“As in previous installments in this series, Maestro Fagen demonstrates his sensitivity to the seething emotions and drama inherent in these magnificent [Martinu] symphonies. His orchestra plays with the unmistakable authority and confidence of a band of Czech natives. …and Naxos again supplies clear, meticulously balanced, and utterly honest recorded sound.”
Godell, American Record Guide
“…The orchestra is a very fine one and Arthur Fagen a gifted and imaginative conductor… What I particularly enjoyed about these two readings is the combination of an orchestra that clearly enjoys producing a big and sumptuous sound with a conductor who knows that in this music bones are as important as flesh… both are richly and spaciously recorded.”
“Each work provides a different struggle between hope and fear, nostalgia and anguish, so Naxos and Fagen put a wide listenership in their debt by making the full story available at bargain price.”
Michael Oliver, Gramophone
Fagen piles on huge dark sonorities – most impressive in its way but emerging as generic and gestural….. it’s good to hear the clarity of Martinu’s favoured orchestral piano for once.
What is true of the 3rd is truer of the 5th. […] In the final movement […Fagen…] employs a subtle range of dynamics here, well caught by the engineers, and is excellent at bringing out the composer’s bluffness, especially in the transition passage to the allegro […]. Fagen ends well, capturing the rather abrupt and disconcerting conclusion with real understanding.
[Fagen’s…] is a cogent and cohesive traversal of these symphonies […]. Fagen is a sensitive and sensible guide .
David Nice, BBC Music Magazine
“Arthur Fagen gets a lot from his surprisingly game orchestra, conveying the main attributes directly and with freshness. With this budget-price series, listeners now have a very economical entree into Martinu’s lyrical symphonic world-and it should only take one dip to get them hooked.”
Jonnathan Woolf, MusicWeb International
“Arthur Fagen and his Ukrainian orchestra give convincing accounts of both symphonies, and with the help of a sympathetic recording, they achieve that wonderfully luminous, glowing sound which is a special feature of Martinu’s orchestral music”
Bradley Bambarger, Billboard
Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 2, International Sacred Music Festival of Bogotá, September 2024
"Regarding Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony, it is important to note that Maestro Arthur Fagen’s interpretation balanced intimacy, reverence, and grandeur. He never exaggerated his gestures; instead, he was very restrained in his expressiveness, yet this did not...