Martin James Bartlett : Reviews
PIANO
Shostakovich / Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
“This performance [Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1] produced the evening’s best music-making, thanks largely to the young soloist Martin James Bartlett… It was one of those rare moments when a composer and a performer are so similar in temperament they seem to join hands across the years. The wild satire, mock-Lisztian heroics and sudden swerves into melting lyricism of the 27-year-old Shostakovich found their ideal executant in the 28-year-old Bartlett, who has just the right volcanic temperament and exuberant virtuosity to bring those qualities to life.”
The Telegraph, Oct 2024
Mozart / London Philharmonic Orchestra with Anja Bihlmaier
“Here his warm expressiveness, paired with astonishing articulacy brought out all the light and shade in a concerto that was rapturously received from its first performance in 1785. […] There was an engaging elasticity to his style – from the way his body curved towards the piano to the free almost improvisational style he brought to the tricky arpeggiated passages. […] [W]atching him scale its technical challenges with superlative ease while bringing out its full emotional complexity was frankly like watching another, superior, species.”
Arts Desk, 4*, January 2024
J.S. Bach, Rameau, Haydn, Wagner, Rachmaninov, Ravel / Festival International de Piano de La Roque d’Anthéron
“It is in Ravel’s formidable Waltz that the musician reveals his true nature… The spirited Bartlett has taken literally this Ravelian project of an apotheosis of Johann Strauss’ waltz, which the experience of war has shattered, a diffracted testimony of a civilization in ruins. A percussive piano, full of contrasts and irony, music that wavers, falls, breaks, rises again, clatters like a great wounded body, the English pianist plays a “Guernica Waltz”, a theater of cruelty pushed to the entrenched camp of deep basses like tombs, beating like the death knell.”
Le Monde, July 2022
Mozart, Gershwin and more / Northern Chords Festival
“Youthful exuberance is also the keynote of his earliest E flat major Piano Concerto masterpiece, K271. Although its nickname, “Jeunehomme”, turns out to be a misreading of “Jenamy”, “Young Man” is delightfully applicable both to Mozart, 21 when he wrote it, and to Bartlett, still only 24 but as spirited and nuanced an interpreter of this life-enhancing work as you’ll ever hear.”
The Arts Desk, 5 Stars, October 2020
Shostakovich Piano Concerto No.2 / Cambridge Philharmonic Orchestra
“[Martin James Bartlett] gave what can only be described as a faultless, virtuosic performance of this challenging piece.
The march-time, military element of the first movement in Bartlett’s hands was a percussive tour de force, followed by an effortless transition into the famous andante, a work of great beauty in its own right…Martin Bartlett’s astounding technique beggared description.”
Cambridge Independent, May 2019
Bach, Beethoven, Schumann, Rachmaninov, Scriabin / Duszniki International Chopin Piano Festival
“This was without doubt one of the most extraordinary recitals ever to have taken place in the Dworek. The musical range of this ambitious programme was remarkable – from Bach to Scriabin. Here we have a complete musician and pianist that is almost faultless surely…
[Johann Sebastian Bach Partita in C minor BWV 826 (1726)]… The Allemande was possessed of a beautiful finger legato cantabile, each voice superbly delineated. The Courante continued the superb singing line and it was this point a reminiscence came into my head. His touch and tone were so elegant and refined with extraordinary nuance and colour, I kept asking myself why and of whom I was reminded in this approach to Bach keyboard works. Then it dawned on me: Dinu Lipatti. The Sarabande was introspective yet poised and somehow detached from earthly care. The Rondeau and Capriccio replete with subtle and elegant energy, understated yet magnificently polyphonic. Magical Bach.
As encores Bartlett played quite an eloquent Schumann/Liszt Widmung … Then a quite phenomenal performance of the Scherzo from the Beethoven Sonata No 18 in E – flat major Op.31 No.3 Some friends of mine and myself had never heard anything to equal the energy and internal fire of the movement so incandescently expressed.
This young pianist is a true musical and pianistic discovery at a remarkable level of sophisticated musicianship scarcely ever achieved in youth. Just watch this meteor rise…”
Michael Moran, August 2018
Recital in Nice
“Martin James Bartlett is not only a prodigy of the piano but an accomplished artist who counts among the greats of his generation.”
