John Casken

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

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