"Varela is a reflexive composer. He knows how to control the material he uses, how and when to turn up or down the temperature, to stretch or compress..."
E. Kusnir, El Nacional (Caracas, 1988)

"In his first string quartet , the whole proves communicability and an attractive strength in the accents, secure knowledge of the strings section, and a convincing balance between avant-gardism and some imaginary nationalistic sources"
N. Giguens, El Día (Montevideo, 1989) 

"Alongside many outstanding performances of well-known signatures, a colorful and form-conscious string quartet by Víctor Varela  was premiered by the Icelandic Bernardel Quartet..."
R. Oehlschlägel, World New Music Magazine # 7

"With his original instrumentation for harp, vibraphone and marimba, Varela has built an exciting and floating world of sounds, which is conducted by abstract-mathematics principles, as well as by a sensual Latino-rhythm"
Dagens Nyheterna (Stockholm, 1999)

"Plenty of tension and interest, like a dissociation, an inside dialogue, was the atonal Ols for bassoon solo by V. Varela"
E. Rush, GöteborgsPosten (Göteborg,1998)

About la parola lontana:  "music with a dramatic and expressive sign which require virtuosity and precision both from the soloist and the ensemble"
M. Haglund. GöteborgsPosten (Göteborg 2001)

"In Calligrammes, Varela went straight to the point: tense, rich in invention but powerful was his translation of 4 poems by Guillaume Apollinaire"
H. Dahl. GöteborgsPosten (Göteborg 2002)

"Axle-Asimétrica I, a smart, nervy puzzle requiring bravura ensemble playing. Cellist Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick handily mastered her mercurial solo role".
J. Woodard. Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles 2003)