"The 45-minute oratorio arouses as much patriotic spirit as a Sousa march at a Fourth of July fireworks display... Through the words of seven authors and poets, two Peace Corps volunteers, the Protestant Council, and Kennedy himself, Welcher has woven a musical tapestry that is rich in orchestral color and rife with musical invention."

"In its four movements the new symphony is pensive, filled with joy and delight, occasionally frightening, huge and always fascinating... It is a 20th-century piece that is the herald of the 21st century."

"What Welcher has done is... to create a surreal fantasy in which aural landmarks come and go... a study in bell sounds on the piano that is fully the equal of such famous bell pieces as Ravel's La vallée des cloches or Debussy's Cloches à travers les feuilles."

"...an essay in Apollonian-Dionysian contrasts… Love-intoxicated… brims with an interior poetry and fiery lyricism that you somehow don't expect from violin, clarinet and piano."

"...an appealingly moody work that weaves a spell with its ever-changing washes of sound and deeply etched effects."

"...a succinct, impressionistic piece inspired by three watercolors by Southwestern artist Georgia O'Keeffe... the music moved in gentle, almost pastel progressions, much in keeping with the watercolors done in 1917 in Canyon, Texas by the artist. Eastern elements and non-linear melodic ideas appears, but the work was easily accessible to hard-core fans of strict classical repertoire."