New Jersey Percussion Ensemble

Selected Press Notices

listed alphabetically by the name of the publication (with the exception of the New York Times) and then in reverse chronological order

Contents:

• New York Times
• Amazon.com
• American Record Guide
• Asbury Park Press
• Atlantic
• Audio
• BBC.co.uk
• Beach Haven Times, The
• Bergen Record, The
• Chattanooga Times, The
• Christian Daily Newspaper (Copenhagen, Denmark)
• Classical New Jersey
• Downbeat
• Fm Guide
• Fort-Wayne News-Sentinel
• Fugue
• Gramophone
• High Fidelity
• Jim Gardner's Reviews of Various Varese Recordings
• Journal Gazette
• Los Angeles Times
• Music Connoisseur, The
• New Records, The
• New York Magazine
• News - Times, New Jersey
• Newsday
• Nieuwsbald van het Noorden (Groningen, Holland)
• Oregonian, The
• Philadelphia Inquire
• Princeton Packet
• Records and Recordings
• Reporter, The
• San Bernadino Sun
• San Francisco Chronicle
• San Francisco Examiner
• Sandpaper, The
• Seal Beach Journal
• Spoleto Today
• Star Ledger, The
• Stereo Review
• Stereophile
• Sunday Oregonian, The
• Sunday Record, The
• Tallahassee Democrat
• Trenton Times
• Ultimate Audio
• US 1
• Vilkshrant, The (Rotterdam, Holland)
• Village Voice, The

New York Times, June 9, 1998

• "They can be the occasions of great performances, as they were here."
• "Finally the New Jersey Percussion Ensemble gave a hugely exciting performance of Percussion Quartet. . ."

New York Times, March 27, 1995

• "...both received crack, proprietary readings of an expected sort."

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

• "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

• "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."

New York Times, March 9, 1980

• "The New Jersey Percussion Ensemble which today has the reputation of being one of the finest in the country. Its recorded album, "Percussion Music" was nominated for a Grammy award

New York Times, March 3, 1980

• "...what made the piece effective was the wit of Mr. Levitan's rhythms and the skill of the performance."

New York Times, August 16, 1979

• The article "Sound" by Hans Fantel mentions the recording of Percussion Symphony as having won an Audio Excellence Record Award for 1979.

New York Times, March 10, 1974 - Donald Henahan

• "An album of Percussion Music (Nonesuch H-71291), played by the New Jersey Percussion Ensemble under Raymond DesRoches, opens with a superior performance of Varèse's Ionisation."
• "David Saperstein's Antiphonies for Percussion and Kil-Sung Oak's Amorphosis work more in the explosive Varèse style, but they too present formidable technical problems which the New Jersey Percussion Ensemble appears to solve with aplomb."

Amazon.com, October, 1998

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

American Record Guide, March, 1979
A review of the Nonesuch Recording of Percussion Symphony H-71353

• "I doubt it has many predecessors, but it surely deserves many successors."

Asbury Park Press, December 8, 1998

• "Lest the name fool you, this ensemble is renowned around the world; New Jersey just happens to be the lucky state that it calls home (in William Paterson University, Wayne).  Led by Peter Jarvis, it consists of professionals and is augmented by students studying at the school under Jarvis and the group founder Raymond DesRoches."
• "It was delightful music played perfectly."
• "Its (John Cage's Third Construction) inexorable rhythmic surge and splashes of sounds made for a thrilling ending to a powerful evening."

Asbury Park Press, March 23, 1995

• "...the performance was very moving."

• "...a 1987 work for Solo Snare Drum, Peter Jarvis played the complex rhythms strongly."

Asbury Park Press, April 20, 1993

• "The 'moment of terror' was a gigantic blast of sound, propelled with the rhythmic intensity that permeated the evening's offering. It was a moving performance of a difficult piece."

Atlantic 247 no. 4, April, 1981
A review of the Nonesuch Recording of Percussion Symphony H-71353

• "has added some extraordinary works to the growing body of eloquent percussion music."

Audio, June, 1974
A review of the Nonesuch Recording of Percussion Music H-71291

• "The Nonesuch H-71291 album of Percussion Music by the New Jersey Percussion Ensemble, is a landmark recording that belongs in every library."

BBC.UK.COM, 2005
A review of the Nonesuch Recording of Percussion Music H-79150

• "Excellent US group."

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 Chattanooga Times, Chattanooga, Tennessee, November 5, 1978
A review of the Nonesuch Recording of Percussion Symphony H-71353

• "Recorded in an old theater in New Jersey, the album is a fine example of the recording art, a disc that should satisfy the most discriminating audiophile.

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."