Moab Music Festival (Richard Bowditch photo)

Kristin Lee, violin and Clancy Newman, cello perform the 1997 Hagen Duo at the beautiful Moab Music Festival. 

Robert La Rue and Michaela Paetsch perform Mvt. 4 (From the Arsis Records release "Strings Attached.")

About the Duo

In the repertoire for solo violin and cello, the Ravel sonata stands out as the singular masterpiece, the work all subsequent composers had to measure themselves against. Hagen acknowledges this debt by making the first movement of his duo an Homage a Ravel. He borrows Ravel's thematic material and style, but combines them in his own unique way. Each instrument takes the lead in turn, while the other plays arpeggios or double stops. The effect is to make the sound fuller, as if it were a much larger ensemble. Hagen's gift for melody is clearly revealed in the slow movement, Love Song. Again, the parts take turns, playing either the melody or a repeated rhythmic motif, occasionally coming together to sing in harmony. As in a love story, the two express their individuality and then create something greater than themselves by joining together. (Read more of Miriam Villchur Berg's 2003 essay about the work here.)

Kristin Lee (Arthur Moeller photo)

Clancy Newman (Lisa-Marie Mazzucco photo)