RECORDINGS

RECENTLY RELEASED: DISTANT MUSICS: MUSIC BY PAUL PACCIONE - Another Timbre Portrait CD (February, 2024). Performed by Apartment House, includes Exit Music, Gridwork, Violin, Distant Music and Still Life. http://www.anothertimbre.com/paulpaccione.html

Reviews:

Review by Peter Margasak (The Best Contemporary Classical Music on Bandcamp, March 2024, Bandcamp, April 1, 2024): ….Distant Musics has been haunting me for weeks, its patient melodies unwinding through a fog of undulating harmony with slow-motion grace. Four weightless yet grain - heavy violins hover through the exquisite, episodic “Violin,” where tightly clustered harmonies sparkle and sting, as if electric. It’s one of the most extraordinary things I’ve heard in a long while. The album closes on a lighter note, with a pair of flutes tracing out endless variations on simple strands of notes with a Feldmanesque feel if not tempo. It’s a genuine revelation. https://daily.bandcamp.com/best-contemporary-classical/the-best-contemporary-classical-music-on-bandcamp-march-2024

BRASS TACKS VOL. II, Navona Records (2023). Includes Radical Ears. Nd Brass: 2 trumpets, horn, trombone, tuba, percussion and piano; Performed by NdBrass | Pavel Šnajdr, conductor; Lukáš Soldán, 1st trumpet; Jozef Zimka, 2nd trumpet; Antonín Kolář, french horn; Zbyněk Pavluš, trombone; David Křížek, tuba; Stanislav Slavíček, piano; Petr Hladík, percussion. https://www.navonarecords.com/catalog/nv6556/

PAUL PACCIONE: MUSIC FOR PIANO. Navona Records (2021) . Tapestry Studies (2012), Book of Hours (2019), Unsent Letter (2015); Jenny Perron, piano. https://www.navonarecords.com/catalog/nv6376/

Reviews:

Review by textura, Dec. 2021: As I listen to Music For Piano, the term minimalism comes to mind but not in the sense of aligning Paul Paccione's composing style to that of early Glass and Reich. Rather, the pieces performed by pianist Jenny Perron are uncluttered and bereft of unnecessary ornamentation, and the material is thus minimalistic in a manner that recalls Satie. It's telling that one of the three works performed, Book of Hours, comprises eight meditations inspired by the centuries-old prayer ritual. In drawing upon such source material, it's only natural that Paccione's would exude a lean and transparent character too. The settings are characterized by lyricism, clarity, and eloquence.

Review by Steven A. Kennedy, Cinemusical, Dec. 2021: Paccione's musical language tends to be in a somewhat modal quality, though he does flirt with other whole tone and pentatonic scales. The lyrical material tends to be in smaller cells that repeat in a minimalist way with the accompaniment also somewhat following in the same way. The result are pieces that have a Post-Impressionist bent with a touch of Post-minimalist construction. Perron's approach connects well to the musical aesthetics here. It would be great to hear her interpretations of Debussy or Satie as these are distant cousins to Paccione's music as on display in this release. A gorgeous album of music that is highly recommended.

Review by Colin Clarke, Fanfare Magazine: There is a particularly personal touch going on here. The composer is very precise in his workings with the material he uses. This disc slowly takes you over; it gradually but inevitably casts its spell. The recording is superb, the playing even better. Jenny Perron is clearly a performer of ultra-refined musicality.

Review by Ken Meltzer, Fanfare Magazine: These are lovely, expressive works, performed with distinction. I will return to this recording with great pleasure.

DRIFT, SOCIETY OF COMPOSERS, VOL. 34. Navona Records (2020) Includes Saint John Turned To See The Sound (1980), SATB a cappella choir; Performed by Western Illinois University Singers, James Stegall, Director. https://www.navonarecords.com/catalog/nv6318/

ERIC RICHARDS & PAUL PACCIONE: MUSIC FOR PERCUSSION AND PIANO. Self release (2018). Includes The Unravelling of the Field (for Percussion Quartet) and Ringrang (for solo vibraphone) by Eric Richards; Planxty Cage (for solo piano) by Paul Paccione. Performed by Robin Engelman, Alan Zimmerman and Michael Campbell. https://richardsandpaccione.hearnow.com/eric-richards--paul-paccione-music-for-percussion-and-piano

OUR BEAUTIES ARE NOT OURS: WORKS FOR VOICES AND INSTRUMENTS. New World Records 80706 (02/2010). Includes Rhapsody (2005), Molly Paccione, clarinet, Jenny Perron piano; Stations: To Morton Feldman (1987), Michael Campbell, piano; Inscape: Three Choral Settings from Gerard Manley Hopkins (2007), Western Illinois University Singers, James Stegall, conductor; A Page for Will (2003), Nurit Tilles, piano; Three Motets: Arabesques, for four prerecorded clarinets (1999), Molly Paccione, clarinets; Five Songs from Christina Rossetti (2003), Terry Chasteen, tenor voice; Molly Paccione, clarinet; Moises Molina, cello; Andrea Molina, piano; "Postlude" from Planxty Cage (1993, rev. 1994) , Nurit Tilles, piano. https://www.newworldrecords.org/products/paul-paccione-our-beauties-are-not-ours

Reviews:

Review by Glyn Pursglove, Music Web International: The music on this disc displays a fair stylistic range but beneath the superficial variety there is a recurrent sense of repose, of inner tranquillity, an absence of the emotionally histrionic, as it were. But, I hasten to add, that doesn’t mean that this is ‘easy listening’ music; far from it, this is thoughtful, inventive, and occasionally challenging music.  He is a composer who evidently has a personality of his own and the ability to express that personality within more than one musical idiom.  

