Critics

Beethoven and Stravinsky – May 2024

“The Mahler Players are a musical jewel in the Highlands.“
Hugh Kerr, Edinburgh Music Review

Wagner: Siegfried Act 3 – December 2023

“…Bisset sounded simply extraordinary in this space. So too did the strings of the Mahler Players, whose playing was exemplary throughout…”
Keith Bruce, The Herald

“As we struggled home through the snow and ice, I reflected on how fortunate we are in The Highlands to have this orchestra dedicated to this magnificent music.”
Mary-Ann Connolly, Edinburgh Music Review

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde Act 2 – December 2022

“…a full-blooded performance with star turns all over the platform.”
Keith Bruce, The Herald

“Leakey was across all the detail as conductor, and with some very fine individual performances, from the brass fanfare that starts Act 2 to its conclusion, he shaped the central section of the evening perfectly.“
Vox Carnyx

“Mahler Players’ sublime night of Wagner’s Tristan Und Isolde“
Margaret Chrystall, What’s on North

“Sumptuous and sublime“
Edinburgh Music Review

“They played wisely and sensitively . . . and preserved the work’s inherent mystery.”
Dorota Kozińska for Upiór w operze

Mahler: The Seventh Symphony – June 2022

“Something a little special is happening in the Highlands, folk of the metropolis! Something special, indeed.”
Edinburgh Music Review

Beethoven: The Fourth and Seventh Symphonies – May 2022

“They proceeded to deliver performances of both symphonies that were rip-roaring, rumbustious and rich . . . with the swagger of Jimmy Page playing Kashmir.”
Edinburgh Music Review

Richard Wagner in Venice – Debut album, released 22nd October 2021

“Truly uncanny in the way it transports us into an authentically Wagnerian world . . . beautifully performed by the Scottish Highlands-based Mahler Players.“
Ivan Hewett, The Telegraph

“King creates a 21-minute dreamscape that conjures up Wagnerian gestures, colours and emotions while spinning a melodic line that wriggles through shifting harmonies like a very long worm . . . the performers, making their recording debut on their own label, are the adventurous, excellent Mahler Players, conducted by Tomas Leakey, based in the Scottish Highlands. A really fascinating album.”
Geoff Brown, The Times

“unpretentiously and convincingly Wagnerian . . . a very fine debut album from an enterprising group.”
Ken Walton, The Scotsman

“Matthew King has breathed life into these fragments, developed them certainly not against their author’s intentions, and fashioned them into a whole that is not only convincing but also alluring. This is also thanks to Leakey’s musicians, playing with verve and a beautiful, selective sound, with British instrumentalists’ characteristic unity of intent combined with a diversity of individual tone.”
Dorota Kozińska for Upiór w operze

“miraculously close to what Wagner might have written himself . . . this sensitively played and conducted CD recording, which appropriately also includes a fine performance of the Siegfried Idyll. . .”
David Matthews, The Wagner Journal, July 2022

Richard Wagner in Venice – Live premiere in September 2021

“A full and rewarding evening” Edinburgh Music Review

“The ultimate dream debut” What’s On North.

Die Walküre Act 1 – June 2019

“Fantastic artistic results” Dorota Kozińska for Upiór w operze

“White hot drama of intensity of Wagner’s music takes over” What’s On North

Mahler Symphony No. 9 – September 2016

“Scotland’s best-kept musical secret” Michael Tumelty for The Herald.

“Mahler tackled magnificently” The Courier and Advertiser

Das Lied von der Erde – April 2016

“The ultimate Mahler treat” Paula Nichols for the Northern Scot.

Rückert-Lieder and Kindertotenlieder – June 2015

“A virtuoso performance”  Inverness Courier Eden Court review 25th June 2015

“A very deft, light and bright performance” Rob Polson for Inverness Gigs. PDF version here: Rob Polson review Nairn 26th June 2015

Des Knaben Wunderhorn – September 2014

“One of the jewels in the crown of the renaissance of specialist local music” Rob Polson for Inverness Gigs. PDF version here: Rob Polson review 18th September

Mahler Symphony No. 1 – May 2014

“Joyful, thrilling and spring-filled” Margaret Chrystall for the Inverness Courier.  Inverness Courier Nairn review 2nd May

“A definitive and deeply involving account” D James Ross for the Nairnshire Telegraph.

Mahler Symphony No. 4 – June 2013

“a tour-de-force” Donald Goskirk for Northern Times. Please click here for a scan of the original newspaper page.

“playing of huge concentration and commitment” Robert Livingstone for his blog the whole elephant: PDF version.