The compositions of Georg Friedrich Haas have become ever more ambitious and selfassured. In the one-hour, twenty-four player piece in vain, movements are “staged” within a complex tonal structure woven out of tempered intonation and microtonality, with racing increases in tempo and spirals turning in on themselves back towards the beginning, “racing to stand still”, as if holding up time. This is composed and organised in a highly refined way, with great tension and energy of movement, and an enormous density of sound. (Gerhard Rohde, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)

... waves of opulently strange, beautiful sounds ... it often seemed that supernatural forces were at work ... it was often hard to believe that these otherworldly sounds were coming from acoustic, not electronic, instruments … a masterpiece. (Vivien Schweitzer, New York Times)

Austrian composer Georg Friedrich Haas's in vain was an hour-long ensemble work that made a shattering nocturnal impression … a monumental work. (Tom Service, The Guardian)