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Music For Piano

Paul Paccione composer
Jenny Perron piano

Release Date: October 8, 2021
Catalog #: NV6376
Format: Digital & Physical
21st Century
Solo Instrumental
Piano

Paul Paccione and Navona Records are pleased to present Paccione’s latest album, MUSIC FOR PIANO. This collection of solo piano pieces was composed especially for noted pianist Jenny Perron. Paccione’s compositions are carefully crafted to highlight and build upon Perron’s unique gifts as a musician. The music featured on the album moves freely among various shades of coloristic harmonies, with a through line of lyricism running throughout. This is particularly true of Book of Hours, a series of musical meditations inspired by the centuries-old prayer ritual. MUSIC FOR PIANO invites listeners to contemplate the unique collaboration between composer and performer found in this collection of solo piano performances.

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Track Listing & Credits

# Title Composer Performer
01 Tapestry Studies: I. First Things Paul Paccione Jenny Perron, piano 1:44
02 Tapestry Studies: II. Habanera Paul Paccione Jenny Perron, piano 1:51
03 Tapestry Studies: III. Eventide Paul Paccione Jenny Perron, piano 2:05
04 Tapestry Studies: IV. Invention
 Paul Paccione Jenny Perron, piano 0:55
05 Tapestry Studies: V. Serenade Paul Paccione Jenny Perron, piano 2:01
06 Tapestry Studies: VI. Campanile Paul Paccione Jenny Perron, piano 2:22
07 Tapestry Studies: VII. March Paul Paccione Jenny Perron, piano 1:31
08 Tapestry Studies: VIII. Aubade Paul Paccione Jenny Perron, piano 2:47
09 Tapestry Studies: IX. Scribbling Paul Paccione Jenny Perron, piano 1:20
10 Book of Hours: I. Matins: Midnight (Annunciation) Paul Paccione Jenny Perron, piano 3:35
11 Book of Hours: II. Lauds: Dawn (Visitation) Paul Paccione Jenny Perron, piano 3:04
12 Book of Hours: III. Prime: Sunrise (Nativity) Paul Paccione Jenny Perron, piano 3:38
13 Book of Hours: IV. Terce: Midmorning (Annunciation II) Paul Paccione Jenny Perron, piano 1:55
14 Book of Hours: V. Sext: Midday (Adoration) Paul Paccione Jenny Perron, piano 2:48
15 Book of Hours: VI. None: Midafternoon (Presentation) Paul Paccione Jenny Perron, piano 3:50
16 Book of Hours: VII. Vespers: Sunset (Flight) Paul Paccione Jenny Perron, piano 2:37
17 Book of Hours: VIII. Compline: Nightfall (Coronation) Paul Paccione Jenny Perron, piano 3:36
18 Unsent Letter Paul Paccione Jenny Perron, piano 4:30

TAPESTRY STUDIES
Recorded May 26, 2016 at the College of Fine Arts and Communication Recital Hall,
Western Illinois University in Macomb IL
Recording Session Producer Paul Paccione
Recording Session Engineer Terry Solomonson, Western Illinois University
Published and distributed by American Composers Alliance, Inc. (BMI)

BOOK OF HOURS
Recorded May 12, 2021 at the College of Fine Arts and Communication Recital Hall,
Western Illinois University in Macomb IL
Recording Session Producer: Paul Paccione
Recording Session Engineer: Richard Chitty, Comprehensive Sound Services
Published and distributed by Frog Peak Music (BMI)

UNSENT LETTER
Recorded May 26, 2016 at the College of Fine Arts and Communication Recital Hall,
Western Illinois University in Macomb IL
Recording Session Producer: Paul Paccione
Recording Session Engineer: Terry Solomonson, Western Illinois University
Published and distributed by Frog Peak Music (BMI)

Executive Producer Bob Lord

General Manager of Audio & Sessions Jan Košulič
Recording Sessions Director Lucas Paquette
Mastering Levi Brown

Executive A&R Sam Renshaw
A&R Director Brandon MacNeil
A&R Jacob Smith

VP, Design & Marketing Brett Picknell
Art Director Ryan Harrison
Design Edward A. Fleming
Publicity Patrick Niland, Sara Warner

Artist Information

Paul Paccione

Composer

Paul Paccione was born in New York City in 1952. He studied classical guitar and music theory at the Mannes College of Music (B.M. 1974). While at Mannes, he was influenced by composer Eric Richards to begin compositional study. Subsequently, he began private composition studies with composer Harley Gaber. He continued composition studies at the University of California, San Diego, with composer Kenneth Gaburo (M.A., 1977). He later studied composition with composer/conductor William Hibbard, at the University of Iowa (Ph.D., 1984). 

