“Brilliant…impeccable” 

— James R. Oestreich, New York Times

“effortless understated virtuosity”

— John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune

“Martin’s gorgeous sound held the audience spellbound”

-International Trumpet Guild Journal

“Somehow trumpeter seems too confining a term for him. Perhaps it would be closer to the mark to describe him as a superbly musical virtuoso who would make great music even if the ocarina were his chosen instrument. Martin dazzled on Thursday evening…Of the two pieces, the more rewarding was Andre Jolivet's 1948 Concertino for Trumpet, String Orchestra and Piano. Breezy, bluesy and unpretentious, the nine-minute piece gives a trumpeter's chops a mighty workout, with its rapid flutter-tonguing, vertiginous flights above the staff, darting staccato passages, muted color effects and intricate runs that hardly allow room to breathe. The legendary trumpeter Adolph Herseth, who had given the only previous CSO performances of the Jolivet, in 1965, and who attended Thursday's concert, must have been smiling to behold the disarming technical ease and musical mastery with which his successor dispatched this amiable trifle.” 

— John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune

On the Panufnik Concerto in Modo Antico with Ricardo Muti and the CSO: “Martin played the piece beautifully. No matter that bravura display is absent from the music: The CSO's first trumpet "sang" the melodies with remarkable breath control, even a courtly flourish or two.”

-John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune

“Powerful, yet subtle” 

-Edward Sava-Segal, Bachtrack

Antique Violences: Concerto for Trumpet, which offers a bit of a history lesson in exploring cycles of violence associated with ancient conflicts. After a rather martial- styled first movement, the featured soloist, Christopher Martin, the Principal Trumpet for the New York Philharmonic, brings virtuosic agility”

-Rob Schepper, Textura