Variations on a Hymn of Persichetti for brass quintet

(1989) 17'

Composed for the Chestnut Brass Company
Published by Theodore Presser Co.

Program note

When Vincent Persichetti passed away in 1987, many of us who knew or studied with him composed pieces in his memory. Shortly after his death I began work on two pieces for brass quintet simultaneously, Deploration, and these Variations. Persichetti’s most well-known hymn Round Me Falls the Night, is the basis for a work of nine variations in which the hymn finally appears in its original form at the end of the piece, with a descant line. The variations are: I. Hymn paraphrase, II. Chorale prelude, III. Scherzo, IV. Fantasia, V. Pastorale, VI. Carillon, VII. Song, VIII. Fugue, IX. Hymn with descant. The work was premiered by the Chestnut Brass Company at the First Presbyterian Church, Phila. PA, and published by Theodore Presser Co.

live performance