Persichetti: Symphonies 3, 4 & 7
Chances are, a long time ago, the first American composer you encountered outside the mainstream (i.e., Copland, Harris) was Vincent Persichetti, and you might still own that old Columbia LP of his Symphony No. 4 with Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Here was music that was fresh, delightfully rhythmic, with a distinctive harmonic and instrumental sound that you could always recognize later on (especially if you picked up that wonderful Fennell LP of the Symphony for Band a few years later). There was always something concise about his music, not a note that didn’t belong, and this was music that was really exciting to listen to. No one really wrote for brass the way he did. We are very happy indeed to present this new recording of the Symphony No. 4 along with world premiere performances of the post-war Symphony No. 3 and the religiously-inspired Symphony No. 7. Interestingly, Persichetti is in the august company of Peter Mennin and William Schuman in withdrawing his first two symphonies; much of the 3rd makes a grand statement, and careful listeners might actually find similarities between the final moments of both the Persichetti and Schuman’s own Symphony No. 3. The Symphony No. 7, in multi-part single-movement form (like his Symphony (No. 5) for Strings) shows a great variety of emotions and colors, and reflects his own private sense of spirituality. As with his ongoing series of American music for Albany, David Alan Miller and the Albany Symphony give exciting, authoritative performances. This will prove a great discovery for people new to Persichetti’s music, and this will be a must for those veteran  fans waiting a long time to hear more of his music.