There’s a review of the New Zealand Music for Woodwind concert on the Middle C site, written by Frances Robinson.
It seems she enjoyed Stolen Time:
The piece unfolded as a delicate counterpoint between the two solo voices, opening with a spare unison melody that evoked, for me, images of Fiordland bush in the dead of night. There we can indeed steal time from our over-busy urban lives, and listen to the enquiring bird calls that cut into the matchless silence of the rainforest. The recorder floated on top with light, trilling, fluid lines, over intermittent calls from a Kiwi exploring a few notes outside its normal range, and the occasional honk of a bittern. All closed into the night time silence with another spare, fading unison line…… I was left hoping that we will hear more of Philip Brownlee’s wind writing in future.
I’m intrigued by the way she’s formed an interpretation that relates the sounds of the music to something from her own experience. From the composer’s point of view, I’d call that a success, at least for this particular listener.