Classic NJ Magazine

Ars Musica Chorale and Orchestra, Italo Marchini, conductor, Rachel Rosales, soprano Bernstein: Chichester Psalms; Milhaud: Suite Provencale; Messiaen: Chant des déportés; Perillo: Crushed Tomatoes; Poulenc: Gloria

St. Luke's Church, Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ – Saturday, November 15, 1997 – 
"And now, the featured attraction: Crushed Tomatoes! Before you think you've inadvertently opened the pages of a punk-rock magazine, Crushed Tomatoes is not the name of a band. It is a tone poem composed by Saddle River resident Stephen Perillo. Its world premiere was the centerpiece work in this concert of works by twentieth-century French and American composers, a concert superbly performed by the musicians and singers of Ars Musica, expressively directed by Maestro Marchini.

While the title and the composers explanation don't quite contain the same sort of epic imagery imagined by Liszt and Berlioz when they promoted programmatic orchestral composition, Crushed Tomatoes did successfully conjure rich imagery of boiling vegetables and bubbling sauces. Overheard expectations ranged from humorous P.D.Q. Bach-like music to light-hearted Leroy Anderson confections.

But Perillo's work is far from a joke, even if frequently fun, and far from mere entertainment. The fact that it does carry the ponderous weight of so much modern music more interested in theoretical potentialities than in direct musical communication in no way lessens the seriousness of its content.

This is a fascinating piece that is also entertaining that is also imaginatively developed that is also likeable that is also contemporary. Quite a combination of positive attributes, a combination that made the work immensely well received by musicians and audience.

Catchy themes permeated the score. Momentum-building rhythms kept a steady, invigorating pace. Solo instruments carried melodies above a solid by never thick orchestral texture. In short, this was a tone poem with all the characteristics of the great tone poems that have become part of standard orchestral performances.

Though one hesitates to predict future musical circumstances, this is one piece that sounded like a good candidate for acceptance in a wider body of performed works, a rare event for works created in the past fifty years."

WRITTEN BY ROBERT BUTTS, CLASSIC NJ MAGAZINE