THE ART OF SONG [NAXOS 8.559919]

I have admired and reviewed the music of Daron Hagen (b. 1961) for many years now. While his catalog ranges over a dizzying range of media and genres, he’s unquestionably a specialist and master of vocal music. He’s stood out over the decades as a composer of opera, and a very innovative one. Currently it seems his passion is for creating “operafilm”—which is not just a film of a production, but where a film is the production (I think of his Orson Rehearsed and 9/10: Before the Fall as recent examples). But though he has this unerring instinct for music of the stage, the art song is also a big part of his output.

And this work feels like something of a capstone. The Art of Song (2019) is a roughly hour-long cycle for an ensemble of six singers with piano accompaniment. It sets a range of texts from such heavyweights as Whitman, Millay, and Yeats, but also members of the composer’s family, and even himself. It’s organized into four sections that follow musical seasons, not only with appropriate natural imagery but also suggestions of seasons of life.

Hagen is a composer who deeply appreciates the tradition, but that doesn’t mean he is reactionary. I found this piece original, because despite its immediate accessibility it ranges over a highly eclectic range of styles and expressions. It is almost a textbook in different approaches to ensemble setting, with every subset and combination possible. The sheer multiplicity of it stands out as one mark of originality; it also doesn’t hurt that he can write a wonderful tune! Some readers may know that my own tastes tend more toward experimental and modernist work, though touched with a rebellious and slightly contrarian streak (think of Ives). But that doesn’t keep me from enjoying Hagen’s work. In terms of writing in a manner that is truly natural and grateful for the human voice, yet not falling into cloying clichés, I think of him as a one of the best of his generation (the one peer who rises immediately to mind is John Musto).

A few things come to mind, but this is just to give a sense of range. It could be made from any number of pieces in the set. The a cappella opening has a sound evocative of shape-note singing, though not using the actual technique. (Is it possible for consonance to be bracing, almost abrasive? Hagen seems to think so here.) A richly Romantic song, such as “Pomodoro,” takes us into a world that touches on that of the composer’s mentor Ned Rorem, or perhaps even Barber, though nothing sounds like an easy cop. The setting of Blake’s “The Lamb” has a childlike simplicity that is the most innocent of prayers. And early on, there is a number where something is done that I never thought could be pulled off—a setting of the words of Donald Trump, blended with those of his mentor Roy Cohn into a deliciously nasty brew that is a comic aria of villainy.

In many of these pieces, the whole ensemble is used to great effect. Often one or two soloists will be framed by a shifting background of the other voices, providing space and atmosphere. Towards the end there is a great Sondheimian essay, using the composer’s text, where all join to trace a miniature history of postwar arts in New York City, as experienced by a group of enthusiastic youngsters who are progressively tempered—but in the end, not beaten—by reality.

Disclosure: I know the composer and count him as a friend, but not a close one. If I felt I had to pull my punches, I’d not review this. The performances are spot on: Everyone is open, uninhibited, and yet technically exact. Laura Ward holds it all together with piano accompaniment so rich that one doesn’t miss a larger ensemble. Lyric Fest is a Philadelphia-based vocal presenting organization that obviously has a number of regular artists it can call on, both performers and composers, to create innovative programs. It seems professional and artistic on the highest level. This is certainly an early contender for my next Want List.

—Robert Carl, Issue 47:6 (July/Aug 2024) Fanfare Magazine.

The music of Daron Aric Hagen (b. 1961) continues to stimulate and amaze. Opera (Orson Rehearsed, reviewed by myself in Fanfare 44:6, and which made my 2021 Want List), vocal music (Fanfare 45:3) and book (Duet with the Past, Fanfare 43:6) have all received praise. It’s good to see a major song cycle released on Naxos, then: The Art of Song (2019), recorded under the auspices of Lyric Fest (lyricfest.org, its tagline, “connecting people through song”).The vocal-plus-piano collective here is also referred to as “Lyric Fest” in the documentation and comprises Gilda Lyons and Rebecca Myers (sopranos), Elisa Sutherland and Meg Bragle (mezzos), James Reese (tenor), Steven Eddy (baritone), and Laura Ward (piano).

Divided into four seasonal sections (Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring, in that order), The Art of Song comprises 24 songs on texts from authors as widely divergent as Walt Whitman and Donald Trump. In between are transcripts from the HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee, 1953), and words by Sappho, Abraham Lincoln, Dante Alighieri, Christina Rossetti, Edna St. Vincent Millay, W. B. Yeats, and also Hagen himself. Settings vary from solo song to ensemble, but Hagen’s expertise is everywhere in evidence.

The line-up of singers is uniformly excellent: It’s good to revisit the voices of some, and to meet new singers to watch out for. Gilda Lyons, James Reese, Steven Eddy, and Elisa Sutherland are new to the Fanfare Archive, but Rebecca Myers sang on a Mozart Requiem reviewed in Fanfare 42:5, and Meg Bragle has enjoyed a number of entries via John Eliot Gardiner and his Bach cantatas cycle. Perhaps at the top of my list is tenor James Reese, who is beautifully sweet-voiced in “Pomodoro,” a setting of Mark Campbell from the “Autumn” segment of the cycle, and is similarly superb in Winter’s “ That I know,” but it is how the voices intertwine and complement each other that is the real key here.

The piece itself, The Art of Song, is a co-commission by the Brooklen Art Song Society and Lyric Fest; it was premiered in Philadelphia in 2019, but the pandemic forced the New York premiere forward to 2022, a performance concurrent with the present recording (which actually took place over two days in Philadelphia). Song has always been close to Hagen’s heart: He had already penned many before his work with Ned Rorem, and 50 more followed before he graduated from Juilliard. A mere 61 years old (60 is the new 30 in my book), Hagen has nevertheless said that this piece represents “something of a musical ‘closing argument,’ a braiding together of the various themes, vocal traditions, and aesthetic strands of my vocal composing—the performers move fluently from art song to musical theater to cantata to opera, in choral, solo, and ensemble numbers that combine texts spanning over a thousand years.” This, then, is a tapestry, and sometimes texts do indeed intertwine in one song; perhaps it is also something of a way-station, one hopes, rather than a summing-up—a place to stand back and look at what has been achieved. And by “the performers move fluently from” Hagen of course means that he moves fluently from the one form to the other, as indeed he does.

There is inbuilt optimism to the work’s structure: Starting with Summer means that, over four sections, it rotates towards a final section on “Spring,” the season traditionally associated with rebirth. Within the sections, there are individual sub-structures: “the political fall of the United States” is the premise for “Summer,” from Whitman to McCarthy to Trump, for example. “Autumn” deals with decay, aging, and encroaching death; “Winter” moves inwards. “Spring” is slightly recontextualised, as it focuses on memories (Paul Goodman’s “Rain in Spring”) and the journey from youth to death (“The Green for Pamela” by Roland Flint), yet it retains hope. The work’s close is radiant in its shadowed beauty: “Remember tonight, for it is the start of everything” say the words from Dante’s Inferno.

There is no doubting that Hagen brings his operatic expertise to the table: The hectoring piano bass in “Un-American Activities” reflects the interviewer’s insistent questions in no uncertain manner. The score demands great precision (try the “Peace Quodlibet”), and it is impossible to imagine a tighter performance than this one. Haunting beauty meets dissonant piano breaks in “War is Kind” / Irish Airman.” Gilda Lyons’s performance of “The Moths” (Gwen Hagen’s text) that opens “Autumn” is particularly noteworthy, as is tenor James Reese’s splendid sense of momentum and storytelling in the very next movement, “Pomodoro.”

Ensemble singing is expert: Try “Brown Penny” (text by W. B. Yeats), or the wordless keening at the end of “Autumn,” or the urgent “Western Wind,” a setting of an anonymous early 16th-century text that opens “Winter,” or the unaccompanied vocal brilliance of “The Wolf” (text Seamus Hagen) from later in that same season.

Throughout, pianist Laura Ward plays with complete command. She is the perfect piano partner, individual in her delivery, exact in her textures and crisp in her articulation. Hagen’s musical vocabulary is vast, and most of it seems deployed at some point over the hour that is The Art of Song. This is the perfect summation of Hagen’s talents. The recording itself is superb; pianist Laura Ward and composer Daron Hagen are listed as producers, with Loren Stata as engineer.

This disc complements the previously released (but not yet reviewed by Fanfare, to my knowledge) 21st-Century Song Cycles, also performed by members of Lyric Fest and including After Words, Songs of Experience, Phantoms of Myself, Four Irish Folk Songs, and Four Dickinson Songs.

—Colin Clarke, Issue 47:6 (July/Aug 2024) Fanfare Magazine

“Daron Hagen (b. 1961) is one of America’s foremost composers of vocal music, with 13 operas and over 500 songs and cycles to his name; his last release made my Best of Year. ... He writes in a lyrical and tonal language with periodic dissonance and stylistic diversions as feels appropriate. His settings show utmost fidelity to the text – everything feels natural and well-reasoned. ....The Art of Song consists of 24 songs, with texts spanning thousands of years, from Sappho to Yeats, from Aaron Copland to his young son Seamus. Styles run the gamut from song to musical theater to Baroque cantatas and beyond. ... Its sheer breadth of texts, styles, and themes are united by a reflection of not just song, but how we use our voice to express thoughts, feelings, and secrets, as candid public record or poetic art, as in the heightened form of song. It is moving to see these universal truths rendered so completely and poignantly with the kind of sensitive, personal touch that Hagen brings. ... The 6 vocalists sometimes sing alone, but often together, sometimes approaching chamber choir textures. All are excellent performers who approach the many styles and demands of the cycle with utmost skill, personality, and sensitivity.” 

—Faro, American Record Guide, July / August 2024

ORSON REHEARSED (OPERAFILM) [Naxos CD, 2021]

Daron Hagen's Orson Rehearsed is termed an "operafilm," the audio portion of which was here recorded live at a 2018 performance in Chicago. The libretto, by Hagen himself, has boxes within boxes, and boxes within boxes within boxes, and the lack of the visual component is not really any more deleterious to the listener experience than it is with any other opera. Hagen's concept is unique: film director Orson Welles (the creator of Citizen Kane), at home in Los Angeles in 1985, has just suffered a fatal heart attack. Scenes from his life run through his mind, not sequentially, and are realized musically by three Orson Welles characters, one the youthful genius, one the mid-career figure, and one, to use Hagen's words, "Welles' spirit, 'out of time' -- what Heidegger calls and 'ecstace.'" The last of these moves through time, up to the present day (including the Internet), and back to the ragtime era, so Hagen's trademark stylistic mixtures are given free rein. The episodes feature Welles' characters in conversation, an entirely novel effect, and they touch on films where Welles' loss of creative control was an issue, as well as on such intriguing junctures as the appearance of an image of Welles' wife at the time, Rita Hayworth, on an atomic bomb being tested at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific. The whole thing absolutely gets points for originality, and its theme of looking over a life's accomplishments and then being projected into the future is engaging for anyone. The singers and the accompanying Fifth House Ensemble get the text across and keep things moving, and really, this could make a good place to start for those looking to stretch their minds around contemporary opera.

—James Manheim, Allmusic Reviews

The score is itself a rich, beautiful, variegated tapestry… The three Orsons, all within their vocal comfort zones, sing admirably and, for all their intended differences of age and experience, exhibit a strong sonic kinship.

—© 2022 Opera

This intriguing and unusual audio document leaves one eager to see the Orson Rehearsed movie, for the full operafilm experience.

—© 2021 Joshua Rosenblum, Opera News Read complete review

The Overture glitters; the use of electronics allows sounds to move across space (this is particularly effective if listening on cans); we hear the heartbeat in timpani—was Berlioz’s Le mort de Cléopâtre in the back of Hagen’s mind?—while long, almost Romantic string lines find themselves in stark opposition to the busy surfaces elsewhere as snippets of film scores to Welles’s music appear (those long lines reappear in the “Border Sequence” section later). It is terrifically performed, full of vibrant energy. The ruminations of the “three Orsons” are themselves interspersed with a rapid-fire reiteration of the word “edit”; later, when we hear the three singers together as a unit (on multiple occasions), the result is magic, three voices of beauty perfectly chosen and cast.

—© 2021 Colin Clarke, Fanfare Read complete review

…The three Welles avatars, Tenors Omar Mulero and Robert Frankenberry and baritone Robert Orth sing with dramatic conviction, attractive tone, and clear diction. The Fifth House Ensemble, led by conductor Roger Zaheb, provides the lively, characterful instrumental component. … I found Hagen’s Orson Rehearsed a compelling and moving experience. If you are adventurous in your operatic tastes and are at all interested in the featured subject matter, I heartily recommend Daron Hagen’s Orson Rehearsed for your consideration.

—© 2021 Ken Meltzer, Fanfare Read complete review

American composer Daron Aric Hagen already wrote an opera about an American arts master—Shining Brow, about architect Frank Lloyd Wright—and now tackles another genius: Orson Welles. Orson Rehearsed is an often convoluted but dramatically compelling one-acter set at the moment of Welles’ death at age 70 in 1985, as three Orsons hash out the many highs and lows—both real and imagined—in the great director’s life and career.

—© 2021 Kevin Filipsky, The Flip Side, March 2021

Orson Welles’ film as Citizen Kane has gone down in the world of cinematography as one of the greatest ever made, but what of the real life of that famous actor?

Daron Aric Hagen, now in his sixtieth year, is already a highly respected opera composer, his Shining Brow regarded as one of the finest 20th century operas from an American musician Here he sees Welles as three very different people. Those he enumerates—“the first represents the past, the memory of his youthful wunderkind-self; the second represents Welles’ vestigial self-image as a swashbuckling mid-career artist bemused to find himself crumpled on the floor in his bathrobe, dying; the last represents Wells’ spirit, “out of time”—in what could be called an “ecstace.” The complexities of the libretto, as it moves around the three personae, are not easy to unravel, though on stage I guess it all becomes clear, while just listening to the music stylistically takes us back to the more avant-garde scores of the early 20th century. Two tenors, Omar Mulero and Robert Frankenberry, with the baritone, Robert Orth, as the third singer, share the stage as the three Welles. They are vocally excellent, Hagen giving them all a melodic role well within their vocal range. In this recording, taken from a ‘live’ performance in 2018 at the Studebaker Theatre in Chicago, the ambience is kind to the voices and perfectly balances the ten members of the Fifth House Ensemble, who, together with the pre-recorded sounds and effects, gel and contrast as the work demands. The conductor is Roger Zahab, himself a composer and performing musician who has already given more than 200 works their first performance. Do please hear Orson Rehearsed as a major contribution to 21st century music theatre, the release—a World Premiere Recording—comes with a booklet containing the full text, a resume of the action, and details of the back projections to create for you an absorbing theatre experience. 

—© 2021 David Denton, David’s Review Corner, March 2021

Orson Welles convertido en triple personaje es la figura histórica que ha sugerido a Hagen (1961) esta ópera-filme, estrenada en esta misma versión en 2018. El compositor norteamericano se ha valido de un libreto escrito por él mismo con episodios muy libremente elaborados de la vida evocada y, sobre todo, de sus fantasías infantiles en forma de rápidas escenas o viñetas, diecisiete números de unos tres minutos de duración, salvo una de poco más de cinco minutos. Tal como insinúa el título no estamos ante una biografía sino ante una suerte de ensayo donde tres cantantes representan tres edades de Welles: juventud, madurez y vejez.

No es difícil advertir que el trasfondo de este triple Orson es Kane, el protagonista de su célebre película. Su ambición de grandeza monumental hecha toda de oro lo lleva a construir un imperio donde perdurará una enigmática imagen de infancia, símbolo de un objeto inalcanzable, cifra de un mundo deseable y utópico. La obra de Hagen resulta más bien una cantata, montada sobre un panorama climático a cargo de una orquesta de cámara, un piano ‘preparado’ y un pequeño coro, todo lo cual se completa con sonidos electrónicos. Hay un poco de todo: un par de nocturnos—lo mejor de la entrega—frases chopinianas, un canto negro, un ritmo tropical y, de remate, un rag a la manera de Joplin. El tratamiento es mayormente un recitado con muy breves frases melódicas, resuelto en un discurso no tonal que no llega a ser atonal y que juega con eludir continuamente las resoluciones cadenciales, a la manera de Alban Berg.

La versión es documental y de total autenticidad. Los intérpretes se desenvuelven con ajustadas instrucciones del autor, en parte también ejecutante. Es de destacar el trabajo de dicción, indispensable en esta clase de obras.

—© Scherzo, September 2021

It is the magical soundscapes of Daron Hagen’s Orson Rehearsed that kick off this year’s Wants List, a work of infinitely fertile musical imagination. I concluded my review (Fanfare 44:6) by saying that “we just need a DVD/Blu-ray release now” and how true that is; but the sonics-only recording holds magnificence galore. Textures positively glow; the complexities and depth of this “dream opera” keep on revealing themselves on repeated listenings. That, and the sheer excellence of both cast (perfectly chosen) and recording (crystal clear, with a great sense of perspective). There is something about world premiere recordings; they have a particular vibrancy, and this release has that in spades. From every angle, this is a sure-fire winner. I just want to hear more of Hagen’s operas.

