“I marvel at the Three Movements for Organ in their sheer originality, inventiveness and colouristic effects”.
Prof. Dr. Ian Tracey
“I was struck by the craftsmanship and inventiveness of Kevin’s writing for voice and piano and felt that he responded most sympathetically to his chosen text. His setting was clear and precise while also leaving us as performers room to interpret. His music strikes me overall ultimately as being properly professional”.
Roderick Williams OBE
“These pieces display a confident composer with a strong technique. Each work has a definite character and message to convey”.
David Heyes, double bassist
“His music has a strength and directness, and an individuality within a straightforward idiom”.
Anthony Gilbert.
“He works rigorously and with a degree of self-discipline ensuring that the end results are precise and not over-burdened with unnecessary baggage”.
David Ellis (conductor, composer, record producer, and former Head of Music, BBC North)
“This is meticulously crafted music for all its aleatoric possibilities and it packs a powerful emotional punch as well”.
Dr. Irina Kuzminsky
“The piano miniatures are lovely – very atmospheric and great teaching pieces for students interested in contemporary styles”.
Leslie East OBE. (former CEO of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music).
“Kevin George Brown’s Description of Spring was most attractive, featuring a lyrical vocal line (sung by Roderick Williams) and busy, illustrative piano writing, expertly despatched by Susie Allan.”
John Quinn. seenandheard-international.com (Three Choirs Festival review).
“May I put on record my thanks for writing this beautiful choral piece. It very much suits our acoustic both in the main body of the cathedral and in the Lady chapel and I would very much like to keep it in our repertoire”.
Dr. Christopher McElroy, Director of Music, Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral (on Ave Maris Stella).
“Nature feeds Kevin George Brown’s two songs, Dying Day (Larkin), heavy and low, against Description of Spring to a text by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (d. 1547). There is a magical element, surely, to the harmonies used in the latter, a sort of Ravelian haze, but with an English accent”.
Colin Clarke, Fanfare Magazine.
“Rather than seeking to replace the classical tradition of English church music, Kevin George Brown extends its power into the twenty first century. Through a series of refreshing and rewarding pieces he demonstrates the beauty and passion of modern classical church music”.
Mark Delaney, CIO, AustralianSuper.
“Kevin George Brown, (born 1959), is represented by settings of Larkin and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. Brown rises to the challenge of Larkin’s multi-faceted and subtle art. In Henry Howard’s Description of Spring, the vocal line soars above a shimmering accompaniment. A catalogue of animal life is then described; a passage that bears comparison with a similar one in Haydn’s Creation”.
David Hackbridge Johnson, MusicWeb International.
“Magisterial – cathedral music for the 21st century”.
Dr. Irina Kuzminsky (on Three Movements for Organ)
“I much enjoyed listening to the Fanfare: it has poise and solemnity, and grows powerfully. The piece was just right for the acoustic – it really exploits it, and the sense of space. Bravo!”
Anthony Gilbert.
“There is, moreover, a quintessentially English feel about his music, one that evokes in particular the northern landscapes of lakes, fells and moors”.
Dr. Irina Kuzminsky
“There are several little nuggets of gold here: among them I loved the works by Kevin George Brown”.
www.citylife.co.uk (Review of The Wagon of Life compilation CD).
“High points for me included Kevin George Brown’s setting of Philip Larkin’s ‘Dying Day’. Its extensive piano introduction is arresting while Mark Rowlinson captures its unstated theme of death with rich sombre-toned singing”.
Alan Cooper, British Music Society review.
“Much enjoyed these three substantial organ pieces – they have a nice flow from the plainchant-based beginning through the dreamy central piece to the harmonic clarity of the third movement. Very attractive.”
Anthony Gilbert on Three Movements for Organ.
“Kevin George Brown gives Philip Larkin’s “Dying Day” a quiet, almost eerie setting based on long strings of single notes. These same distinctive extended lines feature too in his setting of the sixteenth century courtier Henry Howard”.
Anne Ozorio, MusicWeb International.