BBC National Orchestra of Wales / Brahms & Zemlinsky
“His approach to Zemlinsky's First Symphony was insightful, pointing up its symphonic workings, as well as underlining both the technical facility and the fertile imagination that would emerge so powerfully in the Lyric Symphony and Die Seejungfrau. Yet it was a sense of great emotional undercurrent that Brabbins brought out most vividly...”
The Guardian, December 2011
BBC Concert Orchestra / Kuula Vocal & Orchestral Works (Dutton Epoch)
“…an excellent sampling of Kuula’s orchestra works […] Brabbins and the BBC Concert Orchestra generate no little heat: the joy of discovery pervades these performances.”
International Record Review “Outstanding”, October 2011
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra / Walton: Symphonies 1 & 2, Siesta (Hyperion)
“This version of the First Symphony even rivals the version that André Previn and the LSO recorded for RCA in 1966…What is so good about the new Hyperion performances is the control of tension… Brabbins is masterly in such passages, and equally so in the haunted slow movement, the emotional core of the piece… This is the most powerful account of this three-movement work [Second Symphony] that I can remember.”
Gramophone, September 2011
“There is room for a flagship digital recording of the great First Symphony, popular though its recorded history may be – and Martyn Brabbins can justifiably lay claim to having made it. This is an exhilarating performance that fully harnesses the energy of the piece, helped greatly by judicious tempo choices... Brabbins is supported in his cause by truly excellent playing from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, not least brass and timpani, the former drilled and incisive, the latter adding important depth. The ‘malicious’ scherzo is particularly fleet of foot and has rarely sounded so good on record and fair leaps out of the speakers. The first movement, too, is exceptionally well-judged, the atmospheric start laying the groundwork for the rhythmic motifs to gradually impose themselves. Nor does Brabbins dwell in the ‘melancholic slow movement, yet finds a real depth of feeling, passionately performed as if in one long phrase...
There is also an extremely satisfying account of the Second Symphony, showing off its unusual but rich orchestral colours. The piano and vibraphone are ideally placed in the mix, making themselves heard in accompaniment to the dominant, bittersweet theme of the first movement, which Brabbins ensures is beautifully shaped, its angular lines strange yet logical.
In each of the three works Martyn Brabbins shows a keen understanding of Walton’s writing... For now, though, this is a winning disc of William Walton’s two symphonies.”
“These are performances worthy to stand alongside the very best I have ever heard of these wonderful works, either recorded or in the concert hall... Here, tempos are well-nigh-perfect; balance and dynamics are carefully managed... and it proves the point that every one of those notes (of which there are many that are frequently glossed over) is essential to make the sound that only Walton can make.
The impressive points are too numerous to mention, but to be particularly admired in the First Symphony is the way that the grinding climaxes are held back so that they don't become over-powering – until they need to be – and also the tight control Brabbins has on rhythmic drive.
The Second Symphony... is the creation of a more stable and experienced composer. In this recording the music glitters brilliantly, revealing the deft touches of instrumentation that the score tells us are there but are rarely heard – this is as much a concerto for orchestra as it is the designated Symphony. The wind soloists of the BBC Scottish SO shine in the first movement – Brabbins managing wonderfully the mix of confidence, bitterness and frustration and not since the classic decades-old George Szell recording have I heard the Mediterranean longing of the slow movement come across so effectively...
This is a triumph for the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Martyn Brabbins... It’s the coupling and the performances I've been waiting for. No lover of twentieth-century orchestral music – whether Waltonians or not – should hesitate to acquire this superb and revealing release.”
Classical Source, August 2011
“Brabbins leaves us in no doubt about his expert touch in this repertoire. He gets lean, clean results from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, maintaining tension and momentum in a way that showcases the music’s virtuosic dynamism. What the orchestral sound misses in opulence, it makes up in athletic energy and finesse.
The First Symphony’s explosive rhythms are well handled, but the Second’s elusive spirit comes across equally powerfully. No admirer of these symphonies should be without André Previn’s classic LSO recordings, but Hyperion fits both works on a single CD, and Brabbins’ sheer conviction should win them new admirers.”
Andrew Clark, Financial Times, July 2011
“The dazzling brilliance and menacing darkness in Walton’s First Symphony are astutely caught here by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Martyn Brabbins. The sensible coupling is the Second Symphony, not so warmly received when it was new but here attesting to its originality and emotional power. Walton’s instrumentation was always one of his assets, as was his way with cross-cutting rhythm, both of which Brabbins taps excitingly here.”
Geoffrey Norris, The Telegraph, July 2011
“André Previn's famous 1967 recording of Walton's First Symphony with the LSO has effectively seen off all subsequent versions. Nobody since has managed to match that performance's combination of snarling menace and orchestral brilliance on disc, and it's a real achievement that Martyn Brabbins and the BBC Scottish Symphony come as close as they do to emulating it. Brabbins's account is a reminder that for all its derivative elements and bombast, Walton One is a powerful musical statement in its own right; the first movement is worked to a massive grinding climax on this recording, the scherzo is wonderfully deft, if not quite with the edge that the "con malizia" marking in the score implies, and the remaining movements are steered faultlessly to the noisy conclusion.
The three-movement Second Symphony belongs to a very different emotional world, though flashes of the First's irascibility occasionally surface. Brabbins extracts all of the necessary orchestral glitter and swagger from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, even if some of the solo passages don't have quite the smoochy lilt they ideally need; as a neat pairing of Walton's two symphonies on a single disc, this really can't be bettered.”
Andrew Clements, The Guardian, June 2011
“That the First Symphony really is a masterpiece is apparent throughout Martyn Brabbins’s dedicated, full-blooded account, with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra playing their hearts out, their surprisingly big sound captured with remarkable fidelity by the Hyperion engineers.
The first movement… is arguably the greatest symphonic movement ever created by a British composer. It’s a real achievement that Brabbins makes the other three, especially the problematic finale which caused Walton so much grief, worthy of this imposing beginning.”
