Anniversary in Memoriam (For Lenny) (2016)
For Piano
Duration: 3.5’
First Performance: Recorded by Lara Downes on the CD For Lenny (Sony Classical 84284011251)
Dedication: "To Lara Downes.”
Publisher: Peermusic Classical
A page from the first draft of Hagen’s manuscript for the Anniversary.
Program Note:
Asked by Lara Downes to contribute a slender musical portrait of Leonard Bernstein for her Sony Classical CD For Lenny, I wove together memories of working with him and several skeins of melody from those days to create Anniversary in Memoriam (For Lenny). I began by quoting the first two measures of his piano piece Anniversary: In Memoriam: Nathalie Koussevitzky atop two measures of "Somewhere" from West Side Story; I flesh out the phrase with two measures from his Age of Anxiety atop a tune from my opera A Woman in Morocco. Godspeed and farewell, Lenny.