“Adrian Brown has been at the helm for forty seasons; still the only British conductor to have reached the finals of the Herbert von Karajan Conducting Competition in Berlin, he has raised the standards of the Bromley Symphony to a high level, as we heard throughout this centenary event…In terms of architectural and emotional structure, this account was a true revelation of Beethoven’s Ninth – this, I am certain, was throughout what the work is about. Brown had every performer with him, a quartet of truly excellent vocal soloists and a choir that sang with total commitment. Brown’s conducting was that very rare thing – a searching comprehension of the way in which Beethoven, surely, meant his work to be heard – although he, of course, only imagined it in his inner creative ear… the demonstrable respect in which Brown held his fellow-musicians contributed mightily in inspiring them to an outstanding performance.”
“Adrian Brown has been at the helm for forty seasons; still the only British conductor to have reached the finals of the Herbert von Karajan Conducting Competition in Berlin, he has raised the standards of the Bromley Symphony to a high level, as we heard throughout this centenary event…In terms of architectural and emotional structure, this account was a true revelation of Beethoven’s Ninth – this, I am certain, was throughout what the work is about. Brown had every performer with him, a quartet of truly excellent vocal soloists and a choir that sang with total commitment. Brown’s conducting was that very rare thing – a searching comprehension of the way in which Beethoven, surely, meant his work to be heard – although he, of course, only imagined it in his inner creative ear… the demonstrable respect in which Brown held his fellow-musicians contributed mightily in inspiring them to an outstanding performance.”
Robert Matthew-Walker, Musical Opinion, May 2019