David Mellor, The Mail on Sunday, July 2011
“Brabbins makes the strongest possible case for the work [Symphony No. 2]… Anyone tempted by both symphonies on a single disc need not hesitate.”
Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times, July 2011
“[of Symphony No. 2] Its fizzing syncopations and phantasmagorical textures are fiendish to conduct and play. Martyn Brabbins and the BBC Scottish are thrilling champions… there’s clear, rhythmically precise playing throughout.”
Richard Morrison, The Times, June 2011
“During the last 50 years, rival versions of Walton’s music have come and gone, but in the case of his symphonies, it is Previn and Szell who have seemingly remained unassailable – until now, for this new Martyn Brabbins disc, coupling the two Symphonies is the fully the equal of its distinguished predecessors and in certain details is superior to either…
The choice of conductor is inspired… the result is a disc of incomparable sonic and musical quality. As for the performances, it is impossible to imagine anything better than this, by turns so very exciting and very moving, Brabbins’s tempos are absolutely spot-on: I write as someone who vividly remembers seeing Walton conduct both works, especially No. 1, many times… Apart from the flawless tempos, it is Brabbins’s grasp of the tonality of each movement and his ability to place each paragraph or section so clearly, seamlessly and rightly within each broader structure, at the same time as ensuring the internal orchestral balance is finely gauged…
Brabbins reveals his total understanding of Walton’s music not only in the First Symphony, but also in the structurally more challenging Second. No conductor I have heard, including Szell and the composer (still less Previn), of this very different Symphony has made the finale seem so inevitably ‘right’ from first bar to last as does Brabbins…
I have no doubt that this disc enshrines great conducting of a great orchestra in great music: the result is a record in a thousand.
Robert Matthew-Walker, International Record Review “Outstanding”, July 2011
“Not for nothing is Martyn Brabbins becoming one of the best-respected conductors of British (and other) music.”
Jessica Duchen, Classic FM, September 2011
BBC Prom / Havergal Brian: Symphony No. 1 “The Gothic”
“Martyn Brabbins proved a remarkable commander of the performing masses and exposer of the intricate layers within the antiphonal singing and thick orchestration.”
The Economist, July 2011
“The performance did what was humanly possible against almost inhuman odds.”
Edward Seckerson, The Independent, July 2011
“Brabbins and his hordes did a truly magnificent job, and those who were there are unlikely to forget the experience.”
Andrew Clements, The Guardian, July 2011
“Brabbins was a sturdy, unflappable yet energising presence.”
Ivan Hewett, The Telegraph, July 2011
“This impressively well-drilled performance under Martyn Brabbins…”
Barry Millington, Evening Standard, July 2011
“All credit to Brabbins for overseeing so intensive a preparation (both regionally and at Alexandra Palace prior to the dress rehearsal), such that precious little was left to chance on the night itself…
Insofar as timings are relevant, the performance was spot-on. In the first of the initial three purely orchestral movements, Brabbins, without under-emphasising the distinction between its incisive and languorous main themes… was at one with Brian in placing a premium on formal cohesion that was palpably secured during its later stages…
Above all this was Brabbins’s performance, and the discreet but intent control exerted over the vast numbers (no voice or instrument spared) left no doubt he believed in the music from the inside and had absorbed it thus.”
Richard Morrison, Classical Source, July 2011
“Brabbins held together the vast forces and the lop-sided span of the score with remarkable skill.”
Damian Thompson, The Telegraph (Blogs) , July 2011
“Brabbins certainly delivered the goods…Where Brabbins’ skill really came to the fore, however, was in capturing such precise note endings and dynamic unity in both the quietest and most ‘cacophonous’ passages, and in achieving such smooth transitions from one to the other. With well over six hundred singers this was no mean feat.”
Sam Smith, Music OMH, July 2011
“Hail by means conductor Martyn Brabbins’ flexible command of nine choirs and two orchestras.”
David Nice, The Arts Desk, July 2011
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra / Walton Symphonies
“There is room for a flagship digital recording of the great First Symphony, popular though its recorded history may be – and Martyn Brabbins can justifiably lay claim to having made it. This is an exhilarating performance that fully harnesses the energy of the piece, helped greatly by judicious tempo choices... Brabbins is supported in his cause by truly excellent playing from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, not least brass and timpani, the former drilled and incisive, the latter adding important depth. The ‘malicious’ scherzo is particularly fleet of foot and has rarely sounded so good on record and fair leaps out of the speakers. The first movement, too, is exceptionally well-judged, the atmospheric start laying the groundwork for the rhythmic motifs to gradually impose themselves. Nor does Brabbins dwell in the ‘melancholic slow movement, yet finds a real depth of feeling, passionately performed as if in one long phrase...
There is also an extremely satisfying account of the Second Symphony, showing off its unusual but rich orchestral colours. The piano and vibraphone are ideally placed in the mix, making themselves heard in accompaniment to the dominant, bittersweet theme of the first movement, which Brabbins ensures is beautifully shaped, its angular lines strange yet logical.
In each of the three works Martyn Brabbins shows a keen understanding of Walton’s writing... For now, though, this is a winning disc of William Walton’s two symphonies.”
“These are performances worthy to stand alongside the very best I have ever heard of these wonderful works, either recorded or in the concert hall... Here, tempos are well-nigh-perfect; balance and dynamics are carefully managed... and it proves the point that every one of those notes (of which there are many that are frequently glossed over) is essential to make the sound that only Walton can make.
The impressive points are too numerous to mention, but to be particularly admired in the First Symphony is the way that the grinding climaxes are held back so that they don't become over-powering – until they need to be – and also the tight control Brabbins has on rhythmic drive.
The Second Symphony... is the creation of a more stable and experienced composer. In this recording the music glitters brilliantly, revealing the deft touches of instrumentation that the score tells us are there but are rarely heard – this is as much a concerto for orchestra as it is the designated Symphony. The wind soloists of the BBC Scottish SO shine in the first movement – Brabbins managing wonderfully the mix of confidence, bitterness and frustration and not since the classic decades-old George Szell recording have I heard the Mediterranean longing of the slow movement come across so effectively...