—© 2021 Colin Clarke, Fanfare

AMELIA (Opera in Two Acts and Six Scenes) [2010]

Heidi Waleson, in The Wall Street Journal, described the work as "both highly original and gripping. ... Amelia is a modern opera with traditional values: Ms. McFall's multilayered libretto never loses sight of its story, and Mr. Hagen's restless, questioning music never loses its heart." George Loomis, in the Financial Times, wrote that "the expressive range of Hagen's music broadens memorably to accommodate the cascade of divergent emotions en route to a grand, life-affirming unaccompanied ensemble for the nine principal singers." Anthony Tommasini, in The New York Times, described the opera as "earnest and original, if heavy-handed and melodramatic. ... a serious, heartfelt and unusual work." Bernard Jacobsen, in the Seattle Times, wrote, "Besides cleverly enabling the sung text to emerge with rare clarity, Hagen has fashioned a score of impassioned and compelling beauty. His melodic lines are eminently singable, and his sumptuous orchestral writing constantly enchants the ear. ...it stands as an achievement at once profound and hugely enjoyable." Ivan Katz, in the Huffington Post, wrote "Daron Aric Hagen's score is well-composed and, in many respects, a work of genius. He tends to write in a more facile manner for the women, but his writing for the men (especially tenor William Burden) is complex and highly effective."

Online at Musical America, George Loomis wrote that "Hagen responds to the growing demands of the drama by...broadening the expressive range of his music to accommodate the cascade of divergent emotions as the opera presses on to its conclusion—-turbulent dissonance one moment, compelling lyricism the next. The opera culminates in an ethereal life-affirming unaccompanied ensemble for the nine principal singers." In The Gathering Note, R. M. Campbell found "much to be admired in Hagen’s score. It is tonal, occasionally percussive, mildly dissonant, just enough to put him in the world of modern music. It deserves repeated attention...some of his best writing comes in the interludes that introduce both acts and separate the six scenes. This is potent music. Perhaps he should consider making a suite of them for the concert stage."

For The SunBreak, Roger van Oosten praised "the magnificent performances of Nathan Gunn as Paul and Kate Lindsey as Amelia. Gunn makes you feel the pain of a man whose marriage is nearly doomed by forces beyond his control and beyond time itself...David Won, Karen Vuong, and Museop Kim are wonderful in their scenes in Vietnam: deeply felt, honest and humble...Jordan Bisch is wonderful as a large lumbering dad who is devastated by the loss of a son. And, finally, powerhouse soprano Jane Eaglen." And the Opera Tattler found that "The text did not display the awkwardness that marks many contemporary operas. The words fit the music, and the deft overlapping of narratives condensed the plot without being confusing or tedious. Layering of the Icarus myth and the life of Amelia Earhart with the main story line worked surprisingly well."

In the Seattle Times review, Bernard Jacobson called Amelia "an achievement at once profound and hugely enjoyable" and praised Stephen Wadsworth's "flawless" production, Schwarz's assured leadership, the "stunningly good" Kate Lindsey, Nathan Gunn, and William Burden. In the New York Times, Anthony Tommasini called Amelia a "a serious, heartfelt and unusual work," wrote that Hagen's music is "harmonically lush and singable," and said that "there was not one weak link in the large cast."

“The music is triumphant and soaring as death gives way to life and they all sing, “The Risk is Worth the Love” but an even more telling line is sung by The Aviator/Amelia Earhart who has been observing and commenting on all the action in the hospital. Her final solo line is the simple, heartfelt declaration, “I was never, never bored!” and I have to admit that I have to agree with her.” — Michael Strangeways, Seattle Gay Scene, 18 May 2010

I HEAR AMERICA SINGING [MUSICAL / OPERAFILM]

Review: ‘Hear America Singing’ the Emotions and Memories of Creating Love and Art

Daron Hagen’s “I Hear America Singing” serves up multiple treats for audiences that love singers, intimate performances, and music with a distinctively American flavor. The 75-minute piece showcases three of our region’s outstanding singers—all teachers and leaders in music in Western Pennsylvania. Singers who act, actors who sing, and the cast display the stuff of life-long training and exploration of diverse music and theatrical genres. This stellar trio shares their collective and individual ranges through Hagen’s diverse score, almost entirely accompanied by Robert Frankenberry at the piano. The setting? In the 1990s, composer Robbie Doerfler’s bachelor apartment on New York City’s Upper Westside and a black box theatre, real or imagined. A piano, a few chairs, a trunk, and a theatre ghost light share the stage with the cast. Robert Frankenberry, Desiree Soteres, and Christopher Scott present a tour de force with Hagen’s nonstop score of 20 songs. The title evokes Walt Whitman and the career journey of character Robbie Doerfler (Frankenberry), who is leading his Juilliard classmates in rehearsals to revive his 20-year-old musical. The emotions, memories, and doubts flow when the trio reunites and sings (up to eight full cast numbers). The impending backer’s audition seems the least of it as these old friends mine their lives and relationships through the songs that might comprise a new production. 

Rose (Soteres) and Roger (Scott) consider what they lost, found, and retained in their former marriage. They reconsider themselves in songs such as “Remember How It Was?”, “The Let Us Song,” “When I was Single,” and “Fall Down“. Bittersweet and beautiful, it’s the stuff of relationships and finding a context for something passed that was indeed once fresh and immediate. Soteres shines in her characterization and three solos. Her sweet soprano finds a range of spunky resilience to vulnerability. How wonderful to see her featured in this exciting role! Scott is a strong presence with an impressive range as an actor and singer. He shines on three solos and the five compelling duets with Soteres. The acapella and percussive “To Beat Time” are strong and engaging at the point when something different musically is just right. You are correct if you sense that this piece is intensely sung, but the story is indeed told with conversations, shared memories, jabs, and jokes among the three friends. The cohesiveness of Hagan’s book, lyrics, and music serves the story well. He’s a masterful writer and musician. Here, his music evokes the American canon: traditional hymns, ballads, love songs, story songs, and patriotic. The songs themselves could be a stand-alone recital, from art songs to arias and other popular forms. Considering the score alone, the show is a testament to how a composer learns and applies their own experiences of life and others’ music. Some beautiful American melodies are referenced with nuance in this lovely study about songwriting and singing.

It’s a happy coincidence that the revival performance of this piece was given on May 9, 2014. A decade later, Robert Frankenberry again displays his Mozartian talent in his “I Believe in Song“ and throughout the show. At the piano, as Robbie, the composer, and Robert, the music director, he does it all. And he did this all in 2014 for that even more extended version of this work in development. At the show’s conclusion, Robbie reflects on the realities composers face. Works that survive in print may have minimal lives on stage. Frankenberry’s final monologue about this journey is captured for the film. What’s it all for? Taking the ride—hang on! Hagen has said he likes to write songs that are “challenging but not impossible to sing.”  His imaginative projects predict the legacy of his works. His “Shining Brow” was performed (with Frankenberry conducting) by the Pittsburgh Festival Opera at Fallingwater and in Oakland. Hagen is leading the genre he called “opera film” with his “Orson Rehearsed” and “9/10: Love Before the Fall”. The films are receiving laurels at multiple festivals; we hope to see them soon! Bravo, Daron, for sustaining this century’s canon of American song and American music. Singers will indeed appreciate your compelling poetry and melodies.

—Yvonne Hudson, Onstage Pittsburgh, 11 May 2024

“Hagen has composed a message that ‘love abides,’ whether in love of art, country, music, personal relationships or self. In this inventive production that defies conventional definitions, each of the 18 original musical numbers fuses musical genres with sincere inspiration that uncovers the buried meanings to the word love.”

— Peggy Sue Dunegin, Broadway World

“The words and music are both clever and compelling. The harmonies are rare and exciting. This is a work where you have to pay attention. ‘I Hear America Singing’ is the kind of impressive, unique and fascinating production that deserves a full house every night.”

— Dave Begel, OnWisconsin.com

9/10: LOVE BEFORE THE FALL [OPERAFILM]

Classical Notes: An 'operafilm' that captures the disquiet of Sept. 10

With his latest opera “9/10 Love Before the Fall,” Rhinebeck composer Daron Hagen is pioneering a new fusion of genres that he calls “operafilm.” Working from his original libretto/screenplay, Hagen fashioned the score and visual storyboards in tandem with what he also directed. “9/10” started making the rounds at film festivals last year and earned a string of awards along the way. Its first local screening was on March 25 at Upstage Films in Rhinebeck. The piece runs just under an hour and when it was over it felt like I’d attended a performance.

The story depicts two Manhattan couples sharing dinner in an Italian restaurant on the rainy evening of 9/10/01. They catch up, reveal their desires and troubles and offer affectionate hopeful farewells. Come morning they’ll all be at work in the World Trade Center. As they exit the eatery, a strolling violinist extends his empty palm, an allusion to the mythological Charon who expects payment before ferrying the dead into the underworld.

The film and vocal tracks were shot and recorded at the same time in two complete takes. The single day of sessions took place in a restaurant in Chicago alongside real people seated at the perimeter of tables, eating their dinners and trying to ignore the opera taking place in the center of the dining room. Handheld cameras follow the singers as they move about the space and each character has an aria during which the film drifts into short dream-like sequences. The performances are poised and gripping, while the look and sound of the production are deliberately rough, sometimes even raw. Hagen didn’t have a Baz Luhrmann budget, but the verisimilitude seems deliberate and is effective.  

The accompanying soundtrack seemed to be a vague mix of orchestra and electronics, yet it’s what really drove the drama for me. The predominate color pallet of browns and ochre comes from the restaurant’s décor and contributes to the hazy, poignant atmosphere and the sense that this is a memory piece. 

Hagen isn’t the first composer to think visually and embrace new media. Britten’s “Owen Wingrave” and Menotti’s “Amahl and the Night Visitors” were both conceived for television. But Hagen’s ingenious vision has pushed him far beyond the typical duties of a composer. As he gains experience in filmmaking, he brings innovation to both fields, music and movie.

Most of the cast and crew participated in the “talk back” after the screening and as they revealed more details of the collaborative process, it made me want to see “9/10” again soon. The excellent singers were Robert Frankenberry, CeCe Jude, Gilda Lyons, and Carlos Jaquez Rodriguez, with a stoic Roger Zahab as the violinist. Hagen calls his team The New Mercury Players, the name an homage to the Mercury Theater of Orson Welles, who was the subject of Hagen’s first operafilm, “Orson Rehearsed.”  At least two more operafilms are in development.  

—Joseph Dalton, Albany Times Union 7 April 2024

BENEDICTION (SONG)

“Daron Hagen’s setting of Christina Ramirez’s “Benediction” is flat out gorgeous. Hagen is not only sensitive to word-setting and poetic form, he also shapes art songs to have a design that is elegant, crafting melodies that both paint local words and are part of a larger framework.”

—Christian Carey, Sequenza 21

NEW YORK STORIES (Opera) [2021]

“Daron Hagen’s three Gotham slice-of-life tales (Broken Pieces, Just for the Night, and Cradle Song) sing out in an unpretentious tonal American style, yet mask a plethora of musical complexity and sophistication. In this February production, Jeffrey Buchman’s staging captured the stories’ pathos and wit. Under Andrew Bisantz’s subtle yet lively musical direction, Amanda Sheriff and Stephanie Douche, FGO [Florida Grand Opera] Studio Artists, stood out for their vibrant singing and dramatic projection.”

— South Florida Classical Review, Top Ten Performances of 2021

A WOMAN IN MOROCCO (Opera in Two Acts) [2015]

“Hagen’s complex score works to underline issues with leitmotifs, musical cues assigned to different characters, and music that never settles or rests. When singers get soaring arias, they emerge naturally from this intricate texture. Hagen has a gift for writing sensually rich tunes and uses this skill to release the music at important moments.”

— Selena Frye, Louisville.com

“Hagen traffics all but exclusively in acoustic tonality, so when I heard that electronic elements were involved in this production I was very interested to hear how he would approach it. Consisting of pre-recorded and digitally manipulated sounds, including those natural (rain and thunder) and human (ululations, vocal glissandi, and a jazz trio presented as a shortwave radio broadcast), each electronic addition was subtle and organic and added an extra dimension to the proceedings.”

— Andrew Sigler, NewMusicBox.com

“A Woman in Morocco spins a complicated tale over two fast-paced acts. Hagen’s multilayered score shifts nimbly and deftly, never foresaking tonality though unafraid to employ some modernist expressionism or minimalist simplicity when needed. In numerous vocal ensemble moments — intriguingly presented at times with some singers offstage accompanying onstage singers — Hagen offered shimmering, lyrically rich sounds.”

— Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, Austin360.com

SONGS OF MADNESS AND SORROW (Operatic Monodrama)

" I sense that Hagen found plenty of inspiration when composing it. It is mesmerizing."

—Kilpatrick, American Record Guide, 11-12/04

"A riveting one-man opera and a dialogue with a forgotten past that feels strangely familiar in our own time." 

--Frank Oteri, NewMusicBox, 10/04

HEIKE QUINTO [Naxos 8.559914]

The exotic music transports the listener into a very special world of sound… In this recording it benefits from the technically outstanding and very committed interpretation of the Duo Yumeno.

—© May 2024 Remi Franck, Pizzicato

…Yoko Reikano is clearly a virtuoso koto player. I’ve heard several recordings of koto players, but none as breathtaking as what Reikano does here, and near the end of this movement Hikaru Tamaki’s cello playing is deep, rich and beautiful.

—© Lynn Rene Bayley, May, 2024 The Art Music Lounge

KOTO CONCERTO [2011]

Encounters between traditional Asian music and Western music have come to occupy their own niche on the concert stage: Too frequent to be a gimmick, they retain an undeniable curiosity factor, particularly when they involve a composer who, like Hagen, had never written for the koto before. The instrument is a kind of dulcimer, a board laced with plucked strings tuned with pyramidal blocks, set at intervals under each string, that give the curving surface the look of a mountainscape diorama. The sound is slightly twangy, robustly banjo-like, with a range and even volume beyond a banjo's. Hagen presented the piece as a dramatic dialogue in five sections between the Western and Eastern voices: Now the koto sang a solo over suspended string lines; now the two groups exchanged folk-like melodies, the Westerners' contribution sounding like a sea shanty; now the solo strings  traded romantic solos over the koto's plucking. The result is a vivid and appealing piece that even sounded idiomatic. Just how idiomatic only became clear, at least to Western ears, when Kurosawa followed the concerto with two solo pieces. 

— Anne Midgette, The Washington Post, 10/14/2011

More overtly sensuous is Daron Hagen's 2011 Koto Concerto: Genji, an "opera without words" based on an 11th Century narrative. It consists of five psychological portraits. The second, ‘Falling Flowers', has a poignant violin solo; III, ‘Maiden on the Bridge', demonstrates the subtlety of koto soloist Yumi Kurosawa, who makes her ancient instrument sound like a small orchestra. The bent sounds, rich chords, and strumming on various parts of the instrument produce marvelous colors.  

— Sullivan, American Record Guide, May/June 2013

BANDANNA (Opera in Two Acts and a Prologue)

"Hagen not only composed this opera, but conducts it as well. From the outset, I'll state that the performances and production values are superlative, that the instrumentalists and chorus from the University of Nevada Las Vegas never seem short of professionalism, despite their student status, and I doubt any opera's recorded premeire could be better than this. Henry Fogel has already reviewed this piece ... he feels it's a masterpiece, and it was on his 2006 Want List. Hagen is an extremely savvy and lyrical compsoer. His text setting is great for highlighting the strengths of each vocal type, and it leads to almost flawless English enunciation. One of the work's greatest coups is the orchestration, which is for wind ensemble. The result is so fluent one really doesn't ever miss the strings, and it's a great argument for this to be done far more often, especially considering the great logistical burdens new oepras face. ... The overall result is dramatically sure and lyrically compelling.

—Robert Carl, Fanfare, May/June 2007

"Daron Hagen's opera Bandanna received its European premiere in the somewhat unlikely surroundings of the Parr Hall, Warrington, on 29 April. ... Hagen's vocal writing is masterful. His use of the wind orchestra is equally stunning, to the point where one was never aware of a wind band, but simply of dramatic music. He brilliantly explores the various ensembles within the band, which not only gives the ear welcome changes of colour but also creates a lightness of texture which rarely overpowered the voices. Were the performance given in a theatre with the orchestra in the pit, the balance, which was generally excellent, would have been perfect throughout. The musical language is a very individual one, with Puccini-esque grand gestures alternating with positively modernist orchestration, all in perfect support of the drama. I particularly enjoyed his use of the mariachi band and was deeply moved by the serene final soprano aria set with three solo violins. ... For me, the highlight was to see [the orchestra and chorus] so engaged, with many in tears in the final scene. This was, after all, a modern opera, yet it spoke directly to each and every player and singer. Putting this on with a community band in Warrington was nothing short of insane. After the composer, the hero of the evening was Mark Heron. His vision, determination, organisation, musical brilliance and sheer ambition (for his band, not for himself) gave all present a night they shall never forget. The boundaries of the community band in Britain have been truly shattered and a very healthy audience was there to witness it."

—Clark Rundell, CBDNA Journal, Fall 2006

"Bandanna is a banner of triumph! Hagen's descriptive music soars and swells, invoking tender hopefulness in Mona's prayer of faith, while also describing the intense emotions of the distraught Miguel with discordant chord structuring and rhythmic patterns ... this opera should be destined to become a standard in the repertoire. "

—Carolyn Wardele, Las Vegas Review-Journal, 3/4/00

"Hagen's masterful score captures the rage, intrigue, and tender resignation of the tale." 

