Morning Star II establishes rhythmic figures and repeated chordal and thematic patterns in a manner related to minimalist textures, though there are unmistakable echoes of the special manner of some Australian Aboriginal music. Cadenza-like solo passages release the music from its driving tempo in sections of more free-sounding lyricism in an Adagio section, including various songlike solos. The third section restores the piece's original driving momentum, now decorated more floridly by all the instruments.

– Roger Covell