By Kilpatrick
American Record Guide
01-Oct-2006

A dissertation by Williams Nicholls notes that Vincent Persichetti never forgot the apparent disrespect of music educators who, at a national conference in 1956, came and went during the first performance of his Band Symphony. Perhaps he didn't know how things go at conferences, but I would also surmise that the music did not compel them to stay. Persichetti is given much credit for writing music that introduced young musicians to modern music, but to me, that's as far as it went. While his slow, expressive music is often beautiful, the exuberant works are shallow, producing their dissonance almost entirely through bitonality and mirroring. There is nothing wrong with these devices until you hear them in one piece after another.

By Kilpatrick
American Record Guide
01-Oct-2006

A dissertation by Williams Nicholls notes that Vincent Persichetti never forgot the apparent disrespect of music educators who, at a national conference in 1956, came and went during the first performance of his Band Symphony. Perhaps he didn't know how things go at conferences, but I would also surmise that the music did not compel them to stay. Persichetti is given much credit for writing music that introduced young musicians to modern music, but to me, that's as far as it went. While his slow, expressive music is often beautiful, the exuberant works are shallow, producing their dissonance almost entirely through bitonality and mirroring. There is nothing wrong with these devices until you hear them in one piece after another.