Below is a small sampling of my published writings. Click the highlighted bullets to view some examples. For a full listing, click here or the link at the bottom of the page.
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.
Select Program Notes
- Alexander Arutiunian: Trumpet Concerto
- Johann Sebastian Bach:
- Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit, BWV 106, “Actus tragicus”
- Keyboard Concertos (BWV 1056, 1061, 1064, 1065)
- Trio Sonata in G major, BWV 1038
- Ludwig van Beethoven:
- Cello Sonata Nos. 3 & 5
- Violin Sonata No. 7 in C minor, op. 30, no. 2
- Johannes Brahms:
- Piano Quartet in G minor (arr. Schoenberg)
- Piano Trio No. 2 in C major, op. 87
- Christopher Cerrone: I will learn to love a person
- Frédéric Chopin: Scherzi Nos. 1-4
- Aaron Copland: Clarinet Concerto
- John Corigliano: Violin Sonata
- Maurice Duruflé: Requiem
- Antonín Dvořák: Piano Quartet in E-flat major, op. 87
- Franz Joseph Haydn
- String Quartet in D major, Hob. III/63, op. 64, no. 5, “The Lark”
- Symphony No. 104 in D major, “London”
- Paul Hindemith: Ragtime (Well-Tempered)
- Leoš Janáček: Piano Sonata 1.X.1905, “From the Street”
- György Ligeti: Sonata for Solo Viola
- Franz Liszt: Piano Sonata in B minor
- Felix Mendelssohn: Psalm 42
- Wolfgang Amadè Mozart:
- String Quintet in D major, K. 593
- Symphony No. 39 in E-flat major, K. 543
- Francis Poulenc: Trio for Oboe, Bassoon, and Piano
- Maurice Ravel:
- L’enfant et les sortilèges
- “La vallée des cloches” from Miroirs (arr. Grainger)
- Frederic Rzewski: The People United Will Never Be Defeated!
- Esa-Pekka Salonen: Pentatonic Étude
- Arnold Schoenberg: Five Pieces for Orchestra
- Caroline Shaw: To the Hands
- Dmitri Shostakovich: Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, op. 67
- Igor Stravinsky:
- Concerto in E-flat, “Dumbarton Oaks”
- “No word from Tom” from The Rake’s Progress
Liner Notes
- Chavdar Parashkevov & Natasha Kislenko – Beethoven, Brahms, Mahler: Works for Violin and Piano (2018)
- Sung Chang – works by Chopin and Liszt (forthcoming)
- Chavdar Parashkevov, Louis-Marie Fardet & Victor Valkov – Brahms and Shostakovich: Piano Trios No. 2 (2021)
Interviews
External Blog Posts
- “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)
Kevin McBrien 