—Jerry Young, Austin American Statesman, 2/99

"You will find Bandanna's weave most intricate." 

—Andrew Osborn, Boston Review, 3-4/99

"Sonorous, highly-varied, rhythmically gripping, dramatic music; one can scarcely imagine another living composer pulling it off."

—Clarino Magazine, Germany

"The drama is powered by a strong emotional thrust, most of it conveyed in the form of popular song, and leads to a shattering climax."

—Read Ireland Book Reviews, Ireland

MERRILL SONGS (Voice and Piano)

"Hagen uses dissonance judiciously, suggesting emotional storylines and subtexts to Merrill's poems. One might expect the fourth song, "On the Block," with its symbols of youth, age and dying, to be gloomy. But Hagen's music is cheery and melodic, almost cabaret-like in its harmonies. Other movements were less obviously tonal. "Vol. XLIV, No. 3" speaks of arterial branches, cells and viruses, as seen in Microcosmics Illustrated -- an odd but fascinating text for a song, matched with equally intriguing music."

—Peter Dobrin, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 3/20/96

"A composer who can crystallize a moment in musical magic is a rarity. Expect to hear more of Hagen."

—Mark Carrington, The Washington Post, 3/7/94

AN OVERTURE TO VERA (Mixed Ensemble)

"An Overture to Vera goes for broke. Like the composer's orchestral variations Heliotrope, It is a truly original piece, one that either you love or you love to hate; there is no middle-ground. By turns desperate to amuse (itself? or the listener?), plangent, emotion-free, innig, elegant, vulgar, and bewilderingly over the top, Hagen's postmodern, post-pastiche stance is provocatively sincere, and ultimately subversive in its gleeful / woeful mashup of styles. It's like a walk through New York's east village in the late 80s, both high and low at the same time, and leaves one feeling a little dazed and definitely overexposed." 

—Staten Island Review, November 1995

"[An Overture to Vera] had distinct anti-snob qualities, which I liked ... [it] threw together elements of string quartet, jazz improvisation, big-band sound and a Gershwin/Tin Pan Alley aspect, much of it tinged with an eastern flavor." 

—Jess Anderson, Isthmus, 9/15/95

"It's "Scheherezade" meets "A Night in Tunisia," complete with bop-inspired walking bass lines and exotic, chromatic tunes snaking up and sliding woozily across the strings. Out of nowhere, Tchaikovsky's ghost bursts in with mournful chorales for violin, viola and cello. I'm not sure what to make of all this, but I can report that it held my interest and made me laugh." 

—Tom Strini, Milwaukee Journal Sentinal, 9/10/95

AFTER WORDS (Cycle for Soprano, Tenor, and Piano) [2013]

Hagen's After Words for soprano and tenor [is] deeply insinuating, Italianate in its vocal lines, and with a launch point that hooked you before the piece began: The six songs were dialogues between two angels, happily recalling Hindemith's cycle Das Marienleben for its poetic, personal, anti-iconographic contemplation of the sacred.

With their bird's-eye perspectives, the angels observed life and death (such as the hurdy-gurdy man described in Winterreise), asking existential questions that humans do when not too busy running around living. Playful at times, each song had inner emotional intensity, creating a world you didn't want to leave.

— David Patrick Sterns, Philadelphia Inquirer, 29 January 2013

MASQUERADE (Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Orchestra) [2007]

"This four-movement work was blessed with the presence of violinist Jaime Laredo and cellist Sharon Robinson as soloists. If there ever was a poster boy for clarity and accurate tone on the violin, it's Laredo. Hagen's concerto is written as an intense dialogue between violin and cello, and these two musicians delivered. In this engaging and lightly dissonant work, the music traces an evolution from hope to lament, to a joyous end. Hagen has an affinity for writing interesting and original music for strings. It's music that takes on profound dimensions when instruments speak simultaneously. Laredo and Robinson played the four movements with their trademark robust sound. The orchestra, especially the strings, sounded taut throughout. Conductor Jackson was willing to let the music bloom, her conducting style crisp and efficient, yet filled with bursts of controlled emotional cues."

—Edward Ortiz, The Sacramento Bee, Sacramento, California, 2/19/08

"Here, the violin and cello are commedia dell'arte lovers in an opera typical of the style. The first movement, "Burlesque," in which the two fall in love and are subsequently broken apart by seduction by an intruder, dives right into the second, "Elegy," a forlorn lament for lost love. The solo violin and cello speak and sing, alone and together, in tonal language, while the orchestra provides the varying descriptions and moods with fluid tonalities.... In the third, "The Last of Pedrolino," the elderly dying character (also known as Harlequin) brings the two lovers, the violin and cello, back together, resulting in a tenderly beautiful duet, and a touching movement. In the final "Gallopade," the two reminisce about their happy childhood with an uplifting joyful romp. The work ... is accessible, charming and attractive, but is complex enough that it will require repeated listenings to take it all in. The composer could not have asked for a more effective performance. Laredo and Robinson reveled in the lyricism of the work and their natural rapport achieved the musical intimacy necessary to make it work. Peters and the VSO successfully delivered the difficult score, supporting the soloists."

— Jim Lowe, The Barre Montpelier Times Argus, 5/5/08

“Daron Aric Hagen’s Masquerade takes as its point of departure the commedia dell’arte. In the upbeat, jaunty opening movement, the soloists “take on the roles of musical lovers [whose] courtship is told by two harmonically and melodically elusive contrasting themes,” according to the composer’s notes. Bright sonorities and crystal-clear textures of neoclassical Stravinsky meet Korngoldian romanticism. The second movement is a “lament for lost love,” its sense of benumbed grief not unlike that of “The Entombment” from Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler symphony. The third movement brings achingly beautiful romanticism and lush orchestration to the fore as the former lovers “are reunited at the bedside of a mutual friend [and] they reconnect, no longer as lovers but as old friends and soul mates.” The finale brings a satisfying sense of cyclic closure as the two “relive the open-hearted joy in singing of their childhoods before parting forever.” I listened to Masquerade before reading Hagen’s notes, and what I imagined previously was not far off from what the composer intended, so vividly drawn and cogently developed are his musical arguments. The soloists are almost always integrated into the orchestral fabric, which is kaleidoscopic in its variety and colors.

— Robert Markow, Fanfare Magazine, May-June 2012

GRAND LINE (Orchestra)

" The piece exhibited the beautiful colors ..., and solid, top-notch orchestration, as well. The strings, at times, were used in broad sweeping gestures with a multitude of activity underneath, with practically everyone playing. It did sound like a collage, but the instrumental voices melded together without clashing. Hagen handled the voicing so well that individual instrumental treatment was easily discernable, yet all within a large wash of sound. Hagen also used a small string ensemble effectively to contrast this large sound before the line began its descent. He had excellent control over this line, never allowing it to lose impact or momentum."

—Anne Kilstofte, The Denver Post, 11/11/87

"... a dense, remarkably complex piece, rich in orchestral effects yet never gimmicky in its use of the assembled forces. The composer has admitted his debt to previous generations of musical craftsmen, and it certainly showed. Inescapable were the stamps of Ives, Nielsen and others of the ilk that delighted in experimenting with multiple melodic paths travelled simultaneously. The contrast of these layers of musical goings-on might prove confusing on first hearing, yet somehow Hagen brought it off -- for these ears, at least."

—Marc Shulgold, The Rocky Mountain News, Denver, 11/10/87

VERA OF LAS VEGAS (Nightmare Cabaret Opera in One Act)

European Critics:
European critics responded enthusiastically to Opera Theater Company's premier and Irish tour: "Hagen's music... blends idioms - neo-Gershwin, jazz, soft rock, Broadway - with soaring melodies that send the characters looping off in arias of self-revelation. He has a gift for pastiche and musical surrealism as well as a distinctive voice for moments where words and music coincide." "(Hagen has) taken a polyglot approach to the music, and written it as a kind of mood-identifying background, sometimes in keeping with the words, but often deliriously, hilariously at odds with them, though in a way that manages to highlight them without undermining them. It's quite a clever ploy," writes Michael Dervan.

American Critics:
American critics also responded positively to the off-Broadway premiere: The eclecticism of the music is dazzling: sharply pointed jazz lines are overlaid with slippery atonal harmony; a plaintive nineteen-seventies folk-rock ballad melds into a Broadway power anthem. Paul Muldoon's libretto is a marvel of virtuosic wordplay, exhuberant, unsettling and heroic by turns. Designating the New York premiere as the magazine's "Pick of the Week," Time Out New York described it as "a gutsy, occasionally trashy cabaret opera." "You cannot deny the theatrical audacity of Vera of Las Vegas, which elicited many cheers from the packed house," admitted the New York TImes. Mark Ward, in the Houston Chronicle, describes the central arias as "very handsome, large-scale versions of sophisticated songs in the Great American Songbook. "Mr. Hagen's music suits the style of the libretto perfectly. The idion is very much "Broadway", with references to many kinds of pop music, handled masterfully. The music is tuneful and rhythmically sophisticated, the words set clearly. Much of the music comes in short bursts of a phrase or two which almost interrupt each other in rapid succession, except for two long arias, one for Doll and one for Vera, which are quite successful in projecting a long lyric line. Altogether the opera is a musical tour de force." From the Bernstein-like brashness of the opening bits to Doll's slow pop-ballad aria to Vera's eleventh-hour-save torch song, Hagen (rather self-consciously) goes for broke. And his obvious affinity for Muldoon's wacky, all-over-the-map text, leads to a seamless marriage of words and music, even if the libretto, at times, is too poetically clever for its own good." “Hooray for this work by the American composer Daron Hagen, whose music, smoochily played by a cabaret quartet, blends idioms — neo-Gershwin, jazz, soft rock, Broadway — with soaring melodies that send the characters looping off in arias of self-revelation. He has a gift for pastiche and musical surrealism as well as a distinctive voice for moments where words and music coincide."

—Robert Thicknesse, The Times of London, 11/04

"You cannot deny the theatrical audacity of Hagen's opera, Vera of Las Vegas, which elicited many cheers from the packed house." 

—Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times 7/1/03

"Hagen is a fluent, creative, inventive composer, one whose sparkle and wit shimmer throughout the piece. From the Bernstein-like brashness of the opening bits to Doll's slow pop-ballad aria to Vera's eleventh-hour-save torch song, Hagen ... goes for broke." 

—Daniel Felsenfeld, ClassicsToday.com 7/27/03

"Hagen describes the work as a 'postmodern meditation on the death of love,' but, whatever his thematic intent, the eclecticism of the music is dazzling: sharply pointed jazz lines are overlaid with slippery atonal harmony; a plaintive nineteen-seventies folk-rock ballad melds into a Broadway power anthem. Paul Muldoon's libretto is a marvel of virtuosic wordplay, exuberant, unsettling, and heroic by turns."

—The New Yorker

"Vera of Las Vegas is a gutsy, occasionally trashy cabaret opera, which details the fateful intersection of two on-the-lam IRA opertatives and a Las Vegas lap dancer who has a 'little secret' of her own."

—Time Out New York

"An entertaining and provocative opera ... The clever story mixes sleazy culture and big questions, while the contemporary music has many references to 20th century pop and stage music." 

—BehindtheBeat.net

"Hagen's music wears its eclectic sources — classical, jazz, pop, rock — on its sleeve enjoyably enough for its cabaret format. The last of a two-day, sold-out, four-performance run attracted an unpretentiously hip, diverse crowd whose desire to be entertained was gratified. " 

— Opera News (Online Edition)

"An emotional and very original piece of music, and altogether rather powerful."

— The Irish Literary Supplement

LITTLE NEMO IN SLUMBERLAND (OPERA)

“All good tunes sound like other good tunes, the way that happy marriages are all alike; and Daron’s ‘Nemo’ is filled with good tunes.”

— Ned Rorem

“Little Nemo in Slumberland has staying power. The score is open and optimistic, easily accessible and heart-on-the-sleeve sentimental. It has a timeless appeal that will ensure it has many more opportunities to delight audiences.”

— Gayle Williams, Herald-Tribune

“The music is derivative at times, with strands of West Side Story, Schubert’s Ave Maria and a touch of the Superman theme popping up here and there, but, in this day and age, everything sounds like something else, so the interval of a minor seventh, for example, just automatically alludes to Somewhere in our over-stuffed heads. Still, Hagen has managed to create a fresh 21st-century sound that’s accessible, yet musically intelligent and gives the young performers a chance to learn how to successfully bridge the gaps in their vocal registers, deal with syncopated rhythms and accurately make their way through intricate tonal passages that would inspire even Verdi and Puccini.”

— June LeBell, your observer.com

POSTCARDS FROM AMERICA (ORCHESTRA)

“This intimate music does not illustrate place; it conveys moods and memories about place. Aside from the expressionistic angst of the final movement, Hagen seems to have spent his time in paradise. The first four settings are warmly nostalgic, a flow of chords that glow like coals on the hearth in the wintry works and in summer rise to climaxes as soft as a scattering puff on a globe of dandelion seeds. The idiom here is cozy, somehwere between Barber, Copland and Vaughn Williams. Hagen tries to distinguish each locale, mainly through emphasis on various orchestral choirs, but they blend quickly into a pleasant reverie.”

— Tom Strini, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 10/16/96

“Both the orchestra's performance and Hagen's composition were rewarded with enthusiastic applause and bravos by the audience.”

— Craig Hurst, The Waukesha Freeman, 10/16/96

FIRE MUSIC (Orchestra)

"Fire Music [performed by the American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall] is violent in a benign and appealing way. Its rhythmic energy and hard, shiny sound jump out and pounce. The chorale-like center is played on a vibraphone, maintaining the coolness of the sound. Choruses of brass instruments babble and chatter among themselves. ...It has a bright, forward charm."

— Bernard Holland, The New York Times, 3/17/04

"Tonal, except for a brief middle section of aural splurts and splotches, it is a big, bold, glittery affair built on multifaceted techniques and nods to Bartokian rhythms here, Janacek brass there, a lush melodic string line elsewhere, moments of clever counterpoint and complex manipulation of harmonies against a kaleidoscope of muted figurations."

—Donna Perlmutter, The Los Angeles Times, 3/30/92

"Hagen's score starts fast and never lets up in its demands. When Hagen doesn't call for speed, he requires sensitivity. When he doesn't demand power, he insists on delicacy. Notes are tossed back and forth around the orchestra. All the effects worked (although the shattering of the glass had to be electronically amplified)."

—David Levinson, Press-Telegram, Los Angeles, 3/30/92

"The [St. Louis Symphony] tossed off its intricate, cross-cutting rhythms without apparent difficulty, while a listener could be absorbed in its multi-level structure."

—John Huxhold, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 12/2/95

JOYFUL MUSIC (Mixed chorus, mezzo-soprano, and orchestra)

"Joyful Music grabbed attention instantly as the trumpet set out alone on an extended syncopated line that would build into a complex force throughout the work. Vibes, flute and soon many instruments all resounded around and through each other, almost verging on a brilliant chaos with no singer to be heard. Then her voice appeared, with a startling change of key, like the sound of a mother goddess demanding her many children to shush and listen. But Kitt Reuter-Foss quickly shifted to a warm, lyrical manner. And so the fluid 14-minute work grew, with a welter of contrapuntal lines rising in a lyrical mood to sudden and swerving key shifts. These changes marked the music's sumptuous form and character, as if this were all deep, shifting waves of the spirit. It felt like music of the present, uncertain and complex in its undercurrents, but driven by massed human forces that would muddle, rise again, persevere and rejoice for staying afloat. There are still untold depths of spirit to summon up here in America, as Joyful Music revealed."

—Kevin Lynch, The Capital Times, Madison, WI, 12/6/93

OBOE CONCERTO

"The concerto is tuneful and accessible, but formally smart and harmonically spicy. The solo part is virtuosic but within reach of most professionals. The first movement, built on germinal, interlocking figures in flowing 6/8 time, is especially engaging. Hagen builds his harmony from aggregates of the melodic figure, which yields a lot of comforting triads and enough tense, closely voiced chords to give the music an edge. Hagen relieves that pressure with open, Coplandesque consonances that blow in like cool, fresh breezes. A brief solo meditation for oboe links the first movement to the second, a sweetly beautiful cradle song that crept out of the room before it could be fully absorbed."

—Tom Strini, Milwaukee Journal Sentinal, 8 November, 2000

WEDDING DANCES FROM BANDANNA (Symphonic Band)

"A terrific new work...."

—Barry Kilpatrick, American Record Guide, March, 2000

"...The [piece] includes two waltzes, a rumba, a tango, a 1950's rock-n-roll song, and a concluding ballad. This arrangement uses optional endings so that each dance can be performed separately or as a whole. The percussion scoring requires a minimum of five players doubling on equipment that includes a drum set. The varied and transparent scoring includes many solo opportunities for flute, oboe, alto and tenor saxophone, and trumpet."

—John Thomson, Winds Magazine

SYMPHONY NO. 2 (Orchestra)

"...Big, exuberant, brashly scored and infectiously enjoyable."

