"...produces a music quite unlike that of his contemporaries: it is craggy and intense, nervous and sensitive – in short it demonstrates a marked individuality and shows a creative mind...."

Dominick Argento

Claptrap

"Mr. Siskind's work is all about clapping in rhythm. ...the rhythms are subtle and tricky."

Olin Chism
The Dallas Morning News, 1/5/97

Delusions of Grandeur

"Paul Siskind's Delusions of Grandeur had a lively drama and freshness."

John Rockwell
New York Times, 3/10/89

"... [an] imaginative, skillfully crafted score that left one asking for more."

Peter G. Davis
New York Magazine, 3/27/89

"...a tautly arranged panorama of highly effective string gestures...."

Kyle Gann
The Village Voice, 4/4/89

"...showed considerable compositional craft, not least in the fugue at the end of the second part."

Michael Fleming
St. Paul Pioneer Press, 5/22/90

Duo-Bagatelles

"[His] use of both color and rhythmic invention were what caught the ear."

Allan Kozinn
New York Times, 6/9/03

"...engaging moments... in which the cello and clarinet were temperamentally at odds: a supple, introspective clarinet line, for example, set against an excitable cello figure."

Allan Kozinn
The New York Times, 10/19/99

"It's measured tightening and releasing of tension through changing rhythmic figures and sharp shifting of dynamics is quite artful."

Andrew Druckenbrod
Minneapolis Star Tribune, 2/7/98

"...uses cleverly changing voices and extreme changes of dynamics. If I say this piece shows excellent craftsmanship, don't read that as dry; "Jumping Jack Flash" shows excellent craftsmanship. I hope for the chance to hear it again."

Steve Koenig
La Folia, Volume 2, number 5

Fantasy-Variations on a Fragment by Schoenberg

"Siskind's variations are clever,... and the piece is well orchestrated."

Michael Anthony
Minneapolis Star Tribune, 1/18/97

Lim'not Yahmeinu (...to number our days)

"Siskind manages to pack a good deal into this discordant work's eight minutes, achieving a sense of unity, despite its clashing emotions and shifting musical character."

Kyle MacMillan
Omaha World-Herald, 5/14/95

On Aging

"...a vibrant eclecticism,... set with a Bernstein-like theatricality."

Allan Kozinn
New York Times, 5/28/89

Rituale

"...elegantly written for saxophone and percussion."

Robert Carl
Fanfare Magazine, 5/99

"An unnamed ritual is evoked by the percussion outburst and melismatic incantations...."

American Record Guide
7/98

The Sailor-Boy and the Falcon

"...a lovely piece, with a great aria at the end for me."

Stephanie Blythe
Opera News, 10/06

Some Epigrams

"Another high point [of the concert] came in soprano Lynn Torgove's unmannered singing of two economically conceived songs by Paul Siskind."

Michael Manning
The Boston Globe, 2/27/95

Tantarara

"...a great opportunity for the brass to shine."

Ken Andrews
The Syracuse Post-Standard, 1/25/05

Thr(e.e. cummingS)ongs

"...expansive in style, taking on a romantic fragrance, a spiky wit, and a sinuous sensuality."

Mike Greenberg
San Antonio Express-News, 2/26/05