Pageant - Vincent Persichetti (1953)

[benaraujomusic]

The very last chord always fills me with shivers every time I hear it!

[kendallperry]

The snare drummer in this recording is excellent! such a crisp tone.

[bisexualbandkid]

i’m playing bass clarinet for this right now and it’s so fun, the low notes at 3:20 sound soooo amazing in person

[metroidnerd]

The condensed score makes the piece way easier to follow, as well as giving some insight into the kinds of chords Persichetti liked to use. Thanks for putting this up!

[ryanturley]

Finally some music for french horns to have fun in.

[janAlekantuwa]

The slow section is absolutely beautiful and contains one of my favorite passages of music ever: the music from 1:03 to 1:35.

The lead-in with the euph and clarinet dropping into those low brass chords and the stark contast between the constantly-flowing music of earlier and these steady isorhythmic harmonies always hits me. The chords feel like that knowing look you exchange with someone who has struggled with the same stuff you have. I especially love that even tho the notes generally rise in pitch, the volume stays low in the low brass, giving room for the swell in the horn/woodwind response. That one-measure response from the horns and woodwinds always makes me cry.

The clarinets in the second phrase give me a very strange sense of familiarity and bittersweet nostalgia. I have no idea why I experience this feeling, but it is a nice feeling, like getting a hug from a friend you haven't seen since childhood.

I suspect I experience these feelings because of Persichetti's chord choice. In the low brass passage, exactly half of the chords are minor (with two uses of the iii chord, which is the most somber of all the chords in my opinion), despite the passage being in a major key. This combined with the low pitch and the somber timbre of soft low brass darkens the overall tone. In the woodwind passage, the average pitch is higher but almost all of the chords are minor (again, while still in a major key), which I think contributes to the bittersweet feeling.

I also love how when this music re-appears in the saxes and horns, it is much brighter than it was in the trombones due to the warmer tone, higher pitch, and sharper key. I also love how this crashes into stark chords from the cornets in all their glory. The third time this figure occurs, this time in the cornets and trombones, it has all the joy of the second occurance except it feels more stable and triumphant this time.

this piece is so good

[gideonstupke]

When I was in highschool, we playrd this peice for a concert band compition. We wowed the judges with this peice

[viibo]

The trombone and tuba part got me shaking it’s so good!

[sammyrhoads]

2:20 to 3:57 is the portion used in Error Detection for those taking higher level Conducting and use the Robert Spradling Error Detection book