—John von Rhein, The Chicago Tribune, 11/23/88

"....bright, lively, accessible, amusing and contemporary without being in any way difficult for the sophisticated listener. The Chicago Symphony might find it an ideal encore for their next tour."

—Robert C. Marsh, The Chicago Sun-Times, 11/21/88

"The music beguiles by its instrumentation. It is chunky in its chordal tendencies, pixieish in intent."

—Barbara Zuck, The Columbus Dispatch, 10/6/90

"....showed a firm compositional hand in its structural logic and conviction of utterance, a sensitive ear in the delicately transparent textures, and a sure heart in the soaring melodies it ultimately yielded."

—Nancy Miller, The Milwaukee Sentinal, 8/6/88

"[The last movement] begins with a meandering harp solo with just enough pointed dissonance to place it on the cusp between arpeggio and melody. In a string of solos for cello, oboe, and trumpet, material first heard in the harp mutates into a lush adagio melody that peaks in a statement by the violins. A lively, carnival-like theme enters, distantly at first, like an approaching parade. As this theme "nears," it becomes clear that it is in a competing key, and there is a long bi-tonal episode as it "passes." When the carnival tune fades away, gentle music based on the harp material brings the piece to a quiet, satisfying conclusion.

—Tom Strini, The Milwaukee Journal, 4/20/90

"[The final movement] is a 15-minute orchestral adagio reminiscent in modest terms of those of late Mahler and Prokofiev.... Melodies were elegantly spun, episodes flowed coherently into one another, and textures remained clear even during employment of the entire orchestra." 

—Nancy Raabe, The Milwaukee Sentinel, 4/20/90

"[The finale], in its local premiere [by the New York Philharmonic], combined different thematic material to weave its multi-hued textures, which range from sparse and subtly- drawn to opulent and boldly glittering. Some melodies are dangerously beautiful - Hagen teeters on the edge of sugary, but never falls in." 

—Susan Elliot, The New York Post, 7/30/90

"[The finale's] melodic profusion and playful ebullience were a welcome tonic after the dourness of the [other] works. Hagen's piece opens and closes with an extended solo for the harp. [It has an] appealing palette of orchestral colors. Toward the middle, the piece turns into an extended Straussian circus...." 

—Lesley Valdes, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/20/90

"Yesterday's [concert at the Kennedy Center] unveiled the talent of a young American composer who need stand in no one's shadow. Common Ground [the finale of his Symphony No. 2] was the most diatonic of the four works on the program and without question the most accessible. His superbly uncommon orchestrations served the somewhat common material well." 

—Mark Carrington, The Washington Post, 10/29/90

"Common Ground (the finale to Hagen's Second Symphony but standing alone on this occasion) also came through in a favorable light. One heard the melodic influence of Dvorak and Brahms; but the orchestration had an original stamp, stemming from a method the composer describes as 'moving blocks of sound around the way a visual artist moves shapes around when composing space'." 

—Charles McCardell, Musical America Magazine, October, 1990

LIGHT FANTASTIC (Cantata for Treble Chorus, Tenor, and Mixed Ensemble)

"The real spine-tingling music came in the second section, a rhapsodic description of sunset by Walt Whitman that Hagen's music catches perfectly. Mysteriously, the music sounds at once dangerously intimate and impossibly distant, with yearning harmonies underlying a popular-sounding melody."

—David Lewellen, Canton Repository, Akron-Canton, Ohio, 11/27/99

QUALITIES OF LIGHT (Piano)

"A dazzling piece ... that should prove a welcome addition to the repertory. It will please audiences with its colorful accessibility and pianists for its virtuosic writing. The harmonic range is wide, from the dark dissonance of II to the unabashedly tonal romanticism of the big tune in the middle of the finale. The opening, 'Dusk', is spare and lonely, in a style that seems highly personal; the other two movements recall Messiaen in their modal harmony, wide-spacing voicing, percussive pass, and brilliant showers of notes raining down from the treble." 

—Sullivan, American Record Guide, November/December, 1999

"Hagen ...appears to be an interesting postmodern voice reminiscent of no other composer except, perhaps, Olivier Messiaen. Clearly, Hagen's notion of tonality is a far more vague concept than Barber's."

—Walter Simmons, Fanfare Magazine, July, 1999

"Hagen's three-movement work ... isn't typical sweet night-music. Tonal is the word to describe Dusk, the work's first movement. But if Built Up Dark is a case of the night terrors that ends badly, Gloaming comes as the gentle antidote." 

—Peter Dobrin, Philadelphia Inquirer, 8/9/99

TALIESIN CHORUSES FROM SHINING BROW (Mixed Chorus and Orchestra)

"Comprising five reworked sections based on music from his 1993 opera Shining Brow joined to a new concluding section, the work is attractive ... and includes many of the opera's best features. A more American style -- wide-open, spacious, warm and friendly -- would be hard to imagine. To my ear it sensibly evokes the broad fields and inviting hills one still sees today from Taliesin, looking out onto the fertile, green Wyoming Valley."

—Jess Anderson, Isthmus Magazine, 9/29/95

"Hagen's open-hearted brio... In recast form, the choral passages of "Hymn to Nature" and "Workmen's Chorus" rekindled the warmly inviting charms of Hagen's musical talent, with exuberant echoes of Americana, ranging from Barber to Copland to Bernstein. Traces of musical theater and jazz phrasing boosted the populist flavor, especially in the construction workers' paean to an honest day's work in the 1930's heartland, replete with innocent "skirt" ogling. The contrast of this earthbound simplicity to Wright's high-minded architecture and cosmopolitan lifestyle is this story's rub, as dramatized by the ensuing orchestral explosions of the brilliant "Fire Interlude," which showed Hagen's skill at Stravinskian thunder 'n' lightnin' -- driven mightily by timpanist James Latimer and the crackling whiplash of strings and brass. From the gossipy humor of the "Townspeople Chorus" to the elegiac beauty of the closing. (There is no) Balm in Gilead," these "choruses" underscored a captivating and resonant musical drama that deserves a place in the operatic repertoire."

—Kevin Lynch, The Capital Times, 10/25/95

HELIOTROPE (Orchestra)

"... provides further evidence of his distinctive American voice, the wide-open intervals of the opening section evoking Aaron Copland's America of dreams and stern pioneer morality. But Hagen's vision is more complex than that. Before it's through, Heliotrope has engorged itself with the sounds of a smoky jazz club, complete with walking bass, and the cool sophistication of contemporary minimalism with repeated figures in the xylophone."

—David Gere, The Oakland Tribune, 3/3/90

"Heliotrope is a brightly-colored spunky piece built largely out of one little jazz snatch, taking it through several adventures, clearly Copland to start, boldly Bernstein later on, and ending on a nice tag. It's a natural for a ballet, and fun."

—Robert Commanday, The San Francisco Chronicle, 3/3/90

"The influence of Leonard Bernstein's theater style could be heard in the brief motto that Hagen used as the basis of his Heliotrope [performed by the Brooklyn Philharmonic conducted by Lukas Foss], a set of variations in an array of orchestral, theater and jazz styles that showed how far a composer can run with a simple theme, given the right combination of imagination and skill."

—Allan Kozinn, The New York Times, 10/29/89

SENNETS, CORTEGE, and TUCKETS (Band)

"...Sennets ... pulls in a lot of references, some of them extramusical (Shakespeare. Monty Python. The University of Wisconsin. Yes, really) in a lighthearted and humorous piece based around the idea of trumpet-calls for various applications. The composer has a wonderful sense of instrumental color, and an accessible harmonic language."

—Records International Reviews, February 1999

"... is a cheery work full of trumpet flourishes and a degree of minimalism to it. Amid the musical proceedings is an Ives-like amalgam of ideas, which include allusions to Erik Satie, Scott Joplin, and Leonard Bernstein."

—Tower Records Online Reviews

THE PRESENCE ABSENCE MAKES (Flute and String Quartet)

"Mr. Hagen has added a flute to four strings, but there is everywhere the same melancholic quietude and a warm, rounded tonal style touched lightly with austerity [as in the Debussy G minor Quartet]. The music is in five movements, and nowhere does urgency or violence intrude on leisure. The language is familiar but not suspiciously so, perhaps because the thoughts behind it seem genuine." 

—Bernard Holland, The New York Times, 4/9/88

LITTLE PRAYERS (Mixed Chorus)

"I was especially taken with Daron Aric Hagen's Little Prayers. The American Repertory Singers are excellent --sensitive and well-controlled-- but without any of the prissiness that can afflict British choral singing."

—The American Record Guide, November / December 1997

"In Little Prayers, Daron Aric Hagen's technique is reminiscent of Persichetti or Stravinsky. As a group the five prayers are perhaps the least melodic pieces on the recording but are nonetheless beautiful and would compliment any sacred choral program. Nestor's use of dynamic contrast to illustrate Hagen's text painting is exquisite." 

—Vernon E. Huff, Choral Journal, February, 1998

DUO AU COURANT: SACRED and PROFANE, Songs of DARON HAGEN [Albany Records]

"…You will find yourself touched, moved, excited, and amused as you go through the collection of songs here. They range from the tender to the sensual to the witty and the dramatic. They are all sung attractively and with conviction by Weiss, who is very sensitively accompanied by Christina Wright-Ivanova. That both are on the faculty of the University of Nevada at Las Vegas says a good deal about the quality of music education there. Recorded sound is well balanced between voice and piano, and the notes by Hagen himself are very helpful."

—Fanfare Magazine

MUCH ADO (Orchestra)

What helped this sometimes dazzling piece to succeed was Hagen's clever way of introducing new ideas or textures every few bars.... Much Ado served as a nifty appetizer to a carefully designed evening of good vibrations. This was, after all, the season-opener. [Nashville Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Kenneth Schermerhorn.]

— Alan Bostick, The Tennessean, 9/5/03

An uncommonly audacious romp. ...Hagen's sound is mostly large and rich, marked by a steady pulse driving intricately lively textures that recall both the Renaissance lute and Charlie Parker's saxophone. Amid this lusty turbulence swim long, strong brass melodies that rise, and disappear, and rise again. Hagen quotes a line from Shakespeare's comedy that also fits his own work: 'What a merry, exhilarating play.' Much Ado was a beautifully chosen piece for this orchestra in this hall, filling the venue's space with vital energy. [Nashville Symphony; Schermerhorn.]

— Marcel Smith, Nashville Scene, September 11-17, 2003

Hagen's Much Ado lived up to its title in all the wrong ways. The composer kept the orchestra extremely busy, but with musical activities that seemed third hand; one soaring french horn passage (the sort you hear in inspirational moments of corny movies) was repeated three [sic] times, even though once was enough to kill the piece's credibility. [Curtis Symphony conducted by Robert Spano.]

— David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 5/3/00

The sweeping violins and noble horns of Mr. Hagen's Much Ado were reminiscent of John Williams' movie scores. Maybe Mr. Hagen should have a go at it. [Dallas Symphony, conducted by Andrew Litton.]

— Olin Chism, The Dallas Morning News, 6/27/03

My first thought, just as the piece ended, was that I ought to jump to my feet. My second was that it must have been incredibly difficult to create something that sounded so effortlessly ebullient.

— David Matthews, Fanfare Magazine

NOCTURNE FOR PIANO AND STRIJNGS

“[Pianist Marc] Peloquin was joined by an ensemble for Hagen’s Nocturne, which is scored for piano, bass, and string quartet. The piece shares with Poulenc and Diamond the virtues of elegance and straightforward communication on the surface with a deep well of feeling underneath. From a moody piano solo, Nocturnes grows into a lyrical journey from darkness to light. It is full of horizontal and vertical expansive gestures. The form is roughly like an extended song. What at first appears to be a B section, with energetic syncopations that explore a different mood than the earlier music, turns out to be a snappy, clever, extended coda that sets up the final mood and resolution. The final solo pianoplaying, quiet, dark,and accompanied by Tenri’s rattling radiators, sounded like a serendipitous haunting.

—George Grella, New York Classical Review 2/7/16)

ADVANCE (Orchestra)

"The piece, commissioned by the Knoxville Symphony Society andpremiered by the KSO at a concert this past July, showered the audience with fresh and jazzy sounds. Definitely American in origin, the Fanfare sheltered overtones of Bernstein and Creston at their most exuberant. Cheers especially for members of the percussion section, who must have gloated at their good fortune in being so prominently spotlighted."

—Nancy England, The Oak Ridger, 9/22/00

NIGHT, AGAIN (Band)

"An unnervingly vivid representation of the unsettling impressions of a lifetime insomniac in the small hours of the night. The composer has a wonderful sense of instrumental color, and an accessible harmonic language."

—Records International Reviews, February, 1999

"A treat for lovers of brass and especially for those who enjoy intriguing, idiomatic music written for contemporary brass ensembles. 'Night, Again' is Hagen's musical portrait of what he refers to as the "intense, introspective solitude of the smallest hours. This is a mercurial and exciting piece. "

—Tower Records Online Reviews

BUILT UP DARK (Orchestra)

"Hagen's explosive and visceral Built Up Dark showed how some post-modern music can break all the compositional rules but still remain powerful and accessible. Combining rich tone clusters, Rite of Spring percussive syncopation, shimmering string harmonics and majestic chordal passages, Hagen's short and furious piece left an impression that lingered far longer than the echo of the final, thundering chord."

—Paul Kosidowski, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 5/12/95

CONCERTO FOR HORN, WITH WINDS AND STRINGS

"... an engaging work, well-proportioned structurally and with effective musical contrasts. The five movements explore a series of moods based around a night theme. The first movement, Nightfall, is a quick and short piece that evokes a carnoval mood, in a vaguely Stravinskian style. This is followed by a Serenade, a calm movement. Midnight is a rather raucous discussion between the soloist and the violins and cellos. The fourth movement, Aubade, is a 'jazz waltz,' in the composer's words. It is a wistful and lyrical dialogue between the soloist and soprano saxaphone, with a short interlude by the oboe. The best movement of the entire piece, it was repeated as an encore. Closing the work is Daybreak..... Hagen's originality in this work is in the narrative structure, an impressionistic journey through the night. There is a good balance between this program and the music, five relatively short movements that have just the right amount of material and length. The musical gestures are more aphoristic than developmental."

—Ron Wiecki, The Wisconsin State Journal, 11/2/96 

EVERYTHING MUST GO! (Brass Quintet)

"... a splashing, yet lyrical blast of a piece, which gave the sizable audience an example of the best brass quintet writing today."

—Jack Dressler, The Post and Courier, Charleston, North Carolina

THREE SILENT THINGS (Voice and Piano Quartet)

"Daron Hagen's Three Silent Things, a setting of 10 poems by such diverse authors as Adelaide Crapsey, Robinson Jeffers, Paul Goodman and Wallace Stevens proved a stately, chimerical work. Scored for piano quartet and soprano, the work is lyrical in its utterance and spare in its rhetoric. There is very little tutti playing, and the soprano is as likely as not to sing an entire poem as a duet with one of the instrumentalists. Mr. Hagen's esthetic is varied but concentrated -- a stark, proclamatory opening leads directly to a gentle cello solo; there are many such surprises throughout the work. Three Silent Things was written for Karen Noteboom, who sang it with a sweet, full tone and an appropriate dignity."

—Tim Page, The New York Times, 10/5/86

"Three Silent Things, a 30-minute work for soprano, violin, viola, cello and piano, composed by Daron Hagen in 1984, is curious music for a young man to have written [sic]. A couple of the 10 texts he sets are unusual choices, like the Adelaide Crapsey poem from which the title comes. But most of the poets, like Walt Whitman and Robert Graves, have been frequently turned to by American composers. The work begins with a Whitman text set to stern, proclamatory music with hints of 12-tone complexity. Soon the piece shifts modes and wistful tonality predominates. The composer deftly mixes spiky rhythmic restlessness, jagged instrumental lines and crunchy chords. Brenda Harris was the sensitive soloist.

—Anthony Tommasinni, The New York Times, 6/5/98

PRAYER FOR PEACE (String Orchestra)

"Hagen was praised by conductor William Smith as "a fountain" of creativity. Smith noted that as a student he had heard the music of Samuel Barber played at a student concert, and he acknowledged that new student works have not come along since. Hagen's Prayer for Peace for string orchestra, while it could only represent the large quantity of work Hagen has in his catalogue, was a welcome glimpse into his work's quality. The writing is concise, mature in the way the composer assembled colors and accents and, best of all, often led my ear to believe the next part of the score was inevitable. The piece has, in its three movements, a theatrical flow from the jagged opening, through several short scenes for solo violin and cello, to a gradual lengthening of melodic lines to the strongly flowing final prayer. The progress from emotional pitch to pitch is direct and unhurried. The solo instruments take roles that are songful -- the best being the violin and cello duet in the second movement. In that section, the two sang independently but in close dialogue over the others. The resolution of the prayer itself, with the cello playing against a shimmer of high violins, is a deft stroke that gives it all a satisfying close."

—Daniel Webster, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 1/19/83

DUET WITH THE PAST (Memoir) [2019]

“Duet with the Past is an unsparing and bleakly beautiful memoir from composer, conductor and operatic polymath Daron Hagen that takes him from his haunted childhood in Wisconsin to the upper echelons of musical life in New York and Europe. It is rich intellectual history, filled with privileged anecdotes about legends and near-legends, but especially valuable for the narrative candor of the author, who has seen much and taken care to remember it all for us, no matter how it may ache.”

