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Mark Bebbington 
 

Guide to Record Labels: Somm Recordings ​

​September 2025

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"Somm prides itself on its twin promotion of British music and young talent.

Among the label’s early achievements was its successful ‘New Horizons’ series, launched in

2002, which enabled young musicians to make a recording early in their career...

For Mark Bebbington this has led to an extensive relationship with Somm, with more than 30

recordings and an international reputation for championing British music – his album of Vaughan William’s piano music, also featuring Rebeca Omordia, is one of Somm’s best-selling recordings."

Gramophone Magazine

 

Leamington Music Festival (Bliss, Ravel, Poulenc) 

May 2025, Royal Pump Rooms, Leamington Spa  

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“Bebbington’s enthralling lunchtime recital last Saturday featured two works from opposite ends of the composer’s life...Both were given with the pianist’s legendary command of texture, colouring of an extreme range of dynamics, and resourcefully subtle pedalling."

Christopher Morley, Midlands Classical Music Making

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Franck, Liszt and Poulenc

December 2024, Wigmore Hall, London  

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“Over the years Mark Bebbington has developed into a pianist with a remarkable mastery of texture, judiciously weighting the balance of his flexible hands to draw out and colour every line. This, allied with a wonderful warmth of dynamics, the softest of pianissimi never thin, the power of the beefiest fortissimo never ear-jangling, permits performances which are totally engrossing and always musically rewarding.”

Christopher Morley, Midlands Classical Music Making

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Beethoven ‘Emperor’ Piano Concerto

with the Czech National Orchestra and Steven Mercurio, conductor
May 2024, Usher Hall, Edinburgh 

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“Beethoven’s ‘Emperor’ was a tour de force with a truly superlative rendition by Mark Bebbington. His playing was magnificent throughout, showing a complete command of his instrument, whether in the glorious dramatic sections of the first movement, the beautiful, filigree touches of the slow movement or the bouncing rhythms of the rondo finale.”
 

Brian Bannatyne-Scott, Edinburgh Music Review

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Beethoven’s ‘Emperor’ Piano Concerto

with the Czech National Orchestra and Steven Mercurio, conductor 
May 2024, Cadogan Hall, London 

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“The exceptional artist, Mark Bebbington is perhaps best-known for his championship of British music, but performances of the music of Mozart and Beethoven have long been eagerly anticipated highlights of his career, and his performance of the Emperor on this occasion was a remarkable artistic achievement, fully and joyously supported by this excellent orchestra…”
 

Robert Matthew-Walker, Musical Opinion

Manu Martin / Susan Lim: Fantasy of Companionship (Chamber Version)

with principals of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
[Signum Classics]

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“Mark Bebbington’s liquid pianism lends this story of awakening and connection all the away and joy it requires…”
 

BBC Music Magazine, June 2024

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Piano Music of Robert Matthew-Walker
[Somm] 

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“Most of the pieces here receive their first recordings – and they could not be in better hands (pun intended) than those of the devoted, insightful and virtuosic Bebbington, very well recorded at Menuhin Hall…”

‘Outstanding’ Category - Colin Anderson, Classical Source, September 2023

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Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on ‘old 104th’ Psalm Tune | Piano Quintet | Lark Ascending | Romance 

with Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Principals of the RPO, City of London Choir, Hilary Davan Wetton
[Resonus]

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“Bebbington in particular embraces the rhapsodic turbulence of the music, pushing it to fever pitch in places.”
 

**** BBC Music Magazine, January 2023

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“Teaming up with four eloquent principals from the RPO, Bebbington sees to it that the big-boned opening Allegro is properly con fuoco as marked, yet there’s lyrical warmth and rapt poetry aplenty for the striking secondary material (which definitely brings glimpses of greater things to come) as well as the Lento outer portions of the slow movement…”
 

Andrew Achenbach, Gramophone Magazine, January 2023

“Conductor Hilary Davan Wetton balances the disparate forces well, with crisp singing from the City of London Choir and Bebbington resplendent in the quasi-improvisatory piano part…”

 

Norman Stinchcombe, Birmingham Post, January 2023

Notes from a Small Island: McCabe, Simpson, Matthew-Walker
St. John’s, Smith Square, January 2023

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“Bebbington’s command of the music’s ferocious romanticism, uncompromising seriousness, colossal scope and big sound leaves a deep impression.”
 

Classical Source, January 2023

Poulenc Piano Concertos - Royal Philharmonic Orchestra 
[Resonus]

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“The incomparable Mark Bebbington, to whom British music owes more than a tip of the hat, turns his attention to the French with a superb new CD of Francis Poulenc… a recording rich in sensual gratification and intellectual nourishment.“  

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Gramophone Magazine, June 2023

 
Gramophone Magazine: Editor's Choice, June 2023

Gramophone Awards: Shortlisted - Concerto, June 2023
BBC Radio 3 Building a Library: Also Recommended (Piano Concerto in C sharp minor), June 2023

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