‘What comes through most in Trans (1996), a three movement work of less than twenty minutes, is Mr. Hyla’s ability to find thematic threads and structural integrity in music that seems mercurial and volatile. His pungent harmonic language, containing tonal and atonal elements, eludes description. All you can say in the end is that he pieces his pitches according to what sounds right to his keen ears, not according to some system or notion. The counterpoint is ingenious: pumped-up polyphonic lines fight it out in high registers atop a protective mat of sustained, stable chords.’ – Anthony Tommasini, New York Times 6/13/04

‘Hyla put together one of the most unpleasant series of snorts and squalls I’ve heard in a long time. (There is just no polite way to say this)…..Frankly it was trash and should be appropriately disposed of.’

‘The music of Lee Hyla….takes its place amongst the best of modernist visions, from Olivier Messiaen to Magnus Lindberg, alongside fellow Americans Elliott Carter and Roger Reynolds….This fine disc should be heard by all those devoted to contemporary music.’

‘This is a serious, sprawling one movement drama, a searching and involving experience.’

‘During this fitful and teeming work, the bass clarinet wails like a caterwauling jazz saxophone one moment, only to sing with cantorial plaintiveness the next.’  Anthony Tommasini, New York Times, 6/13/04

‘Lee Hyla writes in a tremendously compressed style in which shape and gesture stand in for conventional melody despite an often clear tonal orientation. Rhythm also plays an important role in activating his musical textures and maintaining linear transparency, and it’s clear from a cursory listen to any of these three works that Hyla writes with a great deal of talent and confidence…….Gil Rose and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project rise bravely to the occasion, and no matter how disjointed the music becomes, they never make an ugly sound or lose sight of where the music is going- and make no mistake, Hyla both knows where he wants to go and how to get there. Excellently detailed, well-balanced sonics round out a most welcome portrait of a fascinating composer who could well become a major voice in contemporary music.’