―Tim Page, Pulitzer Prize-winning music critic, editor, biographer, memoirist, University of Southern California

“It is a rare privilege to experience a glimpse into the inner world of a great artist, and Daron Hagen has opened the door to his life in a memoir of searing honesty and unguarded intimacy. Daron leads us through a journey that begins in a brilliant, talented but dysfunctional family, into the treacherous depths of the ruthless competition and political machinations of the classical music scene, to a search for a happiness that often seems unattainable. Filled with anecdotes of countless musical luminaries, Duet with the Past is irresistible in its revealing candor and charm- an unforgettable journey into the private world of one of our country’s greatest composers.”

―JoAnn Falletta, conductor Buffalo Philharmonic

“In an age suffused with memoir, it is rare indeed to read a book that is both ruthlessly honest and beautifully written. Duet with the Past is not only the chronicle of a brilliant young man who survived a family that, for decades, was haunted by death; it is also a cautionary tale that shows, with painful accuracy, the sacrifices needed to maintain a classical-music career in a brutally unforgiving business. Every young American composer should read it.”

―Russell Platt, composer and ASCAP Deems Taylor Award-winning music critic, Vanderbilt University.

Autobiography, memoir, confessional: Daron Aric Hagen’s book is all of these things. It offers a candid telling of his personal story, at times heart-breaking, at times positively inspirational. It tells of a composer’s quest for truth, of a composer’s struggles in a highly competitive world; it offers illumination into a whole clutch of composers, but most revealingly the close ties Hagen has enjoyed with Ned Rorem, Lukas Foss, Leonard Bernstein, and David Diamond. For each, Hagen offers us, though the prism of his experience, windows into their lives. We also meet, though, the likes of Giancarlo Menotti, Ralph Shapey, Copland, Virgil Thomson, Joseph Schwantner, Michael Torke, Gunther Schuller, amongst many others. But most of all, we get to know Hagen, intimately.

Hagen’s journey is an intense, raw one. Like so many creatives, Hagen has his demons, primarily an uneasy relationship with alcohol (he at one stage refers to his “lost year of vagabondage”); manic episodes in Venice, Seattle, and Chicago act as markers. A difficult childhood and a fractured relationship with his father are vividly described, as is the tenderness of his mother. We feel her aspirations as a writer just as much as we feel the bond between mother and son; Hagen’s involving, painterly prose assures us of this. The tragedy of his brother Kevin’s pain trying to detox in order to attend a wedding is visceral (a scenario that leads Hagen to quit alcohol himself). But it is Hagen we get to know intimately, from his superstitions (and how he nearly forgets to perform his ritual of tapping the orchestra rail seven times before the premiere of the opera Little Nemo in Slumberland at Sarasota Opera) to his innermost fears, and loves.

Hagen’s descriptions of others are vivid and come with an inbuilt ring of truth. They can be poetic, too. Of Diamond, he writes that, “he was a superb artisan whose Neo-classic compositions grafted intense lyricism with a neurotic and deeply felt hyper-contrapuntal style … like Witold Lutosławski, David wore excellently tailored suits … ” and so it goes on. His description of clearing out his deceased father’s belongings as “the melancholy triage of Executorship” seems to exude a particular poignance.

Places are important, and we sometimes meet them multiply, in different times and therefore from different perspectives. Hagen was brought up in Milwaukee. Yaddo, an artists’ community in Saratoga Springs, New York is a vital part of Hagen’s story; so is Nicaragua, a place that also stages one half of the book’s Postlude (how beautiful Hagen’s description of “the sun, a somniferous blob of mercurochrome”). The other half of that Postlude is in Rheinbeck, New York where Hagen ends by (pardon the pun) passing the baton to his children. He is open and honest about his close relationships with people; we build an image of a person who cares desperately; and part of his journey has been about how to truly show that love.

Hagen’s music has been fiercely championed by JoAnn Falletta (he has also set some of her poetry); musical relationships are vital to Hagen, both colleagues and his many students. Those of music publishers, opera houses, and even us critics are described, often cherished, despite the politics. There are practical tips that may be gleaned here, perhaps most obviously the story of using the piccolo as a doubling to pad out small pit scorings in a revival of the opera Amelia in Chicago. “Through it all,” says Hagen, “I’ve just wanted to learn how to write a good opera.” And his best advice? “Relax: concentrate on people and process.”

There is lightness, approachability and depth to Hagen’s music. Try, perhaps, his music for the 1920 public domain film The Passion of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to understand his dramatic sensitivity in instrumental terms. In penning this account of his life, loves, and complex web of connections, he invites us to share in new layers of understanding, not only of his music but of what it is to be a composer, a creator: the risks, the joys, the disappointments.

This is not a short book, and along the way each will find his or her own points of interest, too. For me, it was the references to CRI recordings, a label that existed from 1946 to 2007 and that has long fascinated me (the New York Times critic Anthony Tommasini, in the record label’s “obituary” on 4/13/2003, called it a “scrappy nonprofit label”). Which brings in the appendices: Hagen gives a “Select Discography” (a complete one might have offered a more useful service) and a “List of Works and Premieres,” which excludes most withdrawn works but gives artist details and dates of premieres.

Perhaps the greatest compliment I can give is that the book is riveting from first to last; and I write his as no regular reader of autobiographies. In short, it is a fabulous, revealing, and sometimes revelatory read, a window into a sometimes tortured soul with what feels like a happy ending (Hagen was born in 1961, so one hopes for much more happiness to come). Well chosen photos pepper the text at strategic points.

—Colin Clarke, Fanfare Magazine, June 2020

"Duet with the Past" is a fascinating, thoroughly engrossing and often very powerful read. Beautifully written, well-crafted, thoughtful and deeply insightful observations on the ups and downs of "the creative life." Yes, there is pain and disappointment, as well as triumph and artistic ecstasy, explored here, but it is mixed with great humor and always intense honesty. Highly recommended for anyone who wishes to know more about the inner life and creative process of this outstanding composer, as well as gain some illuminating insights into other modern composers with whom the author has interacted throughout his career. Not just for musicians, this book will be an inspiration to artists in any medium.

—Douglas Hedwig, composer, Amazon.com

“A concise, cliché-laden synopsis of Daron Hagen’s Duet with the Past might read, “A memoir of love and loss and a life redeemed by music.” But while clichés often ring true, they can conceal as well as reveal. Missing would be Hagen’s deftly drawn portraits of his teachers, mentors, and future colleagues—Leonard Bernstein, Ned Rorem, Lukas Foss, David Diamond, and David Del Tredici for starters—including many members of the operatic, orchestral, commercial, and academic communities who shared important milestones in his multiple careers as composer, music copyist, arranger, proofreader, teacher, lyricist, stage director, and “man of the theater” who has “perform[ed] every one of its constituent jobs.” His cinematic, palpably sensory recollections of life in Wisconsin, Paris, Venice, Nicaragua, Chicago, New York, Seattle, and Philadelphia, and of fruitful years spent at artist-retreats like Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony, are colorfully interspersed with the well-paced chronicle of his evolution from music-entranced child to eager-to-please youth to mellowed, tolerant, prolific—“five symphonies, a dozen concertos, 13 operas, reams of chamber music and more than 350 art songs”—and compassionate composer. Those seeking access to the behind-the-scenes workings of a composer’s world, from “the Green Room to the Boardroom,” will be amply rewarded.

At times tragic or melancholic, the memoir unsparingly confronts the downward spiral of a family blighted by alcoholism and early, preventable death and the unhappy denouement of an impulsively entered-into marriage. But it also celebrates his worshipful love for his talented mother, second wife Gilda (a composer and singer), and sons Atticus and Seamus, that helped him overcome his self-destructive, depressive tendencies as he gradually transformed himself into a “humane and mostly happy man.” Late in the book, Hagen reflects that “a biographer pursues his subject’s truth by marching facts down the page after it like little soldiers, while an artist interlaces life’s storylines and dreams, pleating and plaiting memory and associations until one’s truth emerges as a braid.” Arresting though the story is as it “marches” more or less chronologically through the years, it’s the artistically woven warp and weft of his life’s tapestry that lingers.”

―Robert Schulslaper, Fanfare magazine, June 2020

“[Hagen] takes a balanced inventory of his days and in the process he delivers a cogent depiction of an era of music.”

―Joseph Dalton, Times Union

“Fascinating.... Feels like an earlier part of American musical history… The book is a brave, revealing, and touching enterprise.”

―James Primosch, composer

If Daron Hagen weren’t a composer, he would be one hell of a writer. He IS one hell of a writer. I already knew that, from the too few times I’ve visited his blog. But I finally got around to reading his memoir, “Duet with the Past,” last month, and I have to say, it is one of the best-written books, fiction or nonfiction, I’ve read in a while.

I would think it would be an absorbing read for anyone who would chance to open the front cover, but it is especially compelling for somebody with a deep interest in mid-century American art music. Not that Hagen is of that generation – he’s only a few years older than I am – but his experiences as a student, composer, and copyist brought him into contact with an astonishing array of legends and luminaries of the era, including Leonard Bernstein, Ned Rorem, David Diamond, Virgil Thomson, Gian Carlo Menotti, Lukas Foss, Eugene Ormandy (and Philadelphia’s associate conductor William Smith), Roger Sessions, Milton Babbitt, Jack Beeson, and Aaron Copland – as well as Joan Tower, David Del Tredici, Michael Torke, and Aaron Jay Kernis, among others.

The writers he’s known and collaborated with include Paul Muldoon and Gore Vidal. My friend and colleague, Kile Smith, gets a few mentions (Hagen once worked with him at the Fleisher Collection at the Free Library of Philadelphia), as does pianist Hugh Sung (who I finally just met for the first time a few weeks ago). The ghost of Marc Blitzstein, with whom Hagen in his youth is said to have borne some resemblance, also frequently rears his head.

All fascinating, of course, but Hagen’s story is even more riveting to me personally, as it seems he and I have lived parallel lives in a flabbergasting number of ways. Although I was never conscious of our paths having actually crossed, they must have. There are just too many shared interests and common hang-outs. You might say ours is a story of near-misses and there-but-for-the-grace-of-Gods.

Hagen arrived in Philadelphia only a few years before I did, to study at the Curtis Institute of Music. My college girlfriend worked at Curtis. He and I both like reading and books and are viscerally affected by the power of the written word. I worked in at least six bookstores in Philadelphia, one of them managed by Rorem’s niece. (Rorem was one of Hagen’s principal teachers.) One of the book shops I owned was within a block of Curtis. We’ve both amassed sizable libraries.

We both lived in the same neighborhood (as did, later, Jennifer Higdon), although perhaps at different times. But if you live in Center City Philadelphia, an expanse of less than 30 blocks and perhaps ten blocks up and down, you pretty much see everyone.

We were both regulars at the late, lamented neighborhood greasy spoon, Little Pete’s, on South 17th Street above Locust (right around the corner from Curtis), and Hagen totally nails the vibe, recollecting the smell of burnt coffee, the lime-green wrap-around counters, and the drunks nodding over their eggs in the wee hours of the morning. One of those drunks could very well have been me, on the way home from McGlinchey’s, prior to standing on a street corner with a friend and conversing volubly until the skies began to lighten. I read a substantial portion of “Les Miserables” there, and D.H. Lawrence’s “Women in Love,” and Edmund Wilson’s “Axel’s Castle,” the letters of Abelard and Heloise, and a charming book of essays, “Dreamthorp,” by Alexander Smith.

We also both clearly love classic movies. Hagen grew up in a suburb of Milwaukee, within driving distance of a faded movie palace turned into a repertory house, and he writes lovingly of his experiences there. If I were to do the same, it would involve two or three such theaters I haunted during my teens and 20s.

Our upbringing was also eerily similar, with artistically-inclined, nurturing mothers and fathers ill-equipped to manage their impulses. I have to say, I was much luckier than Hagen was with how my situation turned out, as my mother got my sister and me away before any lasting physical or psychological damage could occur. Nevertheless, Hagen and I are both prone to nostalgia (though it’s possible I may be the more sentimental of the two of us) and melancholy. We’ve both gone on some legendary benders and stared into the abyss.

So, yes, perhaps the reason the book connected so well with me is because I identified so personally with many of his experiences.

Unlike me, Hagen managed to harness all those disparate elements and will himself into an artist of merit. Talent is great, but you also need drive, and Hagen’s work ethic, in all weather, is to be admired. He’s managed to build up quite the catalogue, especially, but by no means exclusively, as a successful opera composer. I’ve had several of his pieces in my library for years, and played a few on the radio. I could swear, at some point, I may even have introduced a concert broadcast of his opera “Amelia.”

Since finishing the book, I’ve ordered his four commercially-available operas (“Shining Brow,” “Vera,” “Bandanna,” and “Orson Rehearsed”). I am sorry so many of his major works have yet to be recorded. I would love to hear those he describes as Korngoldian – even his overture to “Much Ado About Nothing,” written for the Philadelphia Orchestra, which earned him much scorn for being so frothy and allegedly lacking in substance. I assure you, Hagen has composed plenty of substance. Are composers not allowed to enjoy themselves once in a while? Tragically, the handwritten manuscript for a “Much Ado” opera he had been at work on was left in his room at the Hotel Warwick (across the street from Little Pete’s) as he fled Philly in humiliation, and the opera is now lost.

But no matter what adversity life tossed his way, Hagen just kept churning out music. I honestly don’t know how he’s done it, subletting his living spaces (and with them, apparently, his adorable, impressively long-lived cat, Clara, always there to nuzzle him on his battered return, who made it to 24 and enjoyed the first year of Hagen’s happy, stabilizing marriage) to take off to Europe or for residencies at artists’ colonies, burning through all his money, but somehow always landing on his feet with a plum commission and finally finding domestic happiness in Rhinebeck, New York, near Bard College (where I travel every summer for the Bard Music Festival), in a quaint Victorian home with his loving family. (I have eaten at the Tivoli restaurant he mentions in the book, where he and Joan Tower dine.)

He's not afraid to share his missteps, but if nothing else his life story demonstrates that even when you bottom-out, if you just hang in there, things might work out all right in the end. Talent and hard work are important, but luck, or chance, if you will, will always be a deciding factor. Life after all is a game of Chutes and Ladders. Hagen’s similes are less trite than mine, but he would be the first to admit he’s waded through quicksand on occasion, sometimes because of bad choices, sometimes not, only to have been lifted on the wings of angels. (His wife is composer, vocalist, and visual artist Gilda Lyons.)

By coincidence, Hagen’s latest album, “The Art of Song” (recorded at Curtis with Lyons one of the singers), was just released by Naxos within the last couple of weeks. Words and poetry have always been central to Hagen’s inspiration (which likely explains, in part, why he himself is such a good writer), and opera, song, and large-scale cycles comprise a significant portion of his output. As stated in the promotional material, “Divided into four ‘life seasons,’ this richly emotional cycle embraces themes that range from the human cost of America’s politics since the Civil War; the rueful wisdom of aging, love and nostalgia; and on towards tragedy, faith and an acceptance of nature’s cycles.”

Hagen can be nostalgic and hardnosed, pensive and reckless, ugly and beautiful, vainglorious and modest. But who among us has not been?

He writes with all five senses. Proust had his madeleine; Hagen had… well, everything apparently. We’ve all had the experience of certain scents conjuring memories, but Hagen, it seems, never forgot a smell, whether it be that of a dusty curtain in an old movie house or that distinctive blend of aromas that characterize any city. You can tell he’s always been a faithful journaler, which is only one more thing to admire. (Regrettably, my own very sporadic attempts have never made it past a few entries.)

He also has a good mind for similes and metaphors and all those tools of master storytellers and literary artists that make their work that much more engaging and enriching.

Not that the subject matter is always delightful. Hagen can be brutally honest, and it’s not always pretty. But in his writing, as in his music, he is dedicated to serving truth. He does so with enviable recall, a powerful command of observation, often great sensitivity, and a poetic disposition.

In the interviews I’ve seen, he’s as thoughtful and well-spoken in life as he is on paper.

There are plenty of samples of his music posted online and a lot of recorded interviews. You’d be doing yourself a favor by getting to know Daron Hagen.

—Classic Ross Amico, 2023

Until I read his memoir, I knew absolutely nothing about Daron Hagen. I discovered that he is an American composer celebrated for vocal music, including a dozen operas, choral works, and many songs. Yet somehow I had never heard a note of any of it, or the large body of chamber works and five symphonies he has also produced. Although I was acquainted with his principal composition teachers, Ned Rorem (at Philadelphia's Curtis Institute) and David Diamond (at New York's Juilliard School), I don't recall that either of them mentioned him to me. So for almost three decades, we seem to have passed like ships in the night.

Hagen is pictured on the cover of Duet with the Past in a monochrome photograph. His gaze is the quintessence of Upper Midwestern amiability. There is nothing bland, however, about the recollections of his family life. Born in Milwaukee, he spent his childhood and youth in the near western suburb of New Berlin, itself not far from the inner suburb of West Allis, the birthplace of another notable Wisconsin musical personality Liberace.

