Colin Clarke’s review, in the May/June edition of Fanfare, reads

“The Creature Quartet: Hymn for Lost Creatures is in one sense a sort of Carnival of the Animals for our time, presenting a procession of musical portraits of various animals. It is the composer’s “personal response to the current mass extinction of species”; the creatures chosen are therefore extinct, mythological, or endangered. Perhaps, therefore, it is at heart a carnival of compassion. The trajectory of the work is described in some detail by Schwendinger in the booklet notes; the strength of the music is such that one need not work through that description to realize the power of her music, this despite the fact that the animation artist Pauline Gagniarre was commissioned by Wisconsin Union Theater to provide an animated video to present each creature in order as the music plays (the captivating video is freely available on vimeo.com). Gestural and yet powerfully organized, Schwendinger’s voice is highly individual. The performance by the JACK Quartet is impeccable, and as a studio recording it is technically more secure than the live Vimeo video. The sheer intensity of both music and performance thereof is spellbinding, as if the passion of the composer for her subject shines through like a light.”