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Casken’s music – harmonically and texturally dense – refusing to resolve – is… rather vibrantly earthy, relentlessly hymning the sheer physicality of the original poem’s concept: nature, tree, cross – experiencing what the human participants in the drama endure.
Arnold Whittall, on The Dream of the Rood, The Musical Times
John Casken
* Snapshot *
Forthcoming Performances
- 16 November 2023
- Memorial, St Gabriel’s Church, Pimlico, London,
- 28 November 2023
- Lines from a Wanderer, Queen’s Hall Hexham, Hexham,
- 29 November 2023
- Lines from a Wanderer, Alnwick Playhouse, Alnwick,
- 1 February 2024
- Inevitable Rifts (World Premiere), Cosmo Rodewald Hall, The University of Manchester, Manchester,
- 4 May 2024
- Uncertain Sea, Caedmon's Hymn, Floore of Allegories, St Mary’s Church, Wooler, Wooler,
John Casken
* The Fuller Picture *
The control with which Casken allows tonally-founded harmonies to rise, Alban Berg-like, to the surface, is as remarkable as the fastidiousness of his orchestration, all of which serve to hold concept and craft in ideal balance
David Fanning, on Apollinaire’s Bird, The Telegraph