Nice Matin, February 2017
Recording: La Danse (Warner Classics, 2024)
“Exciting virtuosity” The Observer
“It just feels as though everything is in the right place. It’s the sort of CD I could imagine I would listen to over and over again” Tasmin Little on BBC Record Review
“[H]e sounds as though on a mission to reveal the purely musical essence of the works.”
Gramophone
“With loose swing and virtuoso embellishments he performs Rameau’s Gavotte from Suite No. 7, with brilliance and a fine sense of sound he interprets Ravel’s “Tombeau de Couperin” and even brings Couperin’s “Les barricades mystérieuses” close to impressionism.”
5*, Rondo Magazine
“Bartlett is a highly expressive musician […] his Couperin flickers with a cosy firelight warmth. His two Hahn miniatures are deliciously bittersweet and whirlingly joyful, while Debussy’s Arabesque No. 1 slips by like liquid sunshine.”
BBC Music Magazine
“With an always expressive left hand, Rameau’s Gavotte and its doubles unfold in a sound combining warmth and clarity, the voices intertwining with brilliance that is never ostentatious. The enveloping serenity of Couperin’s Mysterious Barricades is no less splendid.
The Prelude from Ravel’s Tomb of Couperin is part of this flow of sensual finesse. Further on, we applaud the fluidity of the Fugue, the gentle vibrations, the tranquility of the line in the Forlane. Modesty avoids any depression (Minuet), virtuosity has substance (Toccata). […] Debussy resonates through the sole Arabesque No. 1, which the twenty-seven-year-old musician unfolds with a sweet delicacy. […] Martin James Bartlett once again summons Ravel, and two of his faces: that of the fin-de-siècle aesthete with Pavane for a Dead Princess, a marvel of sensitivity never cloying under his fingers, and that of the demoniac, with La Valse.”
5*, Diapason
Rachmaninov / National Symphony Orchestra with Joshua Weilerstein
“I’d expected wit and charm from live-wire Bartlett, but perhaps not the depth and menace…He gave space when needed in miraculous rubato, with Weilerstein always watchful, and caught exactly the introspection and release necessary in the famous 18th variation. The drive through the finale was hair-raising, something you had to hear live to believe.
Here was all the subtle artistry and emotion I can never hear too often from the spontaneous-seeming Bartlett.”
Arts Desk, 5*, May 2023
Bach (arr. Busoni), Rameau, Haydn, Wagner (arr. Liszt), Gershwin (arr. Wild), Ravel / Turku Music Festival
“It was as if Bartlett had three hands, one that could pick up a melody from within the fabric of the music and carry it forward with a sparkle, and two that could create buzz, flow, colour, light and shadow…Bartlett’s pianism is perhaps the most finely tuned I have ever heard”
Turun Sanomat, August 2022
Mozart, Scriabin, Liszt, Granados, Wagner / Fondation Louis Vuitton
“What constitutes Bartlett’s greatest quality is his art of singing. In Schumann’s Widmung and Liszt’s Liebestraum, the attention to the melody is constant: the pianist stretches and shapes the sentence with a clear awareness of its source and future. A true poet of the keyboard, the finesse of sensitivity and the accuracy of the inflections allow him to express a palette of hues of great subtlety and overwhelming beauty. [Liszt’s] Petrarch Sonnet No. 104 is full of a lyricism that seizes the listener without giving him respite… Martin James Bartlett is an exciting pianist, not to be missed!”
Bachtrack, 5 stars, October 2019
Ravel Piano Concerto in G major / Philharmonia Orchestra / Royal Festival Hall
“Martin James Bartlett’s artful, pristine reading of Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G illustrated how thrilling one composer’s use of another’s musical argot can be. No wonder Ravel declined to teach Gershwin. Why bother when he could take Gershwin’s material and transform it into something so delightfully sheer, seductive and soignée?”
The Times, May 2019
“Ravel’s G-major Piano Concerto was then given a highly characterful outing, its bluesy playfulness and dreamy introspection underlined by the Philharmonia and Martin James Bartlett. The transparency of his playing impressed, passagework clean and bright-toned and dreamy languor beautifully nuanced. Bartlett’s delicacy of touch served the Adagio well, beguiling woodwind contributions floating above sparkling piano figuration with the climax smoothly integrated into a shapely span. The Presto Finale was like a runaway train, very exciting, and arriving at the buffers in one piece.”
