"There was no shortage of excellent introductory material at this concert. The programme notes by principal cellist Alice McVeigh were written with such a refreshing mixture of liveliness and informed individual response to the music, that they seem to me to be a model of how such writing should be...There was a truly heart-rending moment as the development began when Caroline Marwood’s oboe delivered her sad and solitary reply to the solo horn...Often for non-professional orchestras it’s the quiet passages that present the greatest challenges, but the Bromley Symphony Orchestra showed particular accomplishment in Bruckner’s more meditative music...Flute, clarinet and horn solos were all outstanding."
Ken Ward, The Bruckner Journal, 2013
"Jamie Walton ... was the soloist in an outstanding account of Elgar's Cello Concerto, at times very moving indeed, soloist and conductor being at one in the realisation of the score. The programme concluded with a most finely-realised performance of Vaughan Williams's A London Symphony ... played with considerable love and attention to detail – and power, when called for – Adrian Brown excelling in this great music."
Robert Matthew-Walker, Classical Source, 2012
“Classical compositions don’t come much bigger or more impressive than Mahler’s Symphony No 3... The orchestra was nearly double its normal size ... Adrian Brown exerted total command over the singers and instrumentalists and the result was an artistic triumph. And in particular, the clever creation of distant sounds from military bands provided a few moments of real musical magic and an almost eerie realism.”
Kentish Times
“The conductor Adrian Brown was in total command of the complex architecture of the piece (Sibelius’s ‘Pohjola’s Daughter’) and the orchestra gave a memorable performance ... Orchestra, conductor and soloist (Shostakovich Violin Concerto No 1) alike matched the desolate aspects of the score and the rare and beautiful melodic sections with a professionalism that now pervades the orchestra ... It (Tchaikovsky’s ‘Nutcracker’) weaved its traditional magic in an exciting performance by all concerned."
Kentish Times
"... a fine account of Elgar’s orchestration of Bach’s Organ Fantasia and Fugue in C minor ... Finally came Anthony Payne’s now famous elaboration of the sketches of Elgar’s Third Symphony, of which Adrian Brown has given more performances than any other conductor. This was a noble and passionate reading of stature, thorough enjoyed by the very large and appreciative audience."
"Grieg’s popular ‘Peer Gynt’ Suite, which began the evening, was a breathtaking feast of musical excellence... The concert ended with a performance of a symphony which changed the course of music forever (Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’) ...The conductor could not have injected more passion, emotion and discipline into the players than they showed in what is a demanding work – the encores for players and conductor alike were well deserved.”
Kentish Times
"It is very difficult to provide a critique about a musical ensemble that seems to get better every time I hear it ..."
Kentish Times
"... The performance was perfect and the conductor appears to have instilled a professional approach to all the musicians. There can be very few so-called amateur orchestras that can maintain such high standards."
Kentish Times
" ... The orchestra’s distinguished conductor, Adrian Brown again showed that his bond with the musicians has created a highly professional ensemble which gives the term ‘amateur’ a somewhat hollow ring. ... The performance was exceptional (Mozart’s Symphony No 39) and the wind instruments were outstanding in the first two movements..."
Kentish Times
"The warm applause at the end of the concert confirmed that the finer points of the performance (Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben) were not lost on the audience"
Kentish Times
"The Corsair overture by Berlioz was bright, colourful, and exciting while Prokofiev's complex 5th Symphony was directed with such precision by the conductor, Adrian Brown, it positively bristled with the sounds created by the composer’s supreme grasp of melody, drama and orchestration."
Kentish Times
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