Jace asks:

>I am keen to hear something about Vincent Persichetti.  Known to me only
>by a text on modern harmony I am curious about his Mirror music.  Any
>thoughts?

His works for choir and for band are outstanding.  In fact, my first
contact was a lovely little volume of music for church service.  Since my
experience with modern music was rather limited at the time, it struck me
as very strange but very beautiful.  Many years ago, I read the harmony
book, which struck me as livelier than Piston's.  The opening grabbed me
right away, to the effect that any note can be placed against any other
note.  Perhaps his best-known work is the concerto for piano four-hands.
I think of him as a "neat" composer, in the sense of no superfluous notes
and everything tidy.  Everything is extremely well-made.  Often, however,
I don't find him all that interesting - sort of a musical Andrea del Sarto.
I've just bought two Persichetti CDs from Berkshire Record Outlet - so you
know they're cheap - a disc of band music (on Harmonia Mundi) and one of
Symphony No.  5 (for strings) and a piano concerto (on New World).

In the 1960s during the Viet Nam War, Persichetti got caught in a political
flap over a work seen as anti-Administration (whether Johnson or Nixon, I'm
not sure).  I've never heard the piece - indeed, I forget the title - so I
can't say, but I wouldn't be surprised.  Persichetti was an odd duck.  He
lived in Philadelphia, even when he taught at Juilliard.  He'd commute by
train to New York.

Steve Schwartz