The Classical Source, May 2019
“Such hallmarks were equally on display in Martin James Bartlett’s superb performance of Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major. What was so notable about this performance was how inside the music this young soloist was – this is a work which whips back and forth in a geometric pattern of pianistic invention. The mastery of the jazz elements, the dizzying keyboard trills, the shifts from major to minor keys were very impressively navigated.”
Opera Today, May 2019
Mozart Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K.491 / Royal College of Music Symphony Orchestra cond. Sir Bernard Haitink
“[Martin James Bartlett] is a Mozart natural, possessed of a thoroughly grounded craft that reminds of the young Perahia and which makes Mozart seem so easy. He shapes phrases with unfussy directness, gives the passagework a wonderful glow and muscularity, is scrupulously easy on the pedal and is up for any amount of banter with the orchestra, in the process encouraging some equally idiomatic playing from the RCM’s accomplished woodwinds. The thing that impressed me most, however, was Bartlett’s command of Mozart’s mercurial changes of tack in this complex work – the shadows of anxiety in the Larghetto were elegantly fielded between soloist and orchestra, and he juggled the frowning-face/smiley-face repartee in the Finale with a wisdom and wit beyond his years”.
Classical Source, February 2018
Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue / Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Eric Whitacre / BBC Proms
“Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue gave us the Proms debut of last year’s BBC Young Musician: joining the Royal Philharmonic, the pianist Martin James Bartlett brought maximum feeling to the music and played with astonishing delicacy and punch.”
Daily Telegraph, August 2015
“The wit and colour in pianist Martin James Bartlett’s playing was thrilling”
The Times, August 2015
“Since his triumph, Bartlett’s career has begun to take off and this year’s BBC Proms featured his charismatic performance of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. He’s clearly destined for great things”
Evening Standard, August 2015
Mozart / London Mozart Players with Jonathan Bloxham (75th Anniversary Concert)
“The controlled excitement from the orchestra at the opening was matched by Bartlett’s exuberant performance of the solo part. The second movement was beautifully sophisticated, whilst the ‘new’ finale really gave the soloist focus with unaccompanied sections. Bartlett brought a playfully characterful charm to the music, crisp strength contrasting with delicacy.”
Planet Hugill, February 2024
Gershwin / UK tour with the Sinfonia of London and John Wilson
“Barlett combines flawless technique with such infectious enthusiasm and ebullient musical wit that it was hard not to leave one’s seat and start dancing in the aisles. In his hands the solo part had all the fantasy you could wish for, without being tipped into idiosyncrasy”.
ReviewsGate, 5 stars, December 2022
“In a word: awesome…British pianist Martin James Bartlett came on stage to tinkle the ivories. And he was brilliant! With an expertise that belies his youthful appearance, Mr Bartlett coaxed that wonderful melody from his piano with a playful glee that was a delight to watch. The audience could scarcely refrain from tapping toes and swaying heads”.
LeftLion, December 2022
“With Martin James Bartlett on the piano this was like hearing Gershwin for the first time, he gave it new life, new confidence. In the solo piano pieces he toyed with pace, sometimes racing, sometimes thoughtful or hesitant, he gave the music a voice, sometimes soft and gentle, sometime brash and full of energy. All this was complimented by an orchestra who gave us that heady mix of jazz and classical that made Gershwin’s name, elevating him from tin pan alley song pusher to serious composer…I have never heard it performed better”.
Behind the Arras, 5 stars, November 2022
Recording: Rhapsody (Warner Classics)
“It’s a joyful display, full of warmth, character and the singing tone that Bartlett has come to be known for… The emphasis is on spontaneity rather than virtuosity for its own sake, with an elastic rapport between orchestra and soloist…great stuff.”
Steph Power, BBC Music Magazine, 5 stars, April 2022
“…the performance that matters is Bartlett’s splendidly dashing and tender account of Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.”
The Times, 4 Stars, March 2022
Recording: Love and Death (Warner Classics)
“[Myra Hess’s transcription of Bach’s chorale Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring]…pulled in by Bartlett’s subtle voicing of the music’s inner parts and his gradual increase in nobility and power. Bartlett’s ability to think long-term, rather than give in to immediate excitement, is probably his most impressive trait. No.2 on his score card may be his unaffected delicacy of touch, colour and tone, brilliantly shown in the three Petrarch sonnet settings from Liszt’s Années de pèlerinage… Everything works to illuminate the music.”
