of the night sky. We are afloat in the zero gravity of the piano’s sustain pedal and expansive compound intervals. Another world, indeed. Many worlds, really, within Rósa Lind’s interstellar, intertextual album.”

~ Kate Milligan, TEMPO January 2024, Cambridge University Press

“Rósa Lind's Extrema: A Galilean Sarabande draws from the overall arcs formed in the Sarabande of Bach's 5th Cello Suite, but does so through also noting the movement of lunar orbits around Jupiter and of the large anticyclonic storm that forms the planet's 'Great Red Spot'.

Together, these swirling geometric, mathematical, and cosmological patterns merge with images of Kandinsky's 1925 painting, Small Dream in Red, all portrayed in this extraordinary work for solo cello, Chinese gong, and tape, blossoming into music that connects us, via the music of Bach and the rotations of Jovian moons, with a world that extends back and ahead into realms that wrap us in their intimacy and hugeness, in their closeness and infinite distance.”

~ The Sound Barrier, Ian Parsons, 3PBS Radio 21.01.2024

“The composer’s choice of poetry demonstrates a passion for words and an ability to write most expressively, lyrically and dramatically for voice, and is combined with a unique language in instrumental accompaniment …”

~ Sonetos del Amor Oscuro, Jury’s comments, Winner 2006 Paul Lowin Song Cycle Prize

“A boldly personal musical statement from an original voice … imaginatively orchestrated … the musical ideas are beautifully articulated.”

~ FRACTURE, Highly Commended Jury’s comments 2004 Paul Lowin Orchestral Prize

Rósa Lind's Claire De Lune, taken from her Apollinairesongs, shimmered. The piano began with an almost familiar ‘claire de lune’ melody which evolved into the delicious full sound of cello, voice and clarinet in equal measures, making ‘every moonbeam a ray of honey’.

~ Pepe Newton, Classikon October 20, 2023 – Halcyon: The Dance of Life

“Courbe dominante, inspired by Kandinsky, Schoenberg and “Saturnian sound spectra” features ethereal harmonics and multiphonics, taking its structure from Baroque dance movements.

Chislett’s whistle tones suspend like celestial light over the darkness of an alto flute drone.”

Read the full Limelight review

“The elegant interpretation of Rósa Lind’s Fuglar himins (Bride of Heaven) from soprano saxophonist Katia Beaugais and pianist Phillip Shovk provided a calm reprise.”

~ Birds of Heaven, Megan Stellar, Loud Mouth Music, The Music Trust E-zine

“For Being and Time II: Tablua Rasa, the composer worked with painter Imants Tillers. Its opening built on melodic shapes and response, moving to a Bach-like section, its textures diffracted over the whole keyboard. “

Read the full review

~ Peter McCallum, SMH CD review 2012 - Piano Inside Out

“ … The concert concluded with the composer’s gently floating Floreana, with extended murmuring introduction and a postlude that quickened with flittering intensity.”

~ Floreana, Peter McCallum SMH, 19 November 2010

“… captivating setting of Icelandic texts, cloaked in instrumental textures of icy beauty… convincing musical ideas extended into an impressive and continuous whole… dazzling colours of piano, celeste and harp, with a profound voice given to cello’s lamenting cries and soulful interludes…”

~ Hrafnsöngvar, Tone Birds concert, 29 October, 2005, reviewed by David Vance SMH

“Rósa Lind’s a capella duet Aquila’s Wing might just have been the audience favourite”.

~ Kingfisher: Songs For Halcyon: A Gift For The Present, A Legacy For The Future, Shamistha de Soysa, Sounds Like Sydney March 2014