John Casken

In spite of having written many works including piano, before composing my new suite of pieces there were only two for solo piano: The Haunting Bough and Pleasure Ground. I decided to incorporate thes...

The music for 'Soul Catcher' was originally composed as an electroacoustic work for dance commissioned by English Dance Theatre in 1988. Casken later returned to the work and made a new version for ma...

This work's title comes from DM Thomas's dramatic poem on an imagined episode in the life of Cleopatra. Cleopatra offers any three men from her royal court a night of unbridled passion, in return for...

This work's title comes from DM Thomas's dramatic poem on an imagined episode in the life of Cleopatra. Cleopatra offers any three men from her royal court a night of unbridled passion, in return for...

Sacrificium was commissioned by the St Albans International Organ Festival for what has become one of the most influential organ competitions in the world. It is a demanding 8 minute work that will ch...

Chansons de Verlaine were completed in 2006. The third song, Colloque sentimental, was written in 2003 for Alison Smart and Katharine Durran's New French Song project. It was as a result of having wri...

Chansons de Verlaine were completed in 2006. The third song, Colloque sentimental, was written in 2003 for Alison Smart and Katharine Durran's New French Song project. It was as a result of having wri...

John Casken's 2009 setting of the Robert Browning poem 'Night and Morning' for tenor and piano was the starting point for a new song cycle, Lines from a Wanderer, exploring man's desire to travel, to...

This Easter anthem by British composer John Casken is an expert example of contemporary choral writing and would be ideal for amateur choirs looking for exciting new repertoire.

Written for the superb Domus ensemble, Casken's vivid addition to the small number of modern piano quartets exploits the very different sonorities, weight and attack which strings and piano possess. C...

Written for the superb Domus ensemble, Casken's vivid addition to the small number of modern piano quartets exploits the very different sonorities, weight and attack which strings and piano possess. C...

C'è un senso di inquietudine nel paesaggio immaginario di Misted Land di John Casken, mentre forme familiari assumono un aspetto nuovo e talvolta grottesco e spaventoso. Frammenti di melodie folkloris...

Un manto può essere molte cose e, oltre a significare un indumento protettivo, può anche essere associato all'incoraggiamento dell'energia e della creatività femminile, alla guarigione e all'amore con...

Sitting in a room, we hear the ticking of the clock, but it doesn't seem right. The speed is wrong (for a clock) and it is quite irregular. From a far corner someone starts to sing a quiet song while...

Nearly Distant è un pezzo di bravura virtuosistica per quartetto di sassofoni di uno dei principali compositori inglesi.

This short string quartet is the third that Casken has written for the renowned Lindsays. It is an ideal introduction to the contemporary string quartet, well within the capabilities of student quarte...

Inevitable Rifts for string quintet, like Schubert's Quintet in C, D.956, adds an extra cello to the string quartet. This undoubtedly makes for a richer sound, but what I wanted to explore was the ten...

Stolen Airs takes as its starting point an episode from Sylvie and the Songman, an opera I am writing in collaboration with the novelist Tim Binding. The Songman has developed the technique of stealin...

Il poema di Norman MacCaig "Celtic Cross" mi ha ispirato a scrivere Serpents of Wisdom. La poesia descrive i simboli di un'epoca passata, scolpiti nella pietra, che si intrecciano e si confondono. Mi...