"Echoes of Sarah" a Fantasy for Nine Flutes, is written by Robert Raines, and available on the MSR Classics CD "The Return of Odysseus." The piece has received excellent reviews and prominent performances at venues including the NFA convention in Kansas City, The Florida Flute Fair, and the FSU Festival of New Music. it is scored for picc/fl, 4 C flutes, 2 altos and bass flute. The Music also includes a CD of the music. "…a poignant and moving fantasy for nine flutes …[it] takes us through a range of emotions and uses the colours of the different members of the flute family to good effect… the work constantly evolves and eventually breaks down into haunting vocal sounds...Raines is clearly a composer with a considerable talent and imagination...There is a life-force behind his music which involves the listener and keeps the material fresh..."– Flute World / Music Web
"…a valedictory piece for one of the composer’s ex-colleagues who died of a rare blood disease. It is touching in its evident sense of yearning. Solo lines evoke the loneliness of the shakuhachi. The performance is disciplined and strong..."– Fanfare Magazine "… is scored very effectively…deals with the issue of personal loss…carries its subject's spirit up to the clouds, utilizing spinning polyphonic lines to lift the music off into the air..."– All Music Guide "…the texture is deliberately intricate as the composer explores extremes of range, tone, texture, and tempo, beginning and ending with dense vertical clusters…seems to parallel …a human life…as of someone keenly aware of [its] terrible brevity….The remarkable thing about Raines' music is not so much that it is technically intricate, which we might have expected, but that it also has the power to move the listener emotionally…dramatic and evocative, but highly economic writing. Keep this premiere offering in your CD collection and treasure it. I have the feeling we will be hearing much from Robert Raines in the future." – Atlanta Audio Society
