​by Peter Burwasser, Fanfare, July/August, 2008

“…Elizabeth R. Austin, a Peabody-educated Baltimore native, is the president of Connecticut Composers, Inc.  Her three-movement symphony manages the remarkable feat of being strikingly original at the same time that it is jam-packed with musical quotations. It is a little surprising that she does not give a nod, either in her notes or in the music, to Connecticut’s greatest composer, Charles Ives, whose music featured the same fascinating dichotomy.  The immediate inspiration of the music is the sea (Debussy’s La mer is quoted early on), which she conjures with explosive crescendos and glistening tonality. It is fun to try to identify the quotes, but more important is the cohesion and power of the music as a whole… this CD showcases two composers of special merit, Carl and Austin, but I would suggest checking out their work elsewhere, rather than getting it in smaller doses….