"They Will Take My Island is well worth a look, particularly for those among you who would speak disparagingly of contemporary composition as a jumble of shock-value aesthetics vying for position as heir to the modernist throne. At a scant twelve minutes it is impressively dense, and yet there is a tendency toward echoing space between the notes that, much like the blank spaces of a canvas, invite the question of how to fill the void. Martin gives his listener as much credit as that, and more."
– Mike Strizic
"...their sound-poetry also pursues the stars' ancient associations...the luster that has stayed the same through themillennia, all nine subjects being among the brightest in the sky." (9 Stellar Pieces)
—Paul Griffiths, Music Critic, New York Times
"Nowhere do I detect any particular influences at work, the score coming from a personal musical voice that has an instinctive relationship with each of the instruments used...Do give the disk a try, for these are highly interesting excursions into the capabilities of wind instruments."
—David Denton, Fanfare Magazine, Nov/Dec 2000 (9 Stellar Pieces)
"Martin’s compositional style reveals rigorous craft and respect for tradition. Perhaps, his music is somewhat oblivious of recent stylistic trends. However, it sounds distinctively personal and modern."
– Max Lifchitz
" come in three books, the first comprising fifteen solo pieces, the second fifteen duets, the third six trios. How these answers are phrased, and what they say, is for the listener to discover. But we can all agree on the variety of expressive tones here. Wholeness and presence, for Martin, seem to bespeak particularity of mood and character. Each of these pieces is saying one thing (though it may be a complex and polyphonic thing), and saying it strongly."
—Paul Griffiths, Music Critic, New York Times