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Susurrus
for orchestra (2003)
Premiere
18 September 2003
The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C.
The National Symphony Orchestra / Leonard Slatkin
Instrumentation
Picc.3.2.EH.2.BCl.2.dbn-4.3.3.1-timp.perc(2)-harp-cel-pft-str
Duration
5.5'

Program Note
When asked to provide a four-minute encore to conclude a program that would include Ottorino Respighi's Roman Festivals, I reached back to memories of an Italian autumn in 1992 spent at the Rockefeller Foundation's Villa Serbelloni, in Bellagio. I tried to evoke the astonishing sound of the wind coming down off of the Alps and through the trees in my piece. The effect is described by the word 'susurrus': the act of whispering; a whisper; a murmering; a rