I've written a number of articles and programme notes over the years. I've been resident programme note writer for Kensington Symphony Orchestra since 2007, and my notes have also been used by the New World Symphony and at the Edinburgh Fringe, among others. Below is a list of pieces I've written notes for (examples will follow soon). If you would like to use any of these, or commission me to write something for you, get in touch via the contact page.
Adès, Thomas: Dances from 'Powder Her Face'
Adams, John: Harmonielehre
Anderson, Julian: The Stations of the Sun
Arnold: Larch Trees
Arnold: Tam O'Shanter
Ayres, Richard : No. 37b
Barber: Koxville
Bartók: Dance Suite
Beethoven: Piano Concerto no. 4
Beethoven: Violin Concerto
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7
Beethoven: Symphony No. 8
Berg: Three Pieces for Orchestra
Berlioz: Overture, Béatrice et Bénédict
Berlioz: Overture, Benvenuto Cellini
Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique
Bernstein: On the Waterfront - Symphonic Suite
Brahms: Symphony No. 1
Brahms: Symphony No. 3
Brahms: Symphony No. 4
Brahms: Variations on a Theme of Haydn
Britten: Four Sea Interludes and Passacaglia from Peter Grimes
Bray, Charlotte: Black Rainbow
Britten: Variations on a theme of Frank Bridge
Britten: Sinfonia da Requiem
Bruckner: Symphony No. 3 (1873 version)
Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 (unfinished)
Chabrier: España
Copland: Symphony No. 3
Dean, Brett: Komarov's Fall
Debussy: Ibéria
Debussy: La mer
Dohnányi: Symphonic Minutes
Dukas: The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Dvořák: Cello Concerto
Dvořák: Symphony No. 6
Dvořák: Symphony No. 7
Dvořák: Symphony No. 9, 'From the New World'
Elgar: Froissart
Elgar: Symphony No. 2
Elgar: In The South
Falla: The Three-Cornered Hat
Fauré: Pelléas et Mélisande
Gerhard: Concerto for Orchestra
Gershwin: An American in Paris
Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
Glinka: Overture, Ruslan and Lyudmilla
Goss, Stephen : The Shard
Greenwood, Jonny: Three Scenes from 'There Will Be Blood'
Gruber, HK: Charivari
Hindemith: Concert Music for Strings and Brass
Holst: The Planets
Ibert: La ballade de la geôle de Reading
Ives: Decoration Day
Janáček: Taras Bulba
Janáček: Sinfonietta
Kodály: Dances of Galánta
Korngold: Violin Concerto
Lindberg, Magnus: Gran Duo
Liszt: Totentanz
Lutosławski: Chantefleurs et Chantefables
Lutosławski: Symphony No. 3
Lyadov: 8 Russian Folk Songs
Mahler: Symphony No. 4
Mahler: Symphony No. 7
Mahler: Symphony No. 9
Martinů: Memorial to Lidice
Martinů: Symphony No. 6 (Fantaisies symphoniques)
Matthews, David: Symphony No. 7
Maxwell Davies, Peter : Symphony No. 5
McCabe, John: Symphony "Labyrinth"
Miaskovsky: Symphony No. 21
Mussorgsky: St. John's Night on Bare Mountain (original version)
Nielsen: Symphony No. 2, "The Four Temperaments"
Nielsen: Symphony No.4, "The Inextinguishable"
Pärt, Arvo : Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten
Poulenc: Les Biches
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3
Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 2
Prokofiev : Symphony No.5
Prokofiev: Symphony No. 7
Puccini: Tosca
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 1
Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini
Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 2
Rachmaninoff: The Isle of the Dead
Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No.2
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherezade
Roussel: Bacchus et Ariane
Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht
Schubert: Symphony No. 8 (unfinished)
Schubert : Symphony No. 9
Schumann: Symphony No. 4
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 4
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 9
Sibelius: Symphony No. 3
Sibelius: Symphony No. 4
Sibelius: Symphony No. 5
Sibelius: Symphony No. 7
Sibelius: Tapiola
Smetana: Vltava
Smetana: Overture, The Bartered Bride
Steiner: Gone with the Wind
Strauss, Johan II: Perpetuum mobile
Strauss, Richard: Eine Alpensinfonie
Strauss, Richard: Horn Concerto No. 2
Stravinsky: Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments
Stravinsky: Petrushka (original 1911 version)
Stravinsky: Symphonies of Wind Instruments
Stravinsky: Symphony in C
Stravinsky: Symphony in Three Movements
Stravinsky: The Firebird (Complete Ballet)
Talbot, Joby: Hovercraft
Tchaikovsky: Manfred Symphony
Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet
Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto
Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker, Act 2
Tippett: Concerto for Double String Orchestra
Torke, Michael: Bright Blue Music
Ullmann: Symphony No. 2