This is a triumph for the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Martyn Brabbins... It’s the coupling and the performances I've been waiting for. No lover of twentieth-century orchestral music – whether Waltonians or not – should hesitate to acquire this superb and revealing release.”
Classical Source, August 2011
“Brabbins leaves us in no doubt about his expert touch in this repertoire. He gets lean, clean results from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, maintaining tension and momentum in a way that showcases the music’s virtuosic dynamism. What the orchestral sound misses in opulence, it makes up in athletic energy and finesse.
The First Symphony’s explosive rhythms are well handled, but the Second’s elusive spirit comes across equally powerfully. No admirer of these symphonies should be without André Previn’s classic LSO recordings, but Hyperion fits both works on a single CD, and Brabbins’ sheer conviction should win them new admirers.”
Financial Times, July 2011
“André Previn's famous 1967 recording of Walton's First Symphony with the LSO has effectively seen off all subsequent versions. Nobody since has managed to match that performance's combination of snarling menace and orchestral brilliance on disc, and it's a real achievement that Martyn Brabbins and the BBC Scottish Symphony come as close as they do to emulating it. Brabbins's account is a reminder that for all its derivative elements and bombast, Walton One is a powerful musical statement in its own right; the first movement is worked to a massive grinding climax on this recording, the scherzo is wonderfully deft, if not quite with the edge that the "con malizia" marking in the score implies, and the remaining movements are steered faultlessly to the noisy conclusion.
The three-movement Second Symphony belongs to a very different emotional world, though flashes of the First's irascibility occasionally surface. Brabbins extracts all of the necessary orchestral glitter and swagger from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, even if some of the solo passages don't have quite the smoochy lilt they ideally need; as a neat pairing of Walton's two symphonies on a single disc, this really can't be bettered.”
The Guardian, June 2011
“That the First Symphony really is a masterpiece is apparent throughout Martyn Brabbins’s dedicated, full-blooded account, with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra playing their hearts out, their surprisingly big sound captured with remarkable fidelity by the Hyperion engineers.
The first movement… is arguably the greatest symphonic movement ever created by a British composer. It’s a real achievement that Brabbins makes the other three, especially the problematic finale which caused Walton so much grief, worthy of this imposing beginning.”
David Mellor, The Mail on Sunday, July 2011
“Brabbins makes the strongest possible case for the work [Symphony No. 2]… Anyone tempted by both symphonies on a single disc need not hesitate.”
Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times, July 2011
“[of Symphony No. 2] Its fizzing syncopations and phantasmagorical textures are fiendish to conduct and play. Martyn Brabbins and the BBC Scottish are thrilling champions… there’s clear, rhythmically precise playing throughout.”
Richard Morrison, The Times, June 2011
“During the last 50 years, rival versions of Walton’s music have come and gone, but in the case of his symphonies, it is Previn and Szell who have seemingly remained unassailable – until now, for this new Martyn Brabbins disc, coupling the two Symphonies is the fully the equal of its distinguished predecessors and in certain details is superior to either…
The choice of conductor is inspired… the result is a disc of incomparable sonic and musical quality. As for the performances, it is impossible to imagine anything better than this, by turns so very exciting and very moving, Brabbins’s tempos are absolutely spot-on: I write as someone who vividly remembers seeing Walton conduct both works, especially No. 1, many times… Apart from the flawless tempos, it is Brabbins’s grasp of the tonality of each movement and his ability to place each paragraph or section so clearly, seamlessly and rightly within each broader structure, at the same time as ensuring the internal orchestral balance is finely gauged…
Brabbins reveals his total understanding of Walton’s music not only in the First Symphony, but also in the structurally more challenging Second. No conductor I have heard, including Szell and the composer (still less Previn), of this very different Symphony has made the finale seem so inevitably ‘right’ from first bar to last as does Brabbins…
I have no doubt that this disc enshrines great conducting of a great orchestra in great music: the result is a record in a thousand."
Robert Matthew-Walker, International Record Review “Outstanding”, July 2011
“Not for nothing is Martyn Brabbins becoming one of the best-respected conductors of British (and other) music.”
Jessica Duchen, Classic FM, September 2011
Frankfurt Opera / Pizetti Murder in the Cathedral (new Keith Warner production)
“The Frankfurt opera orchestra under Martyn Brabbins relishes the gorgeous colours of the orchestral score, in this highly expressive performance.”
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, May 2011
Duesseldorfer Symphoniker / Mahler Das Klagende Lied
“Martyn Brabbins was masterful at keeping the overflowing dimensions of the work under control...He engaged fantastically with Mahler’s fragile and essentially tragic tonal palette, allowing the rich colouring to bloom with abandon.”
Rheinische Post, March 2011
BBC Symphony Orchestra / Ferneyhough Total Immersion
“…the extraordinary achievement of Brabbins and his players.”
Evening Standard, February 2011
“...in the hands of the great Martyn Brabbins and an unflappable and impassioned BBC Symphony Orchestra it swept all before it... It was like moving through a throbbing city: a completely intoxicating experience.”
The Arts Desk, February 2011
BBC National Orchestra of Wales / Leighton Symphony No. 1, Piano Concerto No. 3
“The 1964 First Symphony here in its first recording, [is] played with stunning effect by Martyn Brabbins and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales... There is a Sibelian grandeur to both the conception and the sound of this symphony, and even distant echoes (in the pounding drums under declamatory brass) of the heaven-storming opening of Brahms’s First”.
American Record Guide, November 2010
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra / Elgar, Walton, Britten
“…Elgar's concert overture In the South (Alassio), a sun-kissed explosion of joy if ever there was one, laced with thematic bravado, crunching dissonances and more than one moment that might easily have been penned by Richard Strauss. Martyn Brabbins, always sturdy and fiery in this repertoire, gave it grit and substance, generating a performance that was, at times, electrifying.”