Born in 1961, Hagen was the youngest of three sons, or so he thought until his mother told him of a firstborn son, who bore the same name but who had survived for only four days in 1960 before dying of a congenital heart defect. "You must live for both of you," she charged him on the day she died in 1982, a seemingly heavy emotional burden to bequeath to a 20-year old. When his parents had married in 1951, his father, Earl Arthur Hagen, was still in Law School at the University of Wisconsin on the GI Bill while his mother, Gwen Leone (nee Johnson) who had ambitions to be a writer, worked as an advertising copywriter in Chicago where she also did radio work. For many years, Hagen's father commuted to Chicago from Monday through Friday while his mother wrote at home. Daron was very close to his mother, yet both parents had tempestuous personalities which, together with his father's bi-polar depression (a genetic predisposition, apparently) and alcoholism, led to an abusive family life for both him and his elder brothers, Kevin and Britt (both of whom predeceased him).

Music, he says, called him at age 10. Although he studied piano and a few band instruments, the focus of his musical interest settled on composing. He recalls the formative influence of several teachers in high school and Milwaukee's Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, where he took additional classes. His Suite for a Lonely City attracted attention at its premiere in 1978. Hagen's mother sent a score and recording to Helen Coates, Leonard Bernstein's personal secretary, which caused Bernstein to reply that "your son is the Real Thing, a born composer. I think he should come to New York to study at Juilliard with my friend, David Diamond." However, Hagen had enrolled at the University of Wisconsin and studied there for a year before arranging an audition at Juilliard. He amusingly recounts his spectacularly unsuccessful Juilliard audition, which ended when the jury advised him to "return to Wisconsin and develop your technique." But he chose to apply and was accepted by the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he studied with Ned Rorem. His life at Curtis and his subsequent return to Juilliard to study with Diamond are entertainingly recounted, as are his first encounters with Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony which have long been summer retreats for composers. He also became a skilled copyist, which helped support him in his freelancing days while living in the artistic ferment of New York in the eighties. In 1988 he moved into a sublet on St. Mark's Place in the East Village and lived La vie de la boheme. He moved to Paris in 1989 and then to Venice, but returned to the same apartment and remained until 1991, when he decided to move past a very self-destructive period and traded the East Village for 74th and Amsterdam in order to re-dedicate himself to composing.

It was "the beginning of something", as he titles Chapter 15. An opera on the life of Frank Lloyd Wright provided his first major commission. The finished work, Shining Brow, received its world premiere on April 21, 1993 from the Madison Opera. "It was my first taste of what the life of a viable opera composer might be like, and I loved it", he writes. And in opera and music for voice he has found his greatest success. He had turned a corner, eventually withdrawing almost all his original works composed before 1986. We learn about a composer's quest for commissions and what it takes to keep them coming in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. In Hagen's case, it sometimes meant freelancing, including a brief stint at bartending when money was short.

His personal odyssey continued simultaneously. We learn about a spectacularly bad marriage that lasted for five years, how he met his future second wife in 2001 and of a successful marriage with two sons, divided between Dutchess County, New York, and Nicaragua. This personal information unfolds together with the progress of his creative career. He recounts, often in agonizing detail, the deaths of his father, and brothers, as he does with the deaths of friends and teachers: Bernstein, Diamond, and Lukas Foss.

Some of the narrative resembles "and then I wrote..." But Hagen summons scenes, events and personalities skillfully. The later chapters are very often nostalgic, and in lesser hands might lapse into sentimentality. He comes close at times but has the wit to veer away by tempering it with cold self-examination. A list of compositions, a selective discography, and an index are included.

What would a review be without some Beckmesserei? On p. 10, Hagen mistakenly has his Norwegian ancestors arriving at Ellis Island in 1887. That facility, however, did not open until 1892, so their point of debarkation was in fact Castle Garden in lower Manhattan. Otherwise, the book is error-free, although some oft-repeated hackneyed expressions could have been pruned to advantage. Nevertheless it will appeal to anyone interested in the personalities of American music across the millennial divide.

— Reviewed by Dennis Rooney, ARSC Journal (Vol. 51, Issue 1), Spring 2020

SHINING BROW (Opera in Two Acts and a Prologue)

“From the recording [on Naxos Records featuring the Buffalo Philharmonic] it is easy to hear why this opera has caught on with audiences; it is suitably dramatic and moves forward with an inexorability that keeps the listener captivated. About Hagen, The New York Times commented once that he "has a gift for the big tune," and this is true; he's not afraid of melody and understands its value in keeping the action moving forward and focusing the ear. Hagen also has a gift for interesting orchestration that supports the story and adds color and also utilizes purely instrumental passages that are, in themselves, well done and are indivisibly linked to the story. Shining Brow is not made up of wall-to-wall singing, as so many post-modern operas are. Falletta's command of the Buffalo Philharmonic is indispensible to the success of the recording; the orchestra never covers the singers, but comes in with authority in passages where they are the main event. There is only a summary provided with no libretto, but if you speak English, you won't need one. The singing and diction are so clear throughout that everything is easily understood, not a common attribute with recorded operas in English. Some of Hagen's most inspired writing attaches to those scenes where Wright is off on a tangent, expressing his bold visions about his given profession. This naturally goes toward character building and not toward developing the plot, and many composers would find such material boring and not linger on it, but not Hagen, who understands that power of the man is principal motivation for the ultimately awful things that happen to him. Shining Brow is a compelling, substantive, and strong entry into the canon of American opera, and Naxos' recording of it speaks volumes about just how vital and fresh opera has become in the twenty first century.”

—Allmusic.com

"Shining Brow is one of the most important American operas of the past decade. Don't miss it."

—John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune, 7/27/97

"Hagen skirts the ahistoricism of popular Broadway styles without throwing in contemporary distractions simply to show the flag."

—Philip Kennicott, The St. Louis Post Dispatch, 7/31/97

"From the evidence of Shining Brow, the Milwaukee-born Hagen is a composer born to write operas."

—John Von Rhein, American Record Guide, July/August 1993

"Mr. Hagen is a wizard at ornamentation, at form without function, at rhapsodic revellings in rhapsodic Strauss, at A-minor monologues, at perky orchestration, at blues and hymn and barbershop."

—Paul Griffiths, The New Yorker, 5/17/93

"Hagen's music makes no errors. And like the stronger stretches in the theater and concert music of, say, Dominick Argento and John Harbison, he sustains the idea of non-minimalist tonality as a still-viable medium. At one point, two characters meet for a painful reconciliation; they stand motionless and leave it to the orchestra to pour out softly Hagen's most moving music. The show was an event."

—Leighton Kerner, The Village Voice, 5/5/93

"[Shining Brow] is a daring venture on the part of several bright young talents. The entire enterprise exuded intelligence. Mr. Hagen has a gift for the big tune, and he serves up some beauties in the choruses, evoking the blues and a Colonial hymn. Mr. Hagen is most interesting when he assaults the ear roundly or falls squarely back on tradition. The musical texture is well varied and consistently engaging. http://daronhagen.com. One scene in particular, evoking a disastrous news conference held by Wright on Christmas 1911 to explain his relationship to Cheney despite his continuing marriage to Catherine, was utterly brilliant."

—James R. Oestreich, The New York Times, 4/28/93

"Shining Brow deserves the Pulitzer Prize for three reasons: It is a quintessentially American opera (you won't find such a ravishingly beautiful hymn to work and craft in any German, Italian, or French opera). Its libretto is unusually inventive and poetic, rich in repetitive motifs and allusions. The music is by turns soaringly lyrical and wrenchingly dramatic. More to the point, it is that rarest of all finds: an enduring piece of contemporary repertoire."

—Jacob Stockinger, The Capital Times, Madison, WI, 5/6/93

PIANO VARIATIONS

"Virginia Eskin took charge — literally at times — in the solo piano selections. Her flamboyant approach, complete with mugging at the audience and pages of music thrown to the winds, especially suited Hagen's rambunctious [piano] variations. They seemed relentless in their assault on the instrument and the ears."

—Andrew L. Pincus, The Berkshire Eagle, 3/18/08

"Hagen's Piano Variations [are] an imaginative set of interlocking variations on a pitch class set (d a b b-flat in two octaves). Utilizing a variety of registral combinations and a sort of Lisztian flair for expansion, Hagen's piece was right up [Virginia] Eskin's alley, taking an enormous amount of energy and compressing it into a very short amount of time. With such markings as "feroce," " esitando (hestatingly)," and "nevrotico," and a variety of explicit transitional gestures—including a very funny but exciting usage of a funk/rock repition in the single-string register—Hagen has presented the listening public with a piece that is slowly becoming more popular, and rightly so. Combined with a player that can pull off its virtuosic requirements without overt strain the piece shines as a great middle for any modern recital."

—Oren Vinogradov, The Llama Ledger of Simon's Rock, 3/26/08

 PIANO TRIOS NO 1-4 (NAXOS CD)

Daron Hagen…has a very heartfelt quality in his Piano Trio No. 3, “Wayfaring Stranger”…It is very touching and directly affecting. Anyone who thinks that modern American composers do not write music that, without condescending to any sloppy emotions, goes straight to the heart should listen to this work. The equally attractive Piano Trio No. 4, “Angel Band”…has a strong Appalachian feel to it. It, too, is very moving and, at times, ecstatic. The Finsterra Trio delivers what sound like definitive performances…There is a real joy of discovery here… © 2012 Crisis Magazine Read complete review

—Robert R. Reilly, Crisis Magazine, May 2012

Four Piano Trios by Daron Hagen (b. 1961), the first two dating from the mid-80s, the second two written in the last few years. Hagen studied with David Diamond at Juilliard in the 80s, a time when change was in the air but pressures and awards committees were still happily pushing their pedantic weight around. As may be seen from the two student pieces recorded here, Mr Hagen acquitted himself well in that thorny arena, writing impeccably crafted music harmonically turgid enough to the ruling forces of the time but uncompromisingly musical anyway. He seems today all too happy to embrace tonality unabashedly now that his career and the times allow him to comfortably do so.

Trio 1 (1984), subtitled Trio Concertante, is built with the “major-minor third” set so ubiquitous in the music of classical atonality. In three movements of structurally quasi-classical bent (a rondo, a song form, and a passacaglia) the piece reflects Diamond’s influence in its favoring of classical structures, and its opaque harmonic language was academically acceptable enough to gain the piece Columbia’s Bearns Prize in 1985—but it is considerably more romantic than what one might normally expect from what usually comes out of that competition (at least in those days).

Trio 2 (1986), subtitled J’entends after a Nadia Boulanger quote (“I hear a music without beginning or end”), is in four movements; and all point toward the last, which contains a melody toward the end that served to generate all of the previous events. The first movement rondo juxtaposes a variety of contrasting ideas, and eventually became the first movement of his Second Symphony. II is said to have been inspired by Degas’s ‘Interior—the Rape’, though Hagen’s explanation for that seems pretty obscure. A very brief scherzo follows containing a shadow of Beethoven’s Grosse Fuge. The closing Quodlibet offers a convincing summation. The piece won the Barlow Prize for chamber music in 1987.

Come the 21st century, Hagen, like so many of his colleagues, bids farewell to the dissonances of his youth and finds himself feeling comfortable writing expressive tonal music. Trio 3 (2006), subtitled Wayfaring Stranger, contrasts variations on the folk tune with a gentle opening Mazurka and a quirky Fandango, with a beautiful Aubade acting as introduction to the final variations set. The piece’s unusual structure results in a dreamlike extended fantasy, meditative and quite striking.

Trio 4 (2007), subtitled Angel Band, is the most recent work on the program. Like the Trio of the previous year, this one is also based on a folk tune—a gospel hymn—and like the previous work it brings a fresh approach to variation form, combining it with the idea of a biographical tone poem on the life of backwoods Kentucky violin prodigy Joyce Ritchie Strosahl, who eventually founded a music festival in Yakima, Washington (the Finisterra Trio hails from Seattle). The piece opens with four variations on the tune (here representing youth and innocence), continues with a dreamy waltz (adulthood), a clangorous rondo (life experience), a noble Chaconne (maturity and wisdom), and finally more variations on ‘Angel Band’ overlaid with material from the previous movements (the recollections and summaries of old age). It is absorbing and effective. Both of the recent Trios contribute nicely to the contemporary Americanist chamber music literature. The collection as a whole is imposing and confirms Hagen as a significant voice. The Finisterras play brilliantly, though engineering is a bit close.

—Allen Gimbel, American Record Guide, January 2011

In a perverse way, new music, that is, contemporary classical music (or whatever pet name you would like to give it), is a non-plastic art form that exists without an audience, or, at least, without an audience comparable to that of any popular medium. In that sense, much of new music is like trees falling in forests, music meant either to impress colleagues with its lack of capitulation to custom or music based on arcane concepts known only to theory geeks. Sometimes, therefore, new music resembles the inbred procreating with the inbred. However, there are happy exceptions to the dreary rule; here is a CD that provides a sublime compromise between the elite snobbery of academic music and the facile music of Minimalists like Philip Glass.

Daron Hagen, notable, among other accomplishments, for being the composer of no fewer than seven operas, presents his complete piano trios in this elegantly produced Naxos release. If this collection of his work is any indication of what we have in store for us in the future, he’s one for the history books and a candidate for my composers’ Hall of Fame.

Piano Trio No. 3, “Wayfaring Stranger” (2006), is based on the hymn Poor Wayfaring Stranger. As we enter Hagen’s ethereally harmonious world, the music blooms into a gorgeous swell of tonalities yet retains the somber, pensive mood of the hymn. I suppose variations on hymns tend to be evocative because there is a built-in gravitas and transcendence to so many folk melodies of the religious, work, or fable variety. But few such variations on the familiar achieve the unfamiliar results that Hagen here achieves. After a more or less recognizable adaptation of the hymn, Hagen’s “Fandango” movement opens mysteriously with pizzicato against the piano and violin runs followed by a somewhat angrier version of the hymn that is insistent and raw. The fourth movement returns to the same hymn, restating a nostalgic sense of grief and loss along with a rich, tonal, romantic-sounding passage, then a restatement of the “Fandango” movement with harmonics on the strings and a quiet piano ballad. A blissful theme on violin with an underpinning of block piano chords leads to another surprising restatement of the basic hymn theme. Along the way, there’s plenty of meat for the gifted members of the trio, whose performance seems fully committed and intense. The result is richly romantic without falling into easy sentimentality. The final reiteration of the hymn is poignant, as if a voice is stilled and yet continues in perpetuity. It is important to note that there are moments in this piece that are so moving, almost breathtaking, that I can accept Ned Rorem’s homage to Hagen: “To say that Daron Hagen is a remarkable musician is to underrate him. Daron is music.” What would otherwise seem hyperbolic is apparently self-evident.

In his earlier, more academic Piano Trio No. 1, “Trio Concertante” (1984), the 20-years younger Hagen demonstrates a somewhat less self-assured approach. Unfortunately, new music over the years, especially in the 1960s through 1980s, has assembled its own vocabulary of musical clichés; besides atonality or seriality, which can be clichés in and of themselves, there is randomness, disparity, and the deliberate and often clumsy avoidance of the familiar. That even Hagen’s early work avoids many of these pitfalls is all the more impressive. An example is the movement titled “Ritornello-Romanza,” where Hagen’s tapestries and blends are, at times, transcendental. The third movement deconstructs into a jaunty dance that travels into a complex development section with strings against piano chords and a return of the opening statement from the first movement, a theme that refers to late Beethoven.

No less precocious is Hagen’s Piano Trio No. 2, “J’entends” (1986), which begins with a freewheeling skip and jump theme, then moves into a playful violin episode with bending pitches and rhythms. After a second movement, “Interior—After Degas,” inspired by a Degas painting, and the sequential scherzo, a final movement, “Quodlibet,” creates a pastiche of what has preceded it. The music erupts into the central theme, a very exciting cello solo, followed by the emulating violin with strongly bowed chords, ending mysteriously with a clock-chime fade.

The final offering is a return to Hagen’s more recent romanticism, which seems to demonstrate that Hagen is now less inclined to prove himself and more inclined to be himself. Piano Trio No. 4, “Angel Band” (2007), is also based on a hymn. The second movement begins with a violin solo with an underpinning of piano and cello morphing into a waltz on piano against harmonics on violin. The resulting haunting, ghostlike waltz with an expansive theme played on the violin proves shimmering and profound. The third movement follows with a rushing, pressed melody with roughly plucked strings and a driving tempo, then the return of the hymn theme cleverly reintroduced subterraneously. The result is jazzy and retro. The same hymn theme is reprised over a kind of walking bass with piano chords and taken over by the cello. The fifth movement is a finale with yet another restatement of the Angel Band hymn, marked by Hagen’s hallmark apotheosis of rich harmony and exalted interweaving of themes and sonorities. All in all, it’s a deeply emotional work, accessibly emotional though not excessively emotional.

The four trios make a neat package, two from the 1980s and two more recent works. That I prefer the more recent works is neither here nor there, since the two less-recent works show us the other side of the composer’s mind—a right brain, left brain duality that only adds to Hagen’s fascination. The fact remains that in all four trios there are spine-tingling, hair-on-the-back-of-the-neck-standing-up moments of sheer astonishment, greatly enhanced by the virtuosic playing of the Finisterra Trio.

