QUOTES
"New York's mohawked Mozart"
- Time Out NY
"increasingly awesome"
-NPR
"composer-rocker-countertenor-violinist"
-Chicago Magazine
"What praise can suffice for Caleb Burhans’ “Excelsior”? A towering work of bold simplicity and shattering beauty..."
-Communities Digital News, Mark Nowakowski
“Even those unfamiliar with Aphex Twin will be beguiled by the expert execution of such tracks as "Blue Calx," arranged by Caleb Burhans, in which ethereally serene, nearly medieval-sounding strings are layered upon a relentless march of percussive strikes marking time.”
-Stylus Magazine, Cameron Macdonald
“Best falsetto in New York.”
-Steve Reich
“AWS’s successful translations are of the simplest songs like the hypnotic drone piece, “Cliffs” and the sleepwalking symphony of “Blue Calx.””
-Billboard, Anastasia Tsicoulcas
“As fascinating as such chaos is, however, it's the selections from Selected Ambient Works, Volume 2 that drive home the point that Acoustica is more than a simple display of showoffery. Both "Blue Calx" and "Cliffs" are exercises in restraint, the former featuring exquisite string harmony over a repeated, metronomic percussion that approximates the slow dripping of water, and the latter highlighting more slow string work over vocals, horns, and tuned percussion each echoed several times over. I still haven't decided whether I think the echoes are done in the studio or actually expertly performed, though I'm leaning toward actual, live performance. Either way, the translations and the performances are perfect, providing further proof of one of the maxims of classical music -- any hack can play fast, but only a true musician can pull off a slow work while avoiding utter boredom. Alarm Will Sound passes this test effortlessly.”
-Popmatters, Mike Schiller
“…the violinists had opportunities to rip viciously at their instruments and head-bang…”
-Sequenza21, David Salvage
“Kicking things off was the 2003 composition, In Time of Desperation, by New Yorker, Caleb Burhans. The work delightfully combines the diverse influences of minimalist composer, Philip Glass and British rock band, Radiohead.”
-The Record (Waterloo, Ontario), Daniel Ariaratnam
“Caleb Burhans is an amazing performer. He is a classically trained,first rate violinist and also has an amazing falsetto singing voice. I have heard him perform my music using both of these talents and the results are stunning.”
-Steve Reich
“Caleb is a world-class performer, a fantastic human being, a fantasticall-around musician, and is creative in every ounce of his being.”
-Augusta Read Thomas
“For me, the afternoon's revelation was "Coast," a punchy excerpt fromthe electronic suite "Hoodoo Zephyr" done in a virtuoso arrangement bythe group's violinist, Caleb Burhans.” - Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle “Caleb Burhans is an astonishing violinist and guitarist.”
- Jerry Bowles, Sequenza21.com
“Its highlight was a pair of extraordinary violin solos by Courtney Orlando and Caleb Burhans.”
“…a colorful, inventive arrangement (by Mr. Burhans) of John Adams's "Coast," originally for synthesizers.”
- Allan Kozinn, New York Times
“In Light Is Calling, violinist Caleb Burhans, a composer, arranger and member of Alarm Will Sound, played the solo-violin role originally created by another violinist-composer, Todd Reynolds.”
“Burhans's violin sang out sweetly elegiac lines.”
- Nightafternight.com