The Scotsman, November 2010
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra at the BBC Proms / Mozart, Liszt, Rimsky-Korsakov, Dillon & Tchaikovsky
“(...) an irrepressible account of Tchaikovsky's Second Symphony gave Brabbins the chance to show again that he is just as exceptional an interpreter of the Russian repertory as he is of contemporary music.”
The Guardian, August 2010
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra / Britten, Poulenc and Elgar
“Martyn Brabbins conducted the BBC SSO (this year’s orchestra in residence) and the St Magnus Festival Chorus in the premiere, in a programme that opened with Britten’s Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes and closed with Elgar’s Enigma Variations, performances which showed an orchestra on fine form and a conductor with a stylish and sympathetic affinity for the music”
The Herald Scotland, June 2010
Netherlands Opera / Raskatov A Dog’s Heart
“The production by the English director Simon McBurney, in his first foray into opera, ingeniously captures the opera’s spirit...Martyn Brabbins leads an assured performance.”
The New York Times, June 2010
Birmingham Contemporary Music Group / David Sawer Rumpelstiltskin
“From the ever-darkening timbre of the alchemy music to the expansive horn solo, the brittle, syncopated wedding music, mocking flute and stuttering speech-rhythms, Sawer tightens his score with unerring focus and is handsomely served by BCMG's virtuosic instrumentalists and conductor Martyn Brabbins."
The Independent, November 2009
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra / Sir Peter Maxwell Davies Taverner
“With the exemplary Martyn Brabbins conducting the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the ending of the first half was as shattering as it should have been. The distant murmur of instrumental tone at the close of the opera will stick no less indelibly in the memory."
The Herald, November 2009
“I was blown away by its emotive power. Martyn Brabbins engineered a performance that held us rapt from its declamatory start to a hauntingly moving ending, where a snatch of Taverner's own music fades into oblivion."
The Scotsman, November 2009
Royal Flemish Philharmonic / Lodewijk Mortelmans Homerische symfonie; Morgenstemming; Mythe der lente
“This CD marks a new departure for Hyperion, starting their link with the Royal Flemish Philharmonic under their relatively new principal guest conductor but old Hyperion hand Martyn Brabbins. This is a fine orchestra, capable of silky smooth string playing where necessary, and excellent in all departments. Brabbins steers a clear path avoiding the mundane on the one hand, and the over-egged romantic hysteria on the other, and his orchestra, from the end result, seem to me to have enjoyed the music making hugely. These are no idle run-throughs – ensemble is tight, dynamics are carefully graded and the result is some intense music-making…. This release is the first of a series, further issues in which I look forward to immensely.”
Audiophile Audition, October 2009
Flemish Opera / Berg / Wozzeck
“As remarkable as the sublime acting of the soli is the collaboration between Joosten and conductor Martyn Brabbins. The timing and the way they put together in the most logical way the contradictions between the people’s language and Hochdeutsch and between Bergs atonal music and folksong is spot on. (…) The soli sing in beautiful synchronization with the musicians from the Flanders Opera Symphonic Orchestra. The Brit Brabbins makes with this Wozzeck his debut at Flanders Opera. He’s just been appointed as regular guest conductor at the Filharmonie. If this performance of the Flanders Opera Symphonic Orchestra is exemplary of his work, then there are some exciting times ahead in Antwerp.”
De Volkskrant (5 stars), October 2009
“Alban Berg warned his conductors that they should not lose themselves in the score (one of the most worked through in history) but that they should serve the ‘idea’. Martyn Brabbins and the orchestra succeed in that pretty well. He feels the dramatic rythmes of Berg very well and balances the volumes powerfully without becoming demonstrative.”
De Morgen, October 2009
“Leading an orchestra in perfect shape, Martyn Brabbins gives the score a reading that is more exciting than natural, amazingly intimate and gives a perspective to the extraordinary beauty of the orchestral score without becoming too heavy or ostentatious.”
La Libre Belgique, October 2009
“The musical approach is also driven, powerful and loud. Conductor Martyn Brabbins hardly gives the orchestra time to relax. In his hands this opera, lasting less than 100 minutes, becomes scorchingly intense.”
De Standaard, October 2009
Flemish Opera / Berg Wozzeck
“As remarkable as the sublime acting of the soli is the collaboration between Joosten and conductor Martyn Brabbins. The timing and the way they put together in the most logical way the contradictions between the people’s language and Hochdeutsch and between Bergs atonal music and folksong is spot on… The soli sing in beautiful synchronization with the musicians from the Flanders Opera Symphonic Orchestra. The Brit Brabbins makes with this Wozzeck his debut at Flanders Opera. He’s just been appointed as regular guest conductor at the Filharmonie. If this performance of the Flanders Opera Symphonic Orchestra is exemplary of his work, then there are some exciting times ahead in Antwerp.”
De Volkskrant, 5 stars, September 2009
“Alban Berg warned his conductors that they should not lose themselves in the score (one of the most worked through in history) but that they should serve the ‘idea’. Martyn Brabbins and the orchestra succeed in that pretty well. He feels the dramatic rythms of Berg very well and balances the volumes powerfully without becoming demonstrative.”
De Morgen, September 2009
“Leading an orchestra in perfect shape, Martyn Brabbins gives the score a reading that is more exciting than natural, amazingly intimate and gives a perspective to the extraordinary beauty of the orchestral score without becoming too heavy or ostentatious.”
La Libre Belgique, September 2009
“The musical approach is also driven, powerful and loud. Conductor Martyn Brabbins hardly gives the orchestra time to relax. In his hands this opera, lasting less than 100 minutes, becomes scorchingly intense.”
De Standaard, September 2009
Opera de Lyon / Britten Death in Venice
“Death in Venice, Benjamin Britten's final opera, is one of the composer's least-performed works; productions in France have been especially rare… the Aldeburgh Festival under the direction of Yoshi Oida and the baton of Martyn Brabbins, was one of the highlights of the French season.”
Opera News Online, July 2009
"In the pit the Lyon Opera Orchestra (in small formation) is perfect: Martyn Brabbins, a British conductor unknown in France, conducts with perfect precision, emphasising the "abstract" nature of the score, influenced by Berg (one of Britten's musical inspirations), and keeping up the tension throughout the performance."
