The Philadelphia Inquirer
".. .The most complete identification of composition and performer was Chicago composer C. P. First's  Tantrum, a piece written for virtuoso Dimitris Marinos . . . [who] both dazzled his listeners with his ability to project contrasting musical events and astonished them with the musicality with which he traversed the difficult writing. First had written an insistent pattern that underlay the melodic evolution--enough music, really, for two players, although Marinos handled it all himself--and the work developed as a concise and forceful musical idea . . . The brief stunned silence that followed the last note was the kind of tribute musicians live for . . ."

The Boston Globe
". . . Rhythmically, C. P. First's work was a hurtling juggernaut of a piece; it really cooked, with the electronics adding fiery spices of their own . . ."

The Chicago Sun-Times
". . . C. P. First, a Northwestern University Ph.D., wrote his 1999   Contrapuntal Variations for Marinos, who performs them live against prerecorded tape. Brief solo passages provide bridges between three dizzyingly seductive movements . . ."

Seen and Heard (England)
". . .The rather dry title of American Craig P. First's Contrapuntal Variations belied the astonsishing complexity and virtuosity of this solo mandolin piece played with consumate skill by Greek Dimitris Marinos. . ." (Review from the World Music Days 2000-Luxembourg) 

The New York Times
". . .Columbia University's William Schuman Award was presented to Milton Babbitt during a concert of electronic music at the Kathryn Bache Miller Theater on Wednesday night . . . I' vidi in terra angelici by C. P. First . . . was an electronic setting of a Petrarch sonnet. Accompanying the soprano Christine Schadeberg was a two-channel tape of pitches with shifting overtones. First, timbres would shift; then, with overtones strengthening, the pitches themselves would change. The piece recalled George Crumb's atmospheric music in its attempts to create senses of both stillness and drift . . ."

The Vienna Times (Vienna, Austria)
". . .The third twelve-minute piece [Mosaics, for saxophone quartet] came from the American C. P. First.   Within carefully developing chords arose individual movement. First offered real beauty and a skillful climax ."

The Vienna Times (Vienna, Austria)
"Mark Engebretson, baritone saxophonist with the Vienna Saxophone Quartet, performed at the Stadtinitiative in a program of American Music for alto saxophone . . . [He] continued with C. P. First's linear study Two by One--an unbelievable virtuosic demonstration that was simply phenomenal saxophone art . . ."

Rethymniotika Nea (Greece)
". . .Contrapuntal Variations by the American C. P. First left the best impression as a musical work . . ."

Respublika (Vilnius, Lithuania)
"On Monday evening a very warm concert took place. The Gaida Baltic Music Festival concluded with guests from the United States. Dimitris Marinos blinded us with his virtuosity playing  Tantrum by C. P. First. In the second half we heard other works by C. P. First which were most impressive . . . Destiny brought him together with Raimundas Katilius for whom First has written two masterpieces dedicated to this great violinist--Two by One and Black Sun. . ."

The Irish Times (Kilkenny, Ireland)
". . . Mosaics, commissioned by the [Vienna Saxophone] Quartet from the American composer C. P. First, tossed distinctive motifs around the well-stranded texture, using contrapuntal techniques . . ."

Darmstadt News ((Darmstadt, Germany)
". . . During the 'Days for New Music 2000' [Darmstadt, Germany] . . . the American composer C. P. First's  Drame lyrique was performed--a wonderfully impressionistic two-part piece . . ."

New Athens
". . . Dimitris Marinos from the United States performed   Tantrum. . . an intensive display of the technical possibilities of the instrument . . . [Tantrum] shows the possible contrasts between a post-expressionistic style and energetic performance style in an interesting dialogue between the instrument and tape . . ."

Saxophone Journal  (Volume 24, Number 6 July/August 2000)
". . . Mosaics by C.P. First, published by Apoll-Edition, is an excellent, difficult work well-worth taking a place in the standard repertoire. . ."

Art and Performance (Chicago, Illinois)
"The music of John Cage was still reverberating in the walls of Pick-Staiger Auditorium during the concert of New Music Saturday night. . .The concert consisted of works by . . . C. P. First, Milton Babbitt, Burton Beerman, and an improvisation by Noyes Again. C. P. First's fierce composition was the most powerful work of the concert. . ."

Draugas Literatura
". . . A contrast came with  Two by One, a composition for solo violin by C. P. First. This piece, written for Raimundas Katilius, expresses the performer's virtuosity. It is construed as a 'duet' for a solo performer . . . and very effectively demonstrates the composer's motive to create an illusion that two different violins are playing together. I heard this piece for the first time in Vilnius during the Baltic countries Music Festival Gaida . . . The work received a very warm and sincere response of applause from the audience . . ."

Paris New Music Review (Paris, France)
"Capstone Records frequently produces discs with fine tracks . . . this label has terrific potential. Recent arrivals include Extended Resources. . . [including] Tantrum, by C. P. First. Dimitris Marinos gives an excellent performance. . ."

The Music Connoisseur (Volume 4, Number 2)
"C. P. First . . . found inspiration in the extraordinary virtuosity of Dimitris Marinos. He has composed a multiphonic work using taped samples against which the performer plays an incessant 32nd-note rhythm and relentless tremolo articulation. This is furious music all right, and the playing is impressive. . . "

Luxembourg, World Music Days 2000
“Contrapuntal Variations I. . . by American composer C. P. First was second on the program. . . It was a subdued, delicately textured piece in three movements. . . The piece had an air of being a theme and variations, which continued despite the division of the piece into three movements. . ."

Chamber Music America (8/02, Volume 19, Number 4)
". . . This season, composers and video artists from four countries have paired up to create Southeast Singing Pictures, new works that mesh chamber music and video. Curated by visual artist Theo Lipfert, members of the Anchorage Symphony, Flagstaff Symphony, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and Cavani String Quartet are among guest artists. . . Composer/video artists include Stefan Hakenberg/Theo Lipfert, Paul Cox/Roald Simonson, Yun-Kyung Lee/Claudia Esslinger, C. P. First/Matt Marello (pictured are video stills from 'The Eternal Return'), and Toshiro Saruya/Harald Klemm. The pieces will be conducted in sync with the videos by Changwon Park in Alaska and Timothy Weiss in Chicago."

Tuscaloosa News
". . . But the strongest piece on the program was a work by C. P. First. His piece, a duo for piano and violin titled Black Sun, was played with astonishing force by [Davis] Brooks and [David] Andrews . . .This is an altogether resolute and fascinating work, creating, as it fascinates, a future for itself . . ."

Sitka Sentinel
". . .The final feature on the playbill is The Eternal Return, by composer C. P. First and  video maverick Matt Marello.  In the video, a compilation of four of his earlier films, Marello has inserted himself as the main character in a series of Hollywood films.  First’s music employs a wide range of instruments. . .’It deals with cycles and circles and sort of Nietzschean ideas.’ . . . "