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Jenny Perron

Piano

Originally from Montréal, Canada, Dr. Jenny Perron began her piano studies at an early age. She has participated as a collaborative artist in numerous prestigious competitions and presented recitals in Canada, the United States, France, and Taiwan. Her recitals have been broadcast on Radio-Canada FM, CBC Radio-Canada and National Public Radio on programs such as Opus: Classics Live, Tout pour la musique, Jeunes Artistes, and Serie Debut.

She and saxophonist John Vana have been recital guests at the National Taiwan College of Arts (Taipei), the University of Northern Colorado, the University of Iowa, Ball State University, and the Interlochen Arts Academy. Their first CD, The Interactive Saxophone on the Capstone Records label, was favorably reviewed in Musical America and Fanfare Magazine. She also recorded Rhapsody for clarinet and piano by Paul Paccione with clarinetist Molly Paccione for the New World Records label.

Perron has received scholarships and prizes from Le Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec, the Canadian Music Competition, McGill University, The Eastman School of Music, le Centre d’Arts Orford, and the Johannesen International School of the Arts in Victoria, B.C. She obtained her bachelor’s degree from McGill University, her master’s degree from l’Université de Montréal and her doctorate from The Eastman School of Music. She served on the faculty of the School of Music at Western Illinois University for many years and maintains an active private piano studio.

Notes

All of the music on this recording was written for pianist Jenny Perron between 2012 and 2019. The music was inspired in large part by her unique musical and technical abilities—in particular, her keen sense of instrumental touch.

The harmonic and melodic language of the pieces included on this recording consists primarily of floating tonal/modal melodies and coloristic harmonies that move freely between various diatonic, whole tone, pentatonic, and chromatic elements. Lyricism is an essential aspect of the music, oriented to the material itself and maintaining a certain expressive sonority.

— Paul Paccione

Tapestry Studies is a collection of nine relatively short etude-like character pieces for piano. Each piece is expressive of a distinct musical idea, mood, or style. The musical texture is transparent and homogenous. The musical figuration, design, and textural coloring of the opening bars of each movement determine the character of the movement, which is developed and sustained throughout without interruption until the end.

— Paul Paccione

The “book of hours” derives from the practice in the Middle Ages of reading selected prayers and devotions at eight different hours or times of the day. It is the most common type of surviving medieval illuminated manuscript. There are numerous different books of hours and each one is unique and contains different devotional texts.

The core of every book of hours is a series of prayers and meditations in honor of Mary, known as the “Book of Mary.” It is to be recited at each of the eight canonical hours of the day, beginning at midnight. Each of the hours in a book of hours is accompanied by an illustration depicting successive episodes in the life of Mary.

The composition Book of Hours is a suite of eight piano pieces. The “Book of Mary” served as a guide to the underlying narrative design of the music. Each of the individual movements is a vignette, an illumination, of a chapter from the book. The suite as a whole is mosaic-like in construction; musical ideas are added and placed side by side. Gradations in musical texture and instrumental color serve an expressive function and are suggestive of the atmosphere of each of the eight canonical hours of the day. The overall form of the piece is cyclical. Many of the main musical motives are reworked and recombined in a different guise throughout the piece.

The pianist, Jenny Perron, has written the following on the piece: “The composition Book of Hours is in essence a musical rosary—a meditation on scenes from Mary’s life. The music invites the listener to bear witness to moments of solitude, silence, simplicity, beauty, and infinite gentleness. As a performer, the piece was different from anything I had ever played. The music seems to exist outside of time—as if time has stopped. Although the piece requires a great amount of control and focus, I wanted to give the impression that the music was unfolding by itself as in an intimate improvisation.”

– Paul Paccione

The American novelist Philip Roth once described the unsent letter as “a flourishing sub-literary genre with a long and moving history, yet one that is all but unknown to the general public.” The composition Unsent Letter is dedicated to the numerous other forms of unsent letters that exist but remain unknown—whether it be music composed that is never heard, paintings painted but never seen, or poems and stories written but never read.

— Paul Paccione