New York Times, January 29, 1991

• "Peter Jarvis led the New Jersey Percussion Ensemble in a precise, tactile performance with an elastic pulse."

New York Times, May 9, 1990

• "The loudest approval went to the most radical work, John Cage's Third Construction, in a bristling, electric performance by the New Jersey Percussion Ensemble (Peter Jarvis, Michael Frasche, John Ferrari, Kenneth Piascik). One does not often hear so many shouted bravos from such a staid audience."

New York Times, May 4, 1988

• "It was a power (NJPE, conductor – Peter Jarvis) that went beyond mere shock value."

New York Times, January 25, 1985 - Tim Page

• "Conducted by memory by Peter Jarvis. . . it is a riotous celebration of rhythm - colorful and even poetic."
• "The movements of the players as they weave from instrument to instrument provide a spontaneous choreography."

New York Times, October 7, 1984 - Tim Page

• "Peter Jarvis conducted the 40-minute piece without score, yet did full justice to it's rhythmic complexities; Mr. Jarvis and his forces richly deserved the standing ovation they received."
• "...the performers left the stage to enthusiastic whistles and prolonged applause."

Amazon.com, October, 1998

• "This disc features some of the finest Wuorinen interpreters: Ursula Oppens, Fred Sherry, New Jersey Percussion Ensemble".

The Beach Haven Times, New Jersey, May 15, 1991

• ...the four members of the New Jersey Percussion Ensemble worked wonderfully with the students, showing patience, understanding and interest."

The Bergen Record, October 9, 1984

• "...just counting the piece is a major challenge; the rapid meter changes read like an algebra equation: 2/2, 13/16, 5/8, 5+4+3/16, 5/8, etc. Jarvis conducted it from memory. Not only did he keep everything together, but he went a step further, coaxing music from all those boxes and skins and pipes and blocks of wood. The first movement ended with a lazy long slowing-down and lingering ring that was a masterful example of the conductors craft. Sandwiched between the percussive movements of the piece are melodic sections based on a medieval song by Guillaume Dufay. The conductor must do much more than beat time here, he must sculpt melody, and Jarvis did it so a listener forgot to breathe. His musicians, bobbing, twitching and practically dancing at their instruments were obviously having the time of their lives."

The Bergen Record, March 14, 1978

• "The New Jersey Percussion ensemble is one of the finest in the country."

The Christian Daily Newspaper (Copenhagen, Denmark) April 20, 1995

• "The general atmosphere was good. The Americans' direct and open approach to the music contributed greatly to the atmosphere."
• "One cannot imagine better ambassadors for their music. Their ensemble playing was perfect in precision and physical presence."  

Classical New Jersey, May 12, 1999

• "In Jarvis' hands the working out of dynamics in Homily was startling in its effectiveness, and Babbitt's ear for colors in something as supposedly limited as a snare drum was revealed."
• "Peter Jarvis' reading (of Ionisation) was again restrained, emphasizing legato phrasing.  In context of the other works on the program it was a touching statement to render this standard repertoire piece as if it were by a reincarnation of Mozart."
• "Tomas Kolor, playing the complex work (Beaten Paths) from memory, had to pace back and forth, sometimes nearly jumping."
• "And the physicality of the performance (by Kolor) held the audience's attention."
• "It was important for the NJPAC to have the Composers Guild and the New Jersey Percussion Ensemble appear in its Victoria Theater.  It made a statement."

Classical New Jersey, October 14, 1998

• "Conductor Peter Jarvis led it (Ionisation) from memory, evincing a performance of classical proportion and light transparency."
• "Jarvis' podium style embedded precision within flowing gestures, a philosophy of movement which clearly transferred itself to the players."
• "Kolor's persona was a mix of mime and magician and television chef, picking off single notes with little flicks of a mallet and a raised eyebrow, zooming through brilliantly executed passagework as if about to reveal an unguessed illusion, and offering rolled four-mallet passages to the audience as if they were an exotic hors d'oeuvres."
• "Cellist John Whitfield (of Cygnus Ensemble) took on the technical difficulties with full success, whether accomplishing large leaps or flawlessly negotiating the two sweet passages in mystical harmonics."

Gramophone 56, no. 670, March, 1979
A review of the Nonesuch Recording of Percussion Symphony H-71353

Jim Gardner's Reviews of Various Varese Recordings, 1996
A review of the Nonesuch Recording of Percussion Music H-71291

• "The New Jersey Percussion Ensemble's is for my money the best performance of Ionisation."

• "Scored for 26 players, the work's endlessly fascinating textures and rhythmic diversity will stimulate even the grumpiest conservative and Nonesuch's recording should shatter windows in the next county."

• "Particularly lovely was Peter Jarvis on marimba, whose delicate, hollow and carefully placed notes epitomized the haunting power of the second movement."
• "...honed to a fine brilliance by the talented ensemble."
• "...the ensemble was extraordinary down to the last detail."

• "Were it not for concert protocol, there might have been dancing in the aisles to the music of Cage's Second Construction and Third Construction."

Star Ledger, June 6, 1990

• "Surely no piece of cake, the work was impressively conducted by Peter Jarvis."
   

The Sunday Record, Troy, New York January 14, 1979
A review of the Nonesuch Recording of Percussion Symphony H-71353