—David Wolman , Fanfare, January 2011

It’s been a big year for Daron Hagen. His opera Amelia was premiered by the Seattle Opera, and then there’s this Naxos release of his piano trios. The trios represent two periods: the 1980s (Nos. 1 & 2) and the 2000s (Nos. 3 & 4). This separation provides a broad perspective on Hagen’s voice, and reflects his fluency in many musical dialects. He convincingly moves between the tonally sublime and biting angularity. The Finisterra Piano Trio, with its prowess and finesse, deserves every second of your attention.

—Daniel Gilliam, National Public Radio, December 2010

CD of the Week 

The Finisterra Trio performs the complete piano trios of Milwaukee-born composer Daron Hagen, including “Wayfaring Stranger”, “Trio Concertante”, “J'entends”, and “Angel Band”.

—Sterling Beeaff, KBAQ, November 2010

Composer Daron Hagen, a student of Ned Rorem, is eclectic in the current American fashion but manages to attach his various stylistic influences to a rigorously conceived core based on some manipulation of a small set of pitches. He is best known for vocal works, but these chamber pieces showcase his style attractively. Hagen is unusual in that he can mix music infused with American vernacular elements—here, the folk hymns “Wayfaring Stranger” and “Angel Band, ” but also classic blues and even bluegrass music—with extended-tonal idioms that have nothing to do with folk and popular music. Even the most folkish piece of all, the Piano Trio No. 3, “Wayfaring Stranger,” which includes two different sets of variations on the hymn, also includes an angular mazurka, a fandango, and an aubade as an introduction to the finale. The highly expressive feel holds it all together. The compact Piano Trio No. 1, “Trio Concertante,” of 1984 has no vernacular elements at all; nor does the Piano Trio No. 2, “J’entends,” based on Nadia Boulanger’s supposed final words, “J’entends une musique sans commencement et sans fin.” This is perhaps the least persuasive piece, presented by Hagen with the argument that he is “attempting to manipulate time the way a visual artist manipulates space,” a statement too general to mean much. The final Piano Trio No. 4, “Angel Band,” however, is gorgeous, and its programmatic use of the hymn material to depict stages in the life of the work’s dedicatee, Kentucky-born violinist Joyce Ritchie Strosahl, is clearly audible. The Finisterra Trio, of international origins and based in Washington state, does well with Hagen’s lush idiom. Recommended as an example of academic composition that manages a broader appeal.

—James Manheim, AllMusic.com, October 2010

Daron Hagen is a prolific American composer whose music was until now, completely unknown to me. Educated at The Curtis Institute and at the Juilliard School, Hagen has an impressive catalogue that ranges from operas to songs, to chamber and orchestral works. He has taught on the faculties of several prestigious institutions and his music has been commissioned and performed by many of the major artists and ensembles active today.

The 2006 trio, subtitled “Wayfaring Stranger” was doubly inspired by the composer’s late brother and by a trip through the grounds of the Civil War battle of Bull Run. While passing through the historic site, the composer heard the American folk hymn and was inspired by the tune. All four movements have some element of the tune in their fabric, but it is in the beautifully lyrical second movement that the tune is most prominent. At times quasi-impressionistic, at others rather shamelessly romantic, this brief but substantial four movement work is full of contrasting colors, such that the ear is always piqued with interest. The Finisterra trio delivers a confident and well balanced performance.

The “Trio Concertant” is much more academic, composed while Hagen was a student of David Diamond. Considerably more serious than the folksy third trio, this student work is more of a challenge to the ear. More dissonant, it is obviously geared toward pleasing the jury more than the audience. Having said that, it is filled with creative gestures and original thoughts. In spite of the generally tangy harmonies and angular rhythms, there are lyrical moments of repose, and these moments are what save the work from the ivory tower.

Inspired by the last words of Nadia Boulanger (“I hear a music without beginning or end.”), Hagen’s Second Trio from 1986 is both angular and lyrical, dissonant and melodic. Even though some of the terse harmonies are a bit challenging to the ear, the use of intricate counterpoint and some wonderfully virtuoso writing for violin harmonics in the second movement make this work a fascinating listen.

Perhaps my favorite of the program here is the Fourth Trio, “Angel Band” from 2007. Based on a blue grass hymn tune and further inspired by Appalachian folk instruments, the work is a tribute to Joyce Richie Stosahl, a violinist and impresario who grew up in Kentucky during the depression and went on to have a remarkable career as a soloist and orchestral musician. Set in five movements, the work is full of folksy color while still maintaining Hagen’s unique harmonic voice. It is evident though to these ears that the older Mr Hagen gets, the more lyrical his music becomes. Some of the melodies in this, the newest of the works presented here are downright gorgeous; a trait that sharply contrasts with the more academically oriented pieces from the 1980s.

This is one of those discs that present both challenges and delights. And it is a happy occasion to report that the Finisterra Trio perform with a deft hand. The trio is obviously committed to the music and they have a fine sense of ensemble and balance. It is difficult to comment on interpretation when these works have had little recorded exposure, so I will simply say that these are convincing performances that sell the works quite well. They definitely merit repeated listening.

As for Hagen, this is my first exposure to his music, and with all first hearings, my first tendency is to ask “do I wish to hear more?” The answer is definitely yes. If Mr Hagen can compose music this diverse for just three instruments, it will be a very exciting adventure to hear what he does with a full orchestra. Viva Naxos for their continuing commitment to bringing out the best music, whether it be widely known or not!

—Kevin Sutton, MusicWeb International, October 2010

American composer Daron Hagen (b. 1961) may not be universally recognized for his chamber music. The recent release of his Complete Piano Trios (Naxos 8.559657) may do much to rectify that. There are four trios written between 1984–2007. Each has its own character. I must say I do quite like the third, based on the folk melody “The Wayfaring Stranger.” His music is lyrical, “neo” more than avant garde, idiomatic and well thought out.It's the sort of music one knows will take quite a few listens to absorb fully and before such work-pleasure is complete, some ultimate or semi-ultimate judgement will not be on the personal program. At least that's how it is with me.

This is music that is “serious” in the same way that Aaron Copland's chamber music was. It is not given to pleasantries. There is a depth to these pieces I've yet to fully plummet. I will say that the performances by the Finisterra Trio seem marvelous to me. Detailed and passionate interpretations prevail.

I do recommend this recording. I reserve final judgement on the music itself however, until I've lived with it for a longer time. One thing is clear. Daron Hagen's Piano Trios are formidable works.

—Gapplegate Music Review, September 2010

I played Daron Hagen’s ‘Wayfaring Stranger’ four times yesterday, thinking that this had to be one of the most beautiful and moving modern piano trios I have come across. Composed in memory of his brother, the third piano trio marked his untimely death came shortly after Hagen had written a duo piece for him using the hymn, Poor Wayfaring Stranger. Born in 1961, a graduate of the Curtis Institute and Juilliard School of Music, Hagen has become a highly prolific composer in many genres, his works being fruitful as award winners. Today his career also combines concert appearances as both pianist and conductor. If I described the Third as rather British of the early 20th century, this is still a very personal document being both tonal and modern. Composed in 2006, it is the disc’s opening track, and we leap back twenty-two years to the First trio coming out of Hagen’s student days when he was working with David Diamond. It could well be the work of a different composer from mainstream 20th century radical modernism. Atonal, with tricky rhythms to occupy the listener’s mind, it does not, for me, stand out from the crowd, but like the Second, composed two years later, it is well crafted, interplay between instruments creating fresh sonorities. Back to the present time for the Fourth, completed in 2007, and subtitle ‘Angel Band’ having used the gospel hymn of that name for its inspiration. It was also with the story of Joyce Ritchie Strosahl in mind, who against all odds became a famous American violinist. Like the Third, its speaks in a language readily understood by the wider listening public. Commissioned by the Finisterra Trio, whose connection with Strosahl is explained in the booklet, their playing throughout is highly persuasive and adds to Hagen’s standing as a composer. Please buy it for the Third Trio, the engineers having produced excellently balanced sound.

—David Denton, David's Review Corner, September 2010

RAPTURE AND REGRET: MUSIC OF DARON HAGEN [MSR Classics, 2022]

"[Hagen's music is] lyrical and mostly tonal, with dissonant and polytonal diversions; no trends are followed. His vocal writing is nuanced and richly detailed, though it feels completely natural... This is satisfying and endlessly rewarding music from one of America’s leading composers of vocal music. I’ll be returning to this again and again."

―Faro, American Record Guide [January/February 2022]

"The combination of soprano, cello, and piano is a most effective one in Rapture and Regret... The passages for soprano and pizzicato cello are particularly touching at the end of the first song... Hagen captures the essence of these emotions beautifully. It helps that the performance is so on point: Ariana Wyatt’s laser-focused and expressive soprano, Benjamin Wyatt’s superb cello (a vocalist in itself), and Cowden’s simply beautiful piano playing (there is real sensitivity here). It would be remiss of me not to mention Wyatt’s supreme control at the very close in his high, sustained note—superb... All the pieces are billed as world premiere recordings, adding substantial musical value to this disc... This is a great introduction to the vocal and pianistic output of Daron Hagen, brilliantly produced and recorded."

―Colin Clarke, Fanfare [January/February 2022]

"This is a lovely collection of [Daron Hagen’s] music that is well performed and recorded with excellent balances between the performers. MSR’s inclusion of texts is another asset. Strongly recommended."

―Henry Fogel, Fanfare [January/February 2022]

"A seductive rabbit hole of otherworldly music has been created within “Rapture and Regret,” a recording featuring a compilation of the music of composer Daron Hagen... More than a usual listening experience, the recording results in an extraordinary adventure in music and song, inviting us to explore the “over the top” genius of Daron Hagen.”

―Joel C. Thompson, Cherry Grove Music Review [October 2021]

21st Century Songs of Daron Hagen (Naxos CD, 2020)

I think Mr Hag[e]n is at his best in vocal writing, which is not surprising given his background. If you’ve been somewhat hesitant about his non-vocal work, as I have been, this will be a welcome revelation. Performances are good.

—Allen Gimbel, American Record Guide, May 2018

The soprano starts in a suitably melancholy Schubertian idiom, after a piano introduction that teases the original “Leiermann” piano part. When the tenor comes in, he intones a ghostly melody that outlines the intervals of a diminished seventh chord. The music builds grippingly and ventures afield harmonically, with the soprano veering into hair-raising sprechgesang on the line “And the dogs growl/Around the old man.”

—Joshua Rosenblum, Opera News, May 2018

There is much very good music to hear on this program. And what of the performances? I will say straight off that pianist Laura Ward leaves nothing to be desired given the parameters of the works.The seven song “Phantoms of Myself” (2000) with soprano Gilda Lyons is in performance and as Art Song stunning. The cycle covers a 24-hour day via the selected poem-texts of Susan Griffin, feminist and poetic strength. The cycle was initially commissioned for first performance by Ashley Putnam. Ms. Lyons brings her own magic to the songs.

—Grego Applegate Edwards, Gapplegate Classical-Modern Music Review, February 2018

The magic starts with the first and longest track, the first of six songs that make up [Hagen’s] multilingual After Words, in which Justine Aronson and Joseph Gaines engage in an imagined conversation inspired by Schubert’s Winterreise on the nature of art and love. Along the way Hagen casually evokes sexy hints of Schubert, Broadway and serialism, before the music bursts into innocent lyrical love. There is no let-up in quality with the Four Dickinson Songs, where Hagen catches the sparkle in each poem, including an extraordinary ‘Wild Nights’, and delivers its punchline with a musical solution that turns out to be unexpected—and right. The Four Irish Folk Songs briefly suggest Britten’s folk-song settings but focus more on richness than purity. Hagen’s florid setting of ‘Danny Boy’ as sung by Kelly Ann Bixby and Suzanne DuPlantis is quite sublime.

—© 2018 Gramophone Read complete review on Gramophone

“The American-born, Daron Hagen, is probably today’s most prolific composer of songs with 350 published, the present disc offering five 21st Century song cycles. Born in 1961, a graduate of the Curtis Institute and Juilliard School of Music, Hagen has become a highly prolific composer in many genres, his natural affinity to vocal music having its basis in melodic invention that is always interesting. Here he is in the world of song cycles, their basic format being the famous song cycles of Central Europe in the 19th century now seen through the eyes of modern America. Hagen also a career as a pianist, which gives him the ability to create keyboard scores that build the musical pictures the words suggest. The literary aspects cover a wide range of sources, from German poets in After Words; a mix of Americana in Songs of Experience, and the New York poet, Susan Griffin, for Phantoms of Myself. They are essentially thought provoking before we reach the rusticity of the Four Irish Folk Songs, and the sad words of Emily Dickinson. We have the texts for most of the tracks in the accompanying booklet, which helps focus ears on the singer’s diction. Hagen has invited the Philadelphia-based Lyric Fest, the organisation who commissioned After Words and the Four Dickinson Songs, to engage the internationally established singers to perform on the disc. They are the sopranos, Justine Aronson, Kelly Ann Bixby and Gilda Lyons; the mezzo, Suzanne DuPlatis, who forms part of the duet in Four Irish Songs; the baritone, Daniel Teadt in Songs of Experience, while tenor Joseph Gaines brings an English quality to After Words. The presence of the composer brings a special accreditation to the performances.

—David Denton, David's Review Corner, November 2017

Daron Hagen, estadounidense nacido en 1961, es un compositor de canciones prolífico. El disco presenta las primeras grabaciones de 5 ciclos compuestos entre 2000 y 2014, interpretados por los cantantes y la pianista que los estrenaron, esas “versiones originales” que, al menos durante un tiempo, nos sirven de referencia. En este caso, bien trabajadas e interpretadas. El primer ciclo, After Words, para soprano (J. Aronson) y tenor, invita por su originalidad a seguir escuchando ávidamente ya desde la canción inicial, que entrelaza versos del poema de P. Handke, que algún cinéfilo recordará de El cielo sobre Berlín, con fragmentos del de Müller que cierra Winterreise (con sus correspondientes referencias musicales). Juegan también con los textos las dos últimas canciones del ciclo, donde el tenor canta los versos de Rubén Darío y la soprano su traducción al inglés, o donde se alternan la traducción alemana de Lutero y la inglesa de la Biblia del rey Jaime, de tres versículos de Corintios I. Destacan también Songs of Experience, intimista, cantado por D. Teadt, y Four Irish Songs, para soprano (K.A. Bixby) y mezzo. Los estilos de los 6 ciclos, como suele pasar con los compositores de canción americanos, se mueven entre la sofisticación, el coqueteo con el musical o los aires tradicionales. Dicho de otra manera: como indican las notas, escuchamos en Hagen ecos de Rorem, Barber o Bernstein.

—© Sílvia Pujalte, Ritmo, May 2018

SONGBOOK: VIOLIN CONCERTO [2011]

The centerpiece [of the Buffalo Philharmonic's concert] is the world premiere of a four-movement violin concerto by Daron Hagen called "Songbook for Violin, Strings, Harp and Percussion." Touchingly, it is based on two Irish and two American folk songs that Hagen's wife sings nightly to their young son at bedtime. Complicated to describe but easy to hear, each movement is based on variations of one sort or another, opening with a song of tragedy about the 1798 Irish uprising. The violin enters with a heartwarming, slow melancholy theme, far more beautiful than the circumstances would imply, developed and expanded in intensity and seriousness over warm string support, then returning to its original simplicity, quite lovely overall. A scherzo of sorts finds the violin skittering over harp and snare drum in an animated theme called "The Praties," about the great potato famine. Driven by a winning rhythmic pulse, the music unexpectedly and satisfyingly takes a quick turn up and out. The effective slow movement based on "Over Yandro" opens with contemplative strings over which the violin limns an up-reaching, supplicating theme radiating both tenderness and angst that reaches a quiet resolution. Even more complex in structure, the Finale opens with an extended violin solo, followed by an allegro of great agitation during which the tune of the ubiquitous "Amazing Grace" falls gradually into place, piece by piece. It continues with violin variations over restless orchestral and percussion support, then virtually without warning just stops. Wholly tonal with only mild dissonance, it's music that falls pleasantly on the ear....

— Herman Trotter, Buffalo News, 14 May 2011

Daron Hagen’s “Songbook” for solo violin, strings, harp and percussion featured former concertmaster Michael Ludwig as well as BPO harpist Suzanne Thomas, BPO percussionists Mark Hodges and Dinesh Joseph, and the BPO strings. It can be dark, particularly when it quotes “The Croppy Boy,” a tragic Irish folk song. But the Irish and Appalachian folk melodies and hymns the work includes offer warmth. Hagen explained to The News that he was inspired by the songs he heard his wife singing to their baby son.

— Mary Kunz Goldman, Buffalo News, 21 February 2015

"Daron Hagen's Songbook: Concerto for Violin, String Orchestra, Harp and Percussiondoes many of the things a concerto should do, happily not in the typical places or in the usual ways. Though thematically based on pre-existing songs, some with Irish roots, no background is needed to appreciate the piece's restless sense of invention and soaring lyricism. Much of it was like Chausson's Poeme filtered through a 21st century mind, with descriptive antiphonal snare drum solos and ghostly marimba effects. The only tune I immediately picked out was "Amazing Grace" (how could you not?), artfully changed to suit the larger purpose of the piece. No, Songbook didn't depend on its songs for its effect, though the fourth movement owes a debt to Bernstein's Serenade, whose high spirits were breezily recalled amid some high-velocity pyrotechnics for the soloist.