Review by Michael, Cameron, Fanfare Magazine: In short, this is music that is consistently compelling, and often extraordinarily moving. 

Review by Steve Hicken, Sequenza 21: Paul Paccione’s music has always been concerned with the manipulation of musical space/time. That is, Paccione reconceives musical geometry (x=time, y-space) as a canvas on which musical objects are placed, like figures or brushstrokes in an abstract painting or drawing. These objects—chords and/or melodic gestures—retain their identity through repetition rather than development. Structure is projected through placement of objects at different coordinates on the musical canvas. The result is a musical abstract expressionism that has developed over the years in surprising and gratifying ways. 

Review by Brian Morton, The Wire: Paccione offers dedications to Feldman and Cage, but his first influence is Webernian serialism. Paccione is also very much interested in the mysterious effects of long duration. Clarinetist Molly Paccione, who led Rhapsody, is heard in four prerecorded parts in "Three Motets: Arabesques," which is the best place to study Paccione's sternly lyrical method and distribution of sound. 

Anonymous review on Amazon: Robert Frost wrote that "the ear is the only true writer," and this music is a testament to it. This is true music. Here are sounds--notes, melodies, harmonies--that make my ears connect with everything. Wherever I am at the moment and whatever I'm looking at: it all becomes music to me when I'm listening to Paccione's pieces. A leaf falling, the rising sun casting long shadows westward, the road opening up before me when the traffic light turns green: all images I saw--I heard--this morning when I listened to his music in my car while driving to work. Paccione fleshes out the sound in Rosetti's and Hopkins's verses, revealing music that was always there, waiting to be released--and heard.

From “88 Keys to Freedom: Segues Through The History of American Piano Music/The Perfect and Transparent Keyboard,” by Blue Gene Tyranny, New Music Box, 2003; https://newmusicusa.org/nmbx/88-keys-to-freedom-segues-through-the-history-of-american-piano-music/: Paul Paccione‘s Stations – To Morton Feldman (1987) for solo piano was composed as a memorial to Feldman. The title refers to “points of arrival and departure … in Stations, repetition … serves simply as a reminiscence or reflection … (in the piano) the sound is always in the process of leaving the listener.” The broadly spread two-note intervals with occasional widely-voiced chords form repeated patterns of indescribable beauty; harmonies tend to cancel each other out adding to the feel of sonic decay, and the pacing is slow and evocative of infinite stillness. His Planxty Cage (1993) unfolds its patterns in a gentle cyclic manner with contrasting levels of sustained notes and short releases (grace notes, staccati). The first two pages are filled with white note modes that to which accidentals are eventually added. The music then gradually cycles through modes until returning to the chords of the opening, which are now denser, sustained and heavenly. A Page for Will (2002) for piano is a simple, touching miniature study in tonal context: two notes rotate steadily throughout the entire work as widely spaced sustained tones re-define the “meaning” of the two-note ostinato figure. (One is reminded somewhat of the chords that surround the continuously pulsing tone in Chopin’s “Raindrop” Prelude). )

THE INTERACTIVE SAXOPHONE, MUSIC FOR SAXOPHONE AND PIANO, Includes “Seeing Those Hours.” , Capstone Records, CPS 8763 (2006); John Vana saxophone, Jenny Perron, Piano. Includes Seeing Those Hours (2004). Capstone Records

Reviews:

Review by Walter Simmons, Fanfare Magazine: Paul Paccione's"Seeing Those Hours"  is a quiet, soothingly contemplative piece that unfolds in long, gently tranquil phrases. From a traditional point of view it is rather static, with an approach to the development of melody and harmony that calls Hovhaness to mind (although his actual materials do not resemble those of the Armenian-American’s).

Review by Mark L. Lehman, American Record Guide: Paccione's unbroken 11-minute andante creates a golden haze of lush, post-impressionist harmonies and sustains a mood of dreamy nostalgia.  

THUMP MUSIC: MUSIC FOR TWO PIANOS (1995). Frog Peak MusicThump Piano Duo: Drew Krause and Paul Marquardt. Includes Continuum (1985). http://www.frogpeak.org/fpcds/

Reviews:

Review by Steve Hicken, American Record Guide: Continuum by Paul Paccione, is a sensuous exploration of simple and complex sounds isolated in musical space. The chords that make up this daring composition demand and command the listener's attention as they resonate and overlap. Thump's courageous performance allows the piece the slow space it demands to make it's impact.

 SOCIETY OF COMPOSERS, COMPOSERS CD SERIES 6: EXTENDED RESOURCES Music for Instruments and Electronics, CPS 8626 (1995). Includes "....like spring" (1988) for prerecorded flutes and electronics. https://wp.societyofcomposers.org/publications/composers-cd-series/

Reviews:

Review by The Music Connoisseur - Volume 4, Number 2): Mr. Paccione relied on two prerecorded and overdubbed flutes with tape to produce a minimalist piece in a very broad tempo. The clashing of live flute overtones with electronics often generates a fuzzy veil which envelopes the simple sonority and adds a mystical element to the whole.

Review by Steve Hicken, American Record Guide: ....another fine piece by the gifted Paul Paccione. Like all his music, this piece is a contemplative trip through a concentrated and highly-defined sound world.