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 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)
Some writings are available for reprint—with the author’s permission—in concert programs or elsewhere. To request this and/or commission new writing projects, please visit the “Contact” page.
© 2020, 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.
