There is nothing deliberate or contrived in these stories. It is as if the author chops off, piece by piece from himself, every story - childhood with his granny, musical lessons, loving experience of youth, and, of course, music: music which sounds in every story - sometimes by relief, sometimes just by a hardly seen shade. The confession of each hero in Requiem is bright, serene, and heartfelt as well as all of Kholodov's prose.

Literary Symphony, Book Review, Moscow.