Le Monde, May 2009
London Philharmonic Orchestra / Britten, Sibelius & Elgar
“Britten's ‘Four Sea Interludes’ from Peter Grimes, with their edgy high lines and sonorous depths, might have been composed for the improved acoustic of the Royal Festival Hall, in any case – their vividness enhanced on this occasion by Brabbins pressing on from Interlude to Interlude without pause, as Britten asked. Rarely can the heavy brass in ‘Dawn’ have sounded more menacing, the bells in ‘Sunday Morning’ more clangourous, the reflections in ‘Moonlight’ more incisive, the screaming strings in ‘Storm’ more fearsome."
"A number of rarely noticed details of colour and dynamics in Elgar's [Enigma Variations] ever-shifting scoring were pointed and the penultimate variation, with its vision of a great ship passing, was memorable. A full RFH yet again, and much enthusiasm.”
The Independent, 29 January 2009
“The hushed opening of the Enigma Variations seemed inspired… Bow barely moved over string at the start of Nimrod. And Brabbins skillfully balanced detail and impetus in such a way as to bring a sense of powerful cumulative energy to the work as a whole.”
The Times, 23 January 2009
London Sinfonietta / Takemitsu & Larcher
“Both pieces… were played with exquisite care and affection by the Sinfonietta under Martyn Brabbins's direction.”
Daily Telegraph, October 2008
BBC Symphony Orchestra / BBC Proms / Vaughan-Williams & Holst
“Martyn Brabbins conducted the BBC Symphony in the English parts of the concert, which was dedicated to the memory of Vernon Handley, whose death had been announced earlier that day. Both the Sinfonia Antartica and The Planets were works that Handley conducted superlatively, and Brabbins' performance of the Holst especially - wonderfully fleet and colourful, its array of European influences gleefully paraded - had the same memorable quality. The Vaughan Williams remains… an uneasy mix of site-specific illustrative music and symphonic rigour, though here its instrumental palette positively glowed.”
The Guardian, 13 September 2008
“Brabbins and the orchestra gave the freshest of performances, full of keen detail and felicitous colouration. His blistering tempo for "Mars" was as good a sign as any of life on the red planet.”
The Independent, 12 September 2008
“Brabbins delivered an exceptional performance that proved once again what a modernist phenomenon this score of the First World War years was. After an implacable, explosive 'Mars', 'Venus' was more full-toned, more sensual than ever.”
Evening Standard, 12 September 2008
Norrköping Symphony Orchestra / John Pickhard The Flight of Icarus, The Spindle of Necessity, Channel Firing
“British conductor Martyn Brabbins has this music under his skin… This one is essential listening for lovers of modern music.”
Fanfare, July/August 2008
“The Norrköpinger Sinfonieorchester, conducted by Martyn Brabbins, showed itself at its best, and translated Pickard's scores into technically outstanding and gripping, needle-sharp soundworlds. The resulting intensity, coming from a total dedication to the task, is tangible and audible every second. The music doesn't come across as heavy, but keeps a natural transparence, which is enhanced by the exemplary recording quality.”
Klassik.com, May 2008
BBC National Orchestra of Wales / Dvorák & Bartók
“The BBCNOW musicians were in top form, and their playing was all the more vivid for Brabbins' contrasting of the mischievous humour of the second and fourth movements with the elegiac outpouring at the heart of the piece.”
The Guardian, January 2008
BBC Symphony Orchestra / Judith Weir Weekend at the Barbican Centre
“… Martyn Brabbins' conducting superbly illuminated the work's sensuous, yet strangely threatening, sound world.”
The Guardian, January 2008
“…Michael Finnissey’s tone poem 'Red Earth', a brilliant piece of 1980s Modernism… gave Sunday’s closing concert its focus, in a superbly coralled rendition under Martyn Brabbins.”
The Financial Times, January 2008
“… The Vanishing Bridegroom… was given an atmospheric concert performance on Saturday under Martyn Brabbins’s direction.”
The Times, January 2008
“The BBC Symphony Orchestra negotiated its way deftly through the ambiguities of Weir's tantalisingly suggestive score under the assured baton of Martyn Brabbins.”
The Evening Standard, January 2008
Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, BBC Symphony Orchestra / David Sawer From Morning to Midnight (NMC)
“Along with the half-hour suite from his Coliseum opera, the disc includes The Memory of Water, for strings, the orchestral, Bentham-inspired “the greatest happiness principle”, and the surreally brilliant ensemble piece Tiroirs.”
The Times, December 2007
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra / BBC Proms 2007
“…the performance [of Harrison’s Panic] under Brabbins was wonderfully precise.”
The Guardian, August 2007
London Sinfonietta / György Ligeti Aventures & Nouvelles Aventures
"Martyn Brabbins’s conducting generated its own electricity. Performers froze to the end of his finger, awaiting the tiny beat that would set off a plink, a howl, or the crockery’s demise."
The Times, May 2007
“The blue-gowned orchestra is superbly conducted by Martyn Brabbins.”
The Guardian, May 2007
Oper Frankfurt / Bloch Macbeth (prod. Keith Warner)
“Unter seiner Leitung schaerfte das gut disponierte Frankfurter Museumsorchester nicht allein die oft schroffen Konturen des Werks, sondern entlockte ihm auch die reichen, fast impressionistischen Farbwerte und das differenzierte Panorama der Instrumentallinien.”
“Under (Brabbins') direction the A team Frankfurt Museumsorchester not only brought into focus the often jagged contours of the work, but also seduced us with the rich, almost impressionistic colours and the varied panorama of the instrumental writing.”
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, January 2007
“Dirigent Martyn Brabbins aber hatte das Ensemble hervorragend mit den Anforderungen dieser Hochkomplizierten Musik vertraut gemacht und erreichte ein Hoechstmass an Spannung und Konturenschaerfe."
