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Forward!
fanfare for brass and percussion (1998)
Premiere
29 May 1998
South Portico of the State Capitol, Madison, Wisconsin
Madison Symphony Orchestra / Daron Hagen
Instrumentation
4 hns.4 tps.3 trbns.tba.perc(3)-timp.
Duration
4'

Program Note
"Forward!" is the motto of the State of Wisconsin. Written for a formal political function, this occasional piece was commissioned by the Madison Symphony Orchestra to commemorate the sesquicentennial of Wisconsin Statehood and first performed on 29 May 1998 at the South Hamilton Portico of the Wisconsin State Capitol Building — as part of a ceremony at which the governor of the state unveiled a new stamp — by members of the Madison Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer. It is dedicated to my treasured old friends in the brass and percussion sections of the Madison Symphony.
— Daron Hagen, 1998
Reviews
Hagen's lovely music, entirely tonal and beautifully written, continues to impress.... Forward!, a brief fanfare written for the Madison Symphony, [is] well written and resourcefully scored.
— James Story, Fanfare Magazine January/February 2002