--David Patrick Stearns, Philadelphia Inquirer, 27 February 2017

SYMPHONY NO. 4 (Chorus and Orchestra) [2009]

Daron Hagen’s Symphony No. 4: River Music, which received its world premiere, was inspired by the Hudson River from Hagen’s many commutes north on Amtrak from New York City. The 80-voice Albany Pro Musica, under the able direction of David Griggs-Janower, sang expertly on two of the three movements with texts from Mark Twain’s “Life on the Mississippi” and Walt Whitman’s “Specimen Days.”

Although Hagen had not intended the work to be site specific, the outer two movements with the chorus were very riparian in scope. The lyrical lines were long with expansive, grand gestures — very like the river is in the south part of the state, occasionally Coplandesque in its openness. The chorus sang much of the time in unison — sometimes first the women and then the men — in accessible ranges that never strained their voices. The moods were peaceful and flowing with flutes as birdsong in the third movement. The orchestra sounded luminous.

The second instrumental movement was choppy and churning, very fast and with bright brassy colors. This was supposed to be where the Hudson meets the ocean. Conductor David Alan Miller was precise with the multi-metered, rhythmic music. The orchestra was a little less even but still energized.

The orchestration was clean and Hagen chose colors admirably suited to his inspiration. His movement endings had great panache. The large crowd seemed to like the work, which besides its flowing pastoral quality was often like a sunny, warm embrace. Even better, Hagen’s work was able to hold its own with one of the great staples of the repertoire: Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1.

— Geraldine Freedman, dailygazette.com, Schenectady, NY, 9 May 2009

Receiving its premiere, Daron Hagen’s Symphony No. 4 “River Music” honored the Hudson River Quadricentennial and featured the Albany Pro Musica singing texts of Walt Whitman and Mark Twain. Though the composer said the piece reflected his struggles with the onset of middle age, the characteristics of water - surging, pooling, cascading and continually flowing onward - still came through beautifully. Midlife seems to be giving Hagen the confidence to be conservative in his writing, for his score was tuneful and old fashioned in a mid-20th century American way.

The delivery of texts was often rhythmically staggered among the vocal sections, again bringing to mind the rippling effect of water. The first movement emphasized female voices, often in a rather limited midrange, but the men had their moments in the finale, singing in a gentle and affecting whisper.

The piece was at its best in the purely orchestral sections. Birdcalls and budding flowers came through in the more tender moments, while a central movement was a gentle urban scherzo. After several boisterous themes were introduced, they piled on top of each other with clarity but never obvious cleverness. If only more composers could deliver the ASO pieces as well crafted, intelligible and concise.

— Jody Dalton, Albany Times Union, 5/10/09

ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE (Concerto for Violin, Violoncello, Piano, and Orchestra) [2007]

"Hagen's Triple Concerto is music that's easy to appreciate at first hearing, but not because its tonal grammar talks down to the listener. Like his teacher Ned Rorem (to whose elegant craftsmanship Hagen's music owes a clear debt), the latter reimagines traditional melodic and harmonic contexts in all sorts of fresh, charming and even surprising ways. "Orpheus and Eurydice" is one piece listeners who have turned off to the dreary dissonances the modernist "serial killers" (as Rorem calls them) have been cranking out for decades should welcome with open ears. It's good news that the Amelia Trio will take the concerto to other youth and college-level orchestras. Kreston, Duckles and Aizawa make a superb team, and together they dug into the piece with a gusto and polish that did the piece proud. I cannot imagine any adult orchestra doing a more thorough job than Tinkham's fine group of preprofessional, college-bound players."

—John von Rhein, The Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Illinois, 11/20/07

FLIGHT MUSIC (Song Cycle for Treble Chorus and String Quartet) [2005]

"Daron Hagen balances aching dissonance and soothing consonance so delicately in his new 'Flight Music' that its harmonies reach beyond the ears and cause the skin to tingle. These choral settings of quotations by aviatrix Amelia Earhart advance from chord to chord not so much in functional patterns of tension and release as through a spectrum of rich and subtly shifting color. The 17 women of the superb choir [the Milwaukee Choral Artists, conducted by Sharon Hansen] fine-tuned Hagen's sky-high columns of sound. They set the overtones aglow and lighted up the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist with purely musical electricity. The women sang and Hansen conducted this difficult work with utter technical command and great sympathy for its ecstatic beauty, its meditative calm and its subtly propulsive rhythm. Earhart's texts are lumpy on the page — she can be something of a flowery aesthete on the beauty of flight — but Hagen's music ennobles them. He even makes the deadpan communication of aviation sound poetic. Such a phrase as 'We will repeat this message on six-two-one-zero kilocycles' becomes at once a meditative litany and an engine of rhythm."

—Tom Strini, Milwaukee Journal Sentinal, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 11/20/05

DUO FOR VIOLIN AND CELLO [1997]

"A sophisticated, wide-ranging musical mind is at work here. Several of the movements are ruminations on music history. Though many allusions are highly specific and some of the sections are frankly modeled on historical precedents, Hagen is not merely aping or appropriating. He is responding, perhaps in the languages of other composers, but in his own voice and dialect. That voice is intelligent and warm; the new thoughts Hagen weaves about the idioms of Bartok, Bach, Copland, Ravel illuminate the older music and remind us of why we like it. This brainy formality is the foundation for attractive and friendly edifices. The dry wit and mock-innocent charm of the Ravel homage brings to mind the images of Paul Klee as much as impressionist music.

—Tom Strini, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 6/21/99

"The Duo shows us the point to which Hagen has traveled after a decade of work. This piece is even more imaginative, opening with an homage to Ravel that is very nervy indeed, considering the honoree's masterpiece in the form, which stands as a monument that every subsequent composer must face. Hagen faces it head-on with music that, while overtly Ravelian, is still very good indeed. I find the overall lyricism and invention of this work to be on a high level; the second movement — "Love Song" is an excellent example of a truly poignant melodic/harmonic sense that I suspect is a more overt window on the world of Hagen's operas than almost anything else in this collection [of Hagen string works]. The last movement is an homage to James Brown, and if the composer says so, I can't argue, but it seems far closer to Ravel than to the Hardest-Working Man in Show Business."

—Robert Carl, Fanfare Magazine, September/October 1999

"The Duo for Violin and Cello opens with an homage to Ravel's Sonata for the same combination. II is a broad, romantic "Love Song", which is further developed as IV; in between is a palindromic "Minute Scherzo" based on the same material. The Finale is another homage, this time to soul man James Brown, but here his "Gravity" becomes a syncopated figure that could have been written by Hagen himself (or Diamond or Copland, for that matter — maybe they should have been given guest appearances in the James Brown Show). The piece is very impressive and makes me curious to hear his works for string quartet."

—Gimbel, American Record Guide, September/October 1999

SYMPHONY NO. 1 (Orchestra)

"The [work is] shimmeringly appealing ... celebrating the orchestra's strings, sometimes pitting the solo violin, sometimes a string quartet and sometimes the inner circle of players against the mass of strings. The second movement is a soaring string work, mainly for violins and violas, which offers a sonic respite midway through the bright instrumental writing. The final movement, in which a fistful of ideas take place at once, impressed with its energy and its sweeping glissando at the end."

—Daniel Webster, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 4/20/91

"The adagietto from Hagen's Symphony No. 1 [played by the Oakland Symphony conducted by Michael Morgan] was a broad-lined piece for strings that was altogether lyrical. He kept one long unison melody for the violins going along viably for what seemed a couple of minutes, gradually matching other lines to it, all in the middle high string range."

—Robert Commanday, The San Francisco Chronicle, 3/3/90

"The adagietto is a spare, unmannered, elegiac essay for strings, tinged with the atmosphere of faraway hills and cloud-streaked skies."

—David Gere, The Oakland Tribune, 3/3/90

SUSURRUS (Orchestra) [2003]

"The world premiere of a specially commissioned 'encore' piece by the prodigiously gifted American composer Daron Hagen followed [Respighi's Feste romane] immediately. Titled Susurrus, this deliciously orchestrated four-minute composition was noteworthy for its ethereal delicacy. Imagine the gentlest of ticklings, administered by a feather that is more often anticipated than actually felt."

— Tim Page, The Washington Post, 8/19/03

WE’RE ALL HERE (Mixed Chorus and Ten Instruments) [2003]

"An ineffably beautiful new choral work."

— Kevin Lynch, The Capital Times, 3/24/02 

"Soul is hard to define, but you know it when you hear it. It filled our ears, our hearts ... as Present Music premiered Daron Hagen's We're All Here. Hagen's setting ... has a sense of autumnal sunset about its sentiments and colors, but 'We're All Here' is not about the dying of the light. Its golden hues glow brighter as the music passes, from murmuring embers driven by tremolo chords on the marimba to a bonfire of familial warmth at the end of the Fennimore Cooper poem, which gives the piece its name. The harmonies build to searing heat and the volume rises, but the music remains light and transparent. The climax does not crush; it glows and pulses with joy colored by a yearning for a world filled with pure and all-embracing love."

— Tom Strini, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 11/24/03

SEVEN LAST WORDS (Concerto for Piano Left Hand and Orchestra)

"[Hagen's] 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. [He] brought considerable gifts to this ambitious effort ... a sharp ear for orchestral color underlined vivid emotional contrasts."

—Joanna Sheehy Hoover, The Albuquerque Journal, 12/16/01 

"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)."

—Mary Kunz, The Buffalo News, 2/2/02

 "Flanked by the bright rationality of Haydn and Mozart, Daron Hagen's dreamy and ecstatic Seven Last Words didn't seem to make a whole lot of sense at Sunday's Waukesha Symphony concert. As the music evaporated into a mist of ethereal strings, I couldn't say why, as the architecture of the piece never became clear to me, but "Seven Last Words" suddenly came to feel dramatically and emotionally satisfying. Surely, that had something to do with the fiercely committed, commanding performance of soloist Joel Fan, conductor Alexander Platt and the members of the Waukesha Symphony Orchestra, who brought Hagen's gestures and colors to full shape and hue. The mad religious ecstasy of Seven Last Words contrasted sharply with the earthy, sensible joys of Haydn's Symphony No. 104.

—Tom Strini, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinal, 1/28/07

PHILHARMONIA (Orchestra)

"Thursday night's New York Philharmonic program was notable for an interesting new fanfare by Daron Hagen. Mr. Hagen's Philharmonia features antiphonal solo trumpets and repeated-note tremors. The latter appear out of the orchestra's various sections, each time bearing a different weight and color. A balance is struck between strident announcement and a wider, more variegated symphonic display. This is a successful piece, one that uses its virtuoso performers wisely."

—Bernard Holland, The New York Times, 10/20/92

"Like everything else by Hagen I've encountered, Philharmonia (A Fanfare) moves with a surety and naturalness that shows the hand of an experienced craftsman. It is eclectic, but it is linear; it has a glittering surface but there is substance beneath; it is dense with events, yet it never seems cluttered. I would welcome the opportunity to hear it again."

—Tim Page, New York Newsday, 10/20/92

"Commissioned for the Philharmonic's 150th anniversary, [Philharmonia] is a notably substantial work for its kind. Its very elaborate, especially in its quadraphonic brass writing. The bold sonics beckoned hearing more of Hagen's music."

—Bill Zakariasen, New York Daily News, 10/20/92

BANDANNA OVERTURE (Band and Orchestra Versions)

“Composer Daron Hagen had arranged, especially for the BPO, a piece called Bandanna Overture using themes from his opera Bandanna and expanding on the original wind band score for full orchestra. It was very exciting music which sounded to me like the opening music to either a Jason Bourne or a James Bond film with aerial shots and fast-paced camera work.  The audience loved it too and when Falletta gestured to the composer in the audience, they roared and clapped even harder.”

—Peter Hall, Buffalo Rising

"...This work is challenging and noble. The percussion scoring is especially demanding and includes unison vibraphone and marimba lines doubling the opening woodwind scoring. Structured in four large sections with numerous meter and tonal changes, this piece will definitely challenge performers." 

—James W. Lambert, Winds Magazine

"Well written and resourcefully scored, [it] should become a staple of the wind repertory." 

—James Story, Fanfare Magazine, January/February 2002

SYMPHONY NO. 3 (Orchestra)

"The symphony opens with a movement titled Profanation, in which Hagen juxtaposes fragmented sounds and ideas.... The movement unfolds into a powerfulmosaic of sharp-edged, brilliant shards of sound. Although the piece culminates in a strong finale, via a third movement, titled Paean, it is the second movement, titled Prayer, that listeners are likely to recall long after the concert is over. Prayer is an elegant, contemplative fugue based on the Christmas carol O Come, O Come Emmanuel. Hagen displays his mastery of both orchestration and contrapuntal writing here. But, more importantly, he writes a deeply moving piece of music."

—Elaine Schmidt, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinal, 4/29/98

CELLO CONCERTO

"... a serious piece, which evokes night visions and dreamlike (sometimes nightmarish) thoughts. The composer has a wonderful sense of instrumental color, and an accessible harmonic language."

—Records International Reviews, February, 1999

"Of particular interest ... is the Cello Concerto, with its alternating moods of introspection and playfulness. "

—Stephen D Hicken, American Record Guide, March, 2000

"The bulk of the material follows a more introspective path, long-breathed melody with counterpoint, though the second movement returns to the rhythmic drive prevalent in the other pieces. There are some genuinely lovely passages here.

—Robert Kirzinger, Fanfare Magazine, September/October, 1999

"... a work whose compositional methodology centers around the varying moods of sleep. Especially effective is the use of percussion to underscore the agitated aspects of a sleepless night."

—Tower Online Record Reviews

FLUGELHORN CONCERTO

"... a real crossover piece, using popular and film music influences in a luscious and appealing - and very clever - concert piece context. The composer has a wonderful sense of instrumental color, and an accessible harmonic language."

—Records International Reviews, February, 1999

"... the work takes its impetus from what might be called ready-made styles, with its three movements titled "precise funk," "slow swing," and "driving bop." "Precise funk" is Hagen taking a cue and a musical riff from Michael Torke; "slow swing" draws from the smoky music of classic movies; "driving bop" doesn't sound like bop, inevitably lacking the edge of its improvised namesake." 

—Robert Kirzinger, Fanfare Magazine, September/October, 1999

"The Concerto for Flugelhorn is a "composer's holiday" in that it uses pop idioms as its source material. 'Precise Funk' actually resembles East Coast jazz more than anything else, while 'Slow swing' is an homage to 1940s film noir soundtracks. The final movement, 'Driving Bop' is a tribute to 1950s jazz that has moments that call to mind the work of Miles Davis."

—Tower Online Reviews

DEAR YOUTH (Voice, Flute, and Piano)

“Hagen's sophisticated songs remind me somewhat of The AIDS Quilt Songbook and deserve to be heard just as often.”

— Lovelace, American Record Review, Nov-Dec 97

“Hagen's songs in general are somewhat less conservative and more adventurous than those of [Ned Rorem's]. This does not mean that they are by any means inaccessible; just the opposite is true. They merely present more interesting vocal and musical challenges at times. Throughout, listeners can pick up traces of jazz idioms and occasional hints of Broadway, leaving a distinct impression of Americana on the ear. Hagen's pianistic writing is inventive and reminiscent of the great Romanticist composers, ranging from Schubert to Strauss. His piano parts also are often technically challenging, lavish and exuberant. Never, however, does the composer let them overwhelm the singer. Like the compositions of all major song writers, the expression of the text is preeminent, and the vocal line is always clearly defined.”

— NATS Journal of Singing, January 98

[Hagen] is a confirmed Romantic, writing in a lush tonal idiom with the emphasis centered firmly on the often demanding vocal line. In addition to calling for considerable range, the vocal lines are often lightly melismatic and have a distant relation to hymns, at least to my ears. His prosidy is good, and he is often an inspired melodist.

— John Story, Fanfare Magazine, November / December, 1999

"For texts, Hagen found letters and diary writings of women observers of the Civil War. Reading these snippets in the program, one is struck by the poetic contrasts between the poetic and the everyday, held together in delicate balance. The work's added dramatic element tips that balance."

—Marion Jacobson, The Washington Post, 3/26/91

"These are often heartbreaking texts and Hagen is a composer who has a superb ear for catching the inflections of speech and supporting them sensitively with music. This was a real piece of chamber music -- the flute writing was impressive -- not merely songs with accompaniment. Yet, as any true song cycle must be, it was dominated by the singer with bursts of moving melody and [sic] it involved the listener with the individual narrative voices of the songs."

—Stephen Wigler, The Baltimore Sun, 3/13/91

"Dear Youth 's harmonies are simple and attractive but not unchallenging to play or hear. Its eight songs are mixed between arias and recitatives. The music is melancholy in seven songs but light-hearted and lightly scored on one, "The Trouble With Tom," making that one sound like the jazz in a dirge."

—Ernest F. Imhoff, Baltimore Evening Sun, 3/13/91

"There are patriotic themes here and prayers for the end of the war, but the most vivid material, not surprisingly, comes from those accounts of how the strife affected people on a personal level. There was much to be appreciated in [Hagen's] dramatic point of view. "Oh, for Such a Dream," the most stirring in the group, was placed thoughtfully as the sixth in the cycle -- a natural place to look for an emotional climax, leaving the audience with an emotional recovery in the final pieces."

—Peter Dobrin, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 3/25/91