“However, conductor Martyn Brabbins was outstanding in his ability to familiarise the orchestra with this demanding and highly complicated music, and achieved a high level of excitement and clarity of line.”
Frankfurter Neue Presse, January 2007
Philharmonia Orchestra / Queen Elizabeth Hall / Elgar, Walton & Hellawell
“…the pièces de résistance were the two Elgar 'overtures' (really symphonic poems) that framed this all-English programme. Martyn Brabbins and the Philharmonia gave In the South and Cockaigne the sort of glamorous sound and sweep that augurs well for their tour to Mexico next week.”
Financial Times, October 2006
BBC Proms / BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra / Bernstein Chichester Psalms
“...spine-tinglingly visceral...”
The Guardian, July 2006
Cheltenham Festival / Hallé Orchestra
“The concert began appropriately with Mendelssohn’s Fingal’s Cave overture, and ended with an account of Mahler’s uncaledonian fourth symphony that I found deeply affecting.”
The Sunday Times, July 2006
Het Residentie Orkest / Amsterdam Concertgebouw / Shostakovich One Act Operas
”Het stuk werd, net als de andere fraai door het Residentie Orkest gespeeld. Vor dirigent Brabbins heeft Sjostakovitsj kennelijk wenig geheimen.”
“…beautifully played by the Residentie Orchestra. Shostakovich evidently holds few secrets for conductor Brabbins.”
Parool, June 2006
Philharmonia / Stravinsky The Rake’s Progress
“It was also the best played, with exquisite work from the Philharmonia under Martyn Brabbins.”
Anna Picard, The Independent, June 2006
“Neil Bartlett's new production of Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress is an effervescent curtain-raiser to this year's Aldeburgh festival. It's the first time Bartlett has directed an opera. But with a cast of young soloists - all graduates of Aldeburgh's Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme - and the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Martyn Brabbins, this is a staging full of wit, energy and expressive intensity..."
"...it's the brilliance of Stravinsky's music, and the pacing and insight of Brabbins's conducting, that make this evening so rewarding.”
Tom Service, The Guardian, June 2006
“Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress was mounted at Snape Maltings by soloists from the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme, a chorus from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the Philharmonia Orchestra, crisply conducted by Martyn Brabbins.”
Paul Driver, The Times, June 2006
BBC SSO / National Youth Choir of Scotland / Hellawell, Bernstein, Debussy and Bartók
“...a power-packed performance of the Bartók.”
The Scotsman, April 2006
“...the SSO was in mindblowing form for Piers Hellawell’s excitingly hectic Dogs and Wolves (a first performance), ravishingly hypnotic in Debussy’s Prelude a l’apres-midi d’un faune, and ... ultimately incandescent and super-articulate in the finale of Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra.”
The Herald, April 2006
BBC Symphony Orchestra / Bennett
“Brabbins and his responsive orchestra gave us a performance of much sighing beauty.”
The Times, April 2006
Philharmonia Orchestra / Britten, Holst, Elgar and Tchaikovsky
“…the sound of Martyn Brabbin’s performance never seemed saturated or lacking in spaciousness. The internal detail the close focus revealed was an added bonus.”
“That spotlight on instrumental detail suited the ballet music from Holst’s otherwise forgotten opera The Perfect Fool, extrovertly delivered by Brabbins, and especially the multitude of woodwind contributions in his equally well characterised account of the Enigma Variations. This reinforced an admiration for the expert musicianship of the Philharmonia’s principles, as well as for the imaginative doublings in Elgar’s textures.”
The Guardian, October 2005
Cheltenham Festival
“He is surely destined to change musical life in more than Cheltenham.”
The Times, July 2005
“It is not just that he is exceptionally versatile…it is also a mature personality.”
The Financial Times, June 2005
“The appointment…shows that his breadth of experience has finally come into focus.”
The Financial Times, June 2005
Hallé Orchestra / Ravel: Mother Goose, Holst: The Perfect Fool
“The darkest of the score’s three incarnations, it became, in Brabbins’s hands a very adult work, shot through with premonitions of lost innocence and adolescent sexuality… Thrilling, polyrhythmic stuff, [The Perfect Fool] was given a hair-raising performance by Brabbins that left you wondering why it is played so infrequently and why so few choreographers are drawn to it.”
The Guardian, February 2005
English National Opera / Tippett A Child of our Time
“Martyn Brabbins’s account of the score is grippingly urgent and muscular; the singing of the ENO chorus, so central to the work, is full-blooded, and the four soloists…first-rate too.”
The Guardian, January 2005
“…conductor Martyn Brabbins drew impassioned playing from the orchestra.”
The Daily Telegraph, January 2005
“The spirituals…are, harmonically speaking, the richest moments in a spare and soulful musical landscape, one that is wonderfully served by the conductor, Martyn Brabbins, ENO’s excellent chorus and the heartfelt soloists…”
The Independent, January 2005
“Martyn Brabbins conducts with appropriate soulfulness and clarity – the Romantic lines of the opening and dark colours of deep strings and brass are particularly well done, and there is a fine set of soloists…”
The Times, January 2005
“The unfazeable ENO chorus met all challenges heroically and the orchestra and soloists, under Martyn Brabbins’s expert baton, gave quality performances.”
The Evening Standard, January 2005
BBC Symphony Orchestra / Birtwistle The Second Mrs Kong
“…This contains some of his most hypnotically beautiful writing, at least when the huge forces are controlled with as much flair as Martyn Brabbins displayed here…”
The Times, November 2004
“…Brabbins’s performance reaffirmed this as one of the great operatic achievements of our time.”
The Guardian, November 2004
“Martyn Brabbins conducted the BBC Symphony in it to great effect."
The Financial Times, November 2004
“Brabbins at the BBCSO persuasively displayed the strange, glinting colours of this mesmerising score…"
The Evening Standard, November 2004
“…The BBC Symphony and tremendous soloists [gave] it their all under Martyn Brabbins…”
The Observer, November 2004
“The performance by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Apollo Voices, the conductor Martyn Brabbins, and cast…could hardly be faulted.”
