‘…one of the most important composers of his generation…His conducting is defined by the same features that distinguish his music: a fastidious ear for detail and clarity, combined with an unerring sense of structure and pacing…’
The Guardian (Tom Service), 3 April 2003

‘…Benjamin is carrying forward a tradition of nature painting in music; he has found a way to translate qualities of silvery light into sound along with the sounds of a night that is going to sleep and a morning that is coming awake. The orchestra is small, but the range of colour and sonority is large. The music suggests animation, of life being breathed in and exhaled,. it is sensuously immediate yet full of unexplained mysteries. Benjamin is evocative, never literal, and At First Light is atmospheric in the way that Ravel is: something nebulous and indefinable arises from precision of ear and utmost attention to detail.’
The Boston Globe (Richard Dyer), 28 July 1999
 
‘…a bold piece, reminiscent of Varese in its eruptive force, and another bolt in this young composer’s self-discovery.’

 he Times (Paul Griffiths), 25 November 1982