Musical Style
He is cited by Mark Shenton as one of the new theatrical composers (a list that includes Michael John LaChiusa, Adam Guettel, Andrew Lippa, and Jeanine Tesori, among others). "They're all smart writers and excellent musicians with lots of interesting ideas for shows. But they don't write take-away tunes." writes New York Post theatre columnist Michael Riedel.
Brown has many trademarks in his composing style. His piano music is often extremely rhythmically challenging; his sheet music is released in a mostly unmodified format, posing many challenges to anyone who tries to play it. His songs are by no means easy to sing, either, with his choral music including many complex and unconventional harmonies and his songs (for men, in particular) covering a very wide vocal range. Most of his songs are written in AABA' form, the exceptions coming mostly in his show Parade. Perhaps most characteristic are his love duets; all four (I'd Give it All for You from Songs for a New World, All the Wasted Time from Parade, The Next 10 Minutes from The Last Five Years, and Tell Her from 13) are written in a very distinct format: male-female-both, compound time in the duet section (two using hemiola), and three of the four end with the couple singing the same pitch.
Read more about this topic: Jason Robert Brown
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