The Sunday Times, November 2004
“[The Second Mrs Kong] received a superb semi-staged London premiere this week from the BBC Symphony Orchestra – back on tip-top form under Martyn Brabbins…”
The Independent on Sunday, November 2004
Ensemble Moderne / Birtwistle Theseus Game (Deutsche Grammophon)
“…the performance concludes an essential disc for all devotees of the composer’s muscular, energising music.”
The Daily Telegraph, September 2004
“Compelling listening; vintage Birtwistle.”
The Financial Times, August 2004
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra / Elgar-Payne Third Symphony
“…Brabbins manipulated its conflicting moods – muscular lyricism in the opening movement, sombre self-communing in the adagio, swaggering ceremonial in the finale – with consummate assurance.”
The Guardian, July 2004
“Elgar would surely have been delighted with the completed work and last night’s robust, passionate, mellow sounding, deeply searching performance, given by Martyn Brabbins and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.”
The Evening Standard, July 2004
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra / Carter Of Rewaking
“Here the soloist Gweneth-Anne Jeffers, creamy-toned and secure in her handling of Carter’s soaring, aspiring writing, while Brabbins, Cheltenham artistic director-in-waiting, deftly fitted the CBSO’s counterpoints around her.”
The Guardian, July 2004
“And Michael Berkeley, in his final year as festival director, was rewarded with a full house, while giving Cheltenham audiences a closer, highly complimentary, look at his successor, the conductor Martyn Brabbins.”
The Financial Times, July 2004
“Brabbins was marvelously alive to the music’s strangeness and its uniquely profound terseness”
The Sunday Times, July 2004
BBC Philharmonic / Cyril Scott (Chandos)
“In all three works Martyn Brabbins has total control of the music’s ebb and flow…”
Gramophone, June 2004
“Martyn Brabbins finds his way through the shifting, cloudy textures with great skill.”
The Guardian, May 2004
Opera North / Smetana The Bartered Bride
“…Martyn Brabbins gave his orchestra plenty of rein. After proving their mettle with a tight, trim overture, they cavorted around with just the abandon you want in a piece not built for politesse.”
Opera, April 2004
“…Martyn Brabbins pilots the orchestra through a brilliantly suspense-building overture of rushing fugatos and a courtly romp through the ensuing folkeries.”
The Times, January 2004
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra / MacMillan, MacRae, Goldschmidt, Shostakovich
“If there was one outstanding factor which unified the programme played last night by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra…then it was the performance of conductor Martyn Brabbins, working absolutely at strength, with flair colouring his familiar fastidiousness. The overriding quality he displayed, on top of his craftsmanship, was clarity, as simple and profound as that.”
The Herald, March 2004
BBC Philharmonic / Holloway 60th Birthday
“…Sustaining Holloway’s intricate textures and immense climaxes magnificently throughout, the BBC Philharmonic and Martyn Brabbins were outstanding.”
The Guardian, October 2003
Bayerische Rundfunk / Skempton, Oehring & Ives
“…This concert of new music appeared compellingly uncertain and uncramped by convention – exactly how it should be.”
Abendzeitung, July 2003
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra / Fuchs & Kiel (Hyperion CDA 67354)
“…You can’t fault the magic wand of Martyn Brabbins … nor the spirited and sensitive playing of the BBC Scottish band…”
BBC Music Magazine, May 2003
London Sinfonietta / Harvey Bird Concerto with Pianosong / Pintscher Tenebrae
“…Conductor Martyn Brabbins – what would adventurous concerts do without him? – led us through this disorientaing shadow world with his usual ease…”
The Times, April 2003
“…conductor Martyn Brabbins held the complicated structure together with ease – it looked like quite a feat of co-ordination between the soloist, ensemble and the live electronic treatment…”
The Daily Telegraph, April 2003
BBC Symphony Orchestra / Turnage Weekend
“…the BBC Symphony Orchestra, superbly conducted by Martyn Brabbins…”
The Times, January 2003
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival / Nørgard & Duddell
“…the man who has become indispensable to new music in Britain, Martyn Brabbins.”
The Times, November 2002
“…The BBCSSO tackled this demanding programme with gritty professionalism, and Martyn Brabbins, whose range of musical sympathies seems inexhaustible, conducted with his customary formidable authority.”
Huddersfield Daily Examiner, November 2002
“…All four works were superbly delivered by the BBC Scottish under Martyn Brabbins…”
The Daily Telegraph, November 2002
Philharmonia, Music of Today / Works by Richard Causton
“…Brabbins cast a powerful spell with the piece…”
The Guardian, November 2002
Opera North / Troilus and Cressida
“…Martyn Brabbins gave the score every chance to make its impact; neither his concentration nor that of the splendid orchestra lapsed for a moment…”
The Daily Telegraph, November 2002
”...Martyn Brabbins conducted the work better than anyone before him. He revelled in Walton's consummate orchestration and drew wonderful playing and singing from the Opera North orchestra – especially in the storm interlude – and chorus.”
The Sunday Telegraph, November 2002
BBC Proms / Sinfonia 21
“...with Brabbins directing operations there was a real poise and delicacy to proceedings.”
The Guardian, September 2002
“…Julian Anderson's exuberant Alhambra Fantasy cascaded out in surely the most exciting performance it has yet received...”
The Times, September 2002
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra / Elgar Symphony No.1
“…Brabbins is many people's first call to unpick a knotty piece of contemporary music, and he instinctively approaches a work as over-familiar as Elgar's first Symphony as if it were hot off the press ... Brabbins still provides the one-shot intensity of a performance that might never be heard again…”
The Guardian, April 2002
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra / Feldman Coptic Light
“…Brabbins and the BBC SSO played with control and intensity in a brilliant and uplifting performance…”
The Guardian, February 2002
Bayerische Rundfunk / Bartók, Neuwirth & Margret Wolf
“…At the podium of the excellent BR orchestra was Martyn Brabbins, whose conducting of this [Margaret Wolf and Neuwirth’s] work was decidedly commanding and creative…”
Straubinger Tagblatt, November 2001
“…Martyn Brabbins led the Bayerischer Rundfunk Symphoniker through this evening of musical extremes with calculated and precise technique.”
