Parable XII

Playing the piccolo can’t be an easy job. A quick Google search for piccolo jokes returns 628 pages of jabs at the instrument, most revolving around a certain problems of pitch and volume. But the opening moments of Persichetti’s three-minute Parable XII (just one of 25 meditations he wrote for various solo instruments) presents the piccolo as a strikingly pastoral sounding instrument. The lone sheepherder on the hill image doesn’t really do the capabilities of the piccolo player in question, Jeannine Dennis, adequate justice as she follows the work down the virtuosic path of its middle section. Still, the romance of lush fields and babbling brooks and all that quaintness is never far from the sound if you choose to listen for it. But I couldn’t help myself. And now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some sheep to tend to.

—MS