Vaughan Williams: A Pastoral Symphony
Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 6
Wagner: Forest Murmurs
Walton: Symphony No. 1
Walton: Symphony No. 2
Walton: Variations on a theme of Hindemith
Williams, John: Star Wars Suite
Adès, Thomas: Dances from 'Powder Her Face'
Adams, John: Harmonielehre
Anderson, Julian: The Stations of the Sun
Arnold: Larch Trees
Arnold: Tam O'Shanter
Ayres, Richard : No. 37b
Barber: Koxville
Bartók: Dance Suite
Beethoven: Piano Concerto no. 4
Beethoven: Violin Concerto
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7
Beethoven: Symphony No. 8
Berg: Three Pieces for Orchestra
Berlioz: Overture, Béatrice et Bénédict
Berlioz: Overture, Benvenuto Cellini
Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique
Bernstein: On the Waterfront - Symphonic Suite
Brahms: Symphony No. 1
Brahms: Symphony No. 3
Brahms: Symphony No. 4
Brahms: Variations on a Theme of Haydn
Britten: Four Sea Interludes and Passacaglia from Peter Grimes
Bray, Charlotte: Black Rainbow
Britten: Variations on a theme of Frank Bridge
Britten: Sinfonia da Requiem
Bruckner: Symphony No. 3 (1873 version)
Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 (unfinished)
Chabrier: España
Copland: Symphony No. 3
Dean, Brett: Komarov's Fall
Debussy: Ibéria
Debussy: La mer
Dohnányi: Symphonic Minutes
Dukas: The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Dvořák: Cello Concerto
Dvořák: Symphony No. 6
Dvořák: Symphony No. 7
Dvořák: Symphony No. 9, 'From the New World'
Elgar: Froissart
Elgar: Symphony No. 2
Elgar: In The South
Falla: The Three-Cornered Hat
Fauré: Pelléas et Mélisande
Gerhard: Concerto for Orchestra
Gershwin: An American in Paris
Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
Glinka: Overture, Ruslan and Lyudmilla
Goss, Stephen : The Shard
Greenwood, Jonny: Three Scenes from 'There Will Be Blood'
Gruber, HK: Charivari
Hindemith: Concert Music for Strings and Brass
Holst: The Planets
Ibert: La ballade de la geôle de Reading
Ives: Decoration Day
Janáček: Taras Bulba
Janáček: Sinfonietta
Kodály: Dances of Galánta
Korngold: Violin Concerto
Lindberg, Magnus: Gran Duo
Liszt: Totentanz
Lutosławski: Chantefleurs et Chantefables
Lutosławski: Symphony No. 3
Lyadov: 8 Russian Folk Songs
Mahler: Symphony No. 4
Mahler: Symphony No. 7
Mahler: Symphony No. 9
Martinů: Memorial to Lidice
Martinů: Symphony No. 6 (Fantaisies symphoniques)
Matthews, David: Symphony No. 7
Maxwell Davies, Peter : Symphony No. 5
McCabe, John: Symphony "Labyrinth"
Miaskovsky: Symphony No. 21
Mussorgsky: St. John's Night on Bare Mountain (original version)
Nielsen: Symphony No. 2, "The Four Temperaments"
Nielsen: Symphony No.4, "The Inextinguishable"
Pärt, Arvo : Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten
Poulenc: Les Biches
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3
Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 2
Prokofiev : Symphony No.5
Prokofiev: Symphony No. 7
Puccini: Tosca
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 1
Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini
Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 2
Rachmaninoff: The Isle of the Dead
Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No.2
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherezade
Roussel: Bacchus et Ariane
Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht
Schubert: Symphony No. 8 (unfinished)
Schubert : Symphony No. 9
Schumann: Symphony No. 4
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 4
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 9
Sibelius: Symphony No. 3
Sibelius: Symphony No. 4
Sibelius: Symphony No. 5
Sibelius: Symphony No. 7
Sibelius: Tapiola
Smetana: Vltava
Smetana: Overture, The Bartered Bride
Steiner: Gone with the Wind
Strauss, Johan II: Perpetuum mobile
Strauss, Richard: Eine Alpensinfonie
Strauss, Richard: Horn Concerto No. 2
Stravinsky: Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments
Stravinsky: Petrushka (original 1911 version)
Stravinsky: Symphonies of Wind Instruments
Stravinsky: Symphony in C
Stravinsky: Symphony in Three Movements
Stravinsky: The Firebird (Complete Ballet)
Talbot, Joby: Hovercraft
Tchaikovsky: Manfred Symphony
Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet
Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto
Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker, Act 2
Tippett: Concerto for Double String Orchestra
Torke, Michael: Bright Blue Music
Ullmann: Symphony No. 2
Vaughan Williams: A Pastoral Symphony
Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 6
Wagner: Forest Murmurs
Walton: Symphony No. 1
Walton: Symphony No. 2
Walton: Variations on a theme of Hindemith
Williams, John: Star Wars Suite