"James Aikman's is a welcome new voice whose
music is accessible and inventive.
Consciously eclectic, his open use of jazzlike
rhythms and pop idioms merges seamlessly
with the formality of the fugue.
...the best music on a very fine disk."

"Plaintively beautiful" wrote Anthony Tommasini
regarding Aikman's Spring is Purple Jewelry
as sung by Dawn Upshaw in her Carnegie Hall debut.

"Sunday afternoon's concert began and ended
in Vienna and on the way back, something important happened.
And that was the world premiere of James Aikman's Piano Quintet.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I believe I was
present at the first performance of a great piece of music.
A top five musical event of the year."