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Daron Hagen
News
Hagen has been commissioned by the new music ensemble Present Music to compose a
new work for mixed chorus of forty voices and chamber orchestra to premiere in the fall
of 2002. The University of Nevada Las Vegas has commissioned a new work for Oboe
and Piano to premiere this summer at the Las Vegas Music Festival. The Festival has
also commissioned Suite from Shining Brow for premiere by the Festival Orchestra. The
University of Michigan, the University of Minnesota, Baylor University, and the University
of Tennessee have joined in consortium to commission a band version of the 30-minute
cantata, Light Fantastic, for mixed chorus, tenor, and wind ensemble.
ARSIS released Seduction and Prayer this month featuring new works for voice and band. John Story writes in Fanfare: "Hagen's lovely music, entirely tonal and beautifully written, continues to impress. Bandanna Overture should become a staple of the wind repertory." Hagen conducts the Southern Nevada Opera Theater & UNLV Orchestra and Opera Theater in the premiere full cast recording of Shining Brow for ARSIS in February.
Hagen's 'Seven Last Words' speaks volumes At the center of Friday evening's journey was the world premiere of Hagen's Seven Last Words, a piano concerto for the left hand. [Guillermo Figueroa conducted the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra.] As Hagen, who turned 40 last month, said in introductory remarks, it arose out of "a deep need to be involved with issues of faith." It is, in effect, a meditation and commentary in seven parts on the seven last words of Jesus Christ on the cross. Its journey cuts deeper than any specific doctrine, exploring the passage from suffering into some form of acceptance and spiritual expansion that lies at the core of human experience. Hagen brought considerable gifts to this ambitious effort. With a large body of work behind him that includes three symphonies and three operas, he knows his way around musically and theatrically. In the concerto a sharp ear for orchestral color underlined vivid emotional contrasts. The work began dramatically with brooding drum rolls and a stark interval of the second reaching up and down the piano like a soul in torment. The words "woman behold your son; behold your mother" released a poignant melodic outpouring. The mood switched to a jazz-inflected anger full of angular rhythms to convey the human in Christ crying out in abandonment. The brilliant climax of "It is finished," despite its tremendous energy, veered toward the bombastic. For the end, the fluttering strings and the solo seemed too predictable a heavenly close, though the transformation of the interval of the second from the opening passage into gentle, near-disembodied music, was lovely. Pianist Gary Graffman, for whom the work was written, brought the same diamond-pointed clarity and emphatic expressiveness to the left-hand part that was reminiscent of his playing with both hands before a 1979 hand injury. The intensity of his focus along with Hagen's skillful exploitation of range and color on the piano made the solo writing thoroughly satisfying.
With faith and fanfare, a little aural escapism... This weekend, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra has a program designed to take our minds off our flooded basements. The few, the reckless, who made it to Kleinhans Music Hall on Friday enjoyed a dreamy break from our weather woes. This music is escapism to the extreme. Sure, the Concerto for Left Hand by Daron Hagen that Gary Graffman was playing was an unknown quantity. But with it sandwiched between Ravel and Rachmaninoff, how could we go wrong? Luckily, there's a repeat performance tonight, so people kept away Friday by driving bans can catch up on what they missed. Also luckily, the Hagen premiere proved uplifting. It helped that the composer introduced the piece. Likable and plain-spoken, he told us that the concerto, based on Jesus' seven last words, had been his response to a crisis of faith. Hagen stressed that we didn't have to listen to the piece from a religious perspective. But I did, and it was touching how the music revealed the biblical quotes. There was especially no mistaking the final line, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." The music, trembling and ethereal, seemed to float into the sky. Long known for his chiseled technique, Graffman played the piece's crystalline runs with every note clearly articulated. For a while, Hagen's piece took on a rhythm that reminded me of Dave Brubeck's "Blue Rondo a la Turk," and here, with the series of staccato beats, the pianist's strength really showed. At the piece's end, he dropped back, pretty much joining the orchestra and becoming one voice among many. I liked to think Hagen was implying becoming one with God (or the universe, if one wanted to leave religion out of this).
Performances:
7 November 01
14-15 December 01
17-18 January 02
18 April 02
22 April 02 |