Kevin McBrien
Musicologist – Writer – Editor – Speaker
Writings
Below is a small sampling of my published writings—program notes, liner notes, and external blog posts—from over the years. Click the bullets in bold to view some examples. For a full listing, click here or the link at the bottom of the page.
Program Notes
- Arutiunian: Trumpet Concerto
- Bach: Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit, BWV 106, “Actus tragicus”
- Bach: Keyboard Concertos (BWV 1056, 1061, 1064, 1065)
- Beethoven: Violin Sonata No. 7
- William Bolcom: Graceful Ghost Rag
- Brahms: Piano Quartet in G minor (arr. Schoenberg)
- Chopin: Variations on “Là ci darem la mano”
- Copland: Clarinet Concerto
- John Corigliano: Violin Sonata
- Duruflé: Requiem
- Dvořák: Piano Quartet in E-flat major, op. 87
- Handel: Utrecht Jubilate
- Haydn: Symphony No. 104, “London”
- Janáček: Piano Sonata 1.X.1905, “From the Street”
- Ligeti: Sonata for Solo Viola
- Mendelssohn: Psalm 42
- Mozart: String Quinet in D major, K. 593
- Poulenc: Trio for Oboe, Bassoon, and Piano
- Esa-Pekka Salonen: Pentatonic Etude
- Schoenberg: Five Pieces for Orchestra
- Turina: La oración del torero
Liner Notes
- Chavdar Parashkevov & Natasha Kislenko – Beethoven, Brahms, Mahler: Works for Violin and Piano (2018)
- Sung Chang (forthcoming)
Blog Posts
- “Copland in Aspen” (Aspen Music Festival and School, June 2019)
- “Driven into Paradise: Émigré Composers at the Music Academy of the West” (Music Academy of the West, July 2020)
- “Serious Frivolity: Juggling the Profound and the Lighthearted in Beethoven’s Third and Fifth Cello Sonatas” (Aspen Music Festival and School, July 2020)
- “Weekly Playlist – Playing Homage” (Music Academy of the West, November 2020)
Link to full list of published writings
Most writings are available for reprint—with the author’s permission—in concert programs or elsewhere, and can be trimmed, expanded, or adapted upon request, with advance notification. To request this and/or commission new writing projects, please visit the “Contact” page.
© 2017-21, Kevin McBrien. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Kevin McBrien with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