Abendzeitung München, November 2001
“…Henze’s 'Kubanische' had an exuberantly sensual language, thanks to Martyn Brabbin’s committed conducting.”
TZ München, November 2001
Philharmonia / Barry The Straight Line
“…Martyn Brabbins and the Philharmonia players produced a compellingly focused performance … alive to the extreme drama of the piece...”
The Guardian, November 2001
Nash Ensemble / Elgar Serenade for Strings
“…Brabbins’s shaping of the piece was just right, sensitive but not indulgent, and he made the work seem much more substantial than the delectable diversion its title suggests...”
The Guardian, November 2001
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, BBC Proms / MacRae Violin Concerto
“…This is a richly mysterious work that also manages to be vividly immediate, especially when it is performed with the authority of Little and Brabbins…”
The Guardian, August 2001
“…Martyn Brabbins, who is becoming a fine conductor of standard repertoire as well as of new music, galvanised the orchestra’s strings into some characterful accompaniment for the soprano Inger Dam-Jensen’s vividly projected interpretation of Britten’s Les Illuminations…”
The Independent, August 2001
“…Martyn Brabbins’s control of the orchestra here was matched at the end of the programme by his account of Strauss’s Also Sprach Zarathustra, a performance that had sweep and flow…”
The Times, August 2001
BBC Philharmonic / Bax Concertante for Three Wind Instruments and Orchestra (Chandos)
“…What a remarkably adaptable conductor is Martyn Brabbins – able to sound keen and in intelligent control in British music from Arnold Bax to Harrison Birtwistle…”
BBC Music Magazine, July 2001
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra / MacDowell Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 (Hyperion)
“…[Seta Tanyel is] aided by understanding support from the BBC Scottish SO under Brabbins, totally at one with her in treating MacDowell with all the seriousness he could possibly have wished, and bringing out more clearly than other versions the sheer effectiveness of his orchestration...”
BBC Music Magazine, June 2001
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra / Strauss, Kodaly, Tchaikovsky
“The concert didn’t so much start as explode into action with a dynamite version of Richard Strauss’s Don Juan, bursting at the seams with energy, bravado, and swagger, and with Brabbins in overdrive – I’ve never seen him in better form – and the SSO playing as though their lives depended on it, it was one of those rare performances where you felt you had to grip your seat to stay on the ground.”
The Herald, June 2001
English National Opera / Sawer From Morning to Midnight
“…Martyn Brabbins, the conductor, teased masterful playing and singing from orchestra and singers alike…”
The Observer, May 2001
“…The conductor Martyn Brabbins justifies the orchestra’s presence as the strongest character, while taking care not to overwhelm the voices…”
The Financial Times, April 2001
“…There is too little space to praise enough Martyn Brabbins’s conducting…”
The Times, April 2001
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra / Stravinsky Violin Concerto
“…Martyn Brabbins conducted the piece with great sensitivity and rhythmic awareness, and the various groups of instrumentalists produced some beautiful playing in the wind and brass sections in support of the soloist...”
Glasgow Herald, February 2001
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra / Stanford Violin Concerto (Hyperion)
“Recording of the Month… A first recording of the Violin Concerto, and a performance unlikely to be bettered… First-class orchestral playing, sympathetically conducted…”
Gramophone, February 2001
BBC Symphony Orchestra / Schnittke Symphony No.1
“…the BBC Symphony under the increasingly indispensable Martyn Brabbins interpreted with enormous panache…”
The Financial Times, January 2001
“…Martyn Brabbins conducted it triumphantly…”
The Sunday Telegraph, January 2001
London Sinfonietta / Birtwistle Tragoedia
“…Martyn Brabbins conducted Tragoedia (1965) with absoloute clarity showing that no note in this intense, muscular score exists without a purpose…”
The Times, October 2000
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra / Walton Symphony No.1
“…Initially despondant in mood and achingly tender, it almost imperceptibly progressed, with perfect shaping from Brabbins, into a burst of dazzling brilliance…”
The Scotsman, May 1999
“…Martyn Brabbins conducted a trenchant and electrifying version of Walton’s First Symphony...”
Glasgow Herald, April 1998
BBC Symphony Orchestra / Michael Berkeley Love Cries
“…Brabbins ensured that every strand of the febrile textures that pulse through the whole score was perfectly clear. He really is the most persuasive conductor of contemporary music. The BBCSO is on the lookout for a new chief conductor to replace Andrew Davis from 2001; Brabbins should be right in the frame...”
The Guardian, May 1999
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra / Brull Piano Concertos (Hyperion)
“…Martyn Brabbins, surely the most consistently rewarding of Britain’s young conductors…”
The Scotsman, February 1999
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra / Boulez Pli Selon Pli
“…The conductor, Martyn Brabbins, gave a practical, no nonsense account of the piece, his excellent musicians mastering the difficulties with a great deal of sang-froid. It was an inspiring achievement...”
The Independent, September 1998
“…a brilliant achievement. It helped that the soprano Valdine Anderson can make the most unforgiving music sound beautiful, and that Martyn Brabbins conducted with such fluency...”
The Times, September 1998
“…the integration of so many different strands into some sort of cohesive soundtrack, and the beauty and strangeness of so much of what we heard undoubtedly owes a lot to Martyn Brabbins’ skilful conducting...”
Glasgow Herald, August 1998
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra / Maxwell Davies Second Fantasia on an ‘In Nomine’ of John Taverner
“…In Glasgow Cathedral, all awesome space and burnished evening light, we also had the luxury of Martyn Brabbins as conductor, the perfect craftsman for such music, with not only the ability to cherish and realise detail and to bring elegance and a sense of the inevitable to the landscape of the whole, but the practical music making skill which might enable a huge orchestra to sustain a sense of performance… the playing was superb, subtly coloured, tender, fierce and always characterful…”
The Scotsman, May 1998
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