The Times, 5 Stars, June 2019
“[Prokofiev’s Piano Sonata No.7] shows a whole different side of Bartlett’s very classy pianism. And classy it really is: there’s a dark, cushioned depth of tone, beautifully layered voicing, and a special eloquence that comes from the ability to phrase as a singer might – especially valuable when so many of these pieces are connected with the human voice. This expressive sophistication could bestow on Bartlett a firm place in the current new golden age of young pianists who are inspired by the individuality and musical integrity of the early 20th-century greats… And in the breathtaking Prokofiev – which overflows with virtuosity, atmosphere and colour.”
BBC Music Magazine, 5 Stars, June 2019
“The 2014 BBC Young Musician of the Year’s debut disc is an intriguing, exquisitely played sequence ingeniously probing the eternal verities of the title. He explains the links between the items in a note, though, and El Amor y la muerte, from Granados’s Goyescas, is at the heart. Providing a frame are two Bach arrangements and Prokofiev’s wartime Sonata No 7, its turbulence all the more unsettling for being so smoothly rendered.”
The Sunday Times, May 2019
“He opens with Busoni’s arrangement of Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ in a performance of breathtaking beauty. One rarely hears a concert grand purr like this, a quality that pertains to all nine works and for which his producer and engineer must take some credit…Here is the standout performance on the disc, in which Bartlett shows his true pianistic colours with a vicious, visceral reading of the second of Prokofiev’s three ‘War Sonatas’… His pacing and attack in the two outer movements are inspired and very exciting, while the plangent melody of the central Andante caloroso is a maturely characterised elegy. I look forward to Bartlett’s future recordings with keen anticipation.”
Gramophone, May 2019
“Love and Death (Warner) is his first recital disc: ambitious repertoire. Thoughtfully and eloquently played, of subtly interlinking works by Liszt, Granados, Prokofiev and Bach (arranged by Busoni and Hess). It’s a mix of fairly familiar – Liszt’s Petrarch Sonnets, the Wagner/Liszt Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde – and less obvious. Granados’s voluptuous, almost improvisatory Goyescas No 5, El amor y la muerte, gives the disc both a title and a passionate centrepiece. The concluding work is the second of Prokofiev’s “war sonatas”, No 7 in B flat, Op 83, spiky, turbulent, impassioned. A striking debut.”
The Guardian, July 2019
Bach, Schumann, Liszt, Wagner, Prokofiev / NADSA Concerts
“The three Petrarch Sonnets 47, 104 and 123 by Liszt were riveting. As an expression of unrequited love, we had tumult, pulling back to calm pianissimos and contrasting grandiose statements with the most delicate of filigree. A rich tapestry of love was there. Liszt’s Liebestraum is so well known, one wondered what Martin could do with it. The answer was that he ‘just lived the music’, making even the diminuendos come to life… With his polished technique, passion, pianissimos, and audience rapport, Martin really has got it all.”
Jeff Collman, February 2019
“…A quite phenomenal reading of Prokofiev’s shortest, and most popular of the three ‘War Sonatas’ … Bartlett attacked the opening Allegro inquieto with real gusto, perfectly pointing its grotesque, military-like intensity, and hammering out the bass chords with their pounding rhythms. Just one of Bartlett’s immense talents is the way he can so quickly and almost imperceptibly transform such violent aggression into immediate calm and serenity, as here when the quiet Andantino section kicks in, now so wistful and improvisatory by comparison, before skilfully returning to the dark menace of the opening.”
Seen and Heard International, February 2019
Van Cliburn International Piano Competition
“These two Scarlatti sonatas, like most of his others, are short but require great clarity and precise fingers and Bartlett has both attributes… When he is playing, he is so at ease that he could be in his own living room with no one listening.”
TheatreJones, May 2017
“He played [Schubert] with a beautifully legato touch, with expression and appropriate rubato… Bartlett made a very good case for [Samuel Barber’s piano sonata]… The final fugue is very well constructed and Bartlett brought out all the important lines.”
TheatreJones, May 2017
Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue / BBC Concert Orchestra, cond. Ben Gernon / Cheltenham Festival opening concert
“It was the music that did the talking, with, for my money, the centrepiece being a full bodied performance of Gershwin’s big bellied, nimble footed Rhapsody in Blue, with the fabulously flamboyant 2014 Young Musician of the Year Martin James Bartlett on piano”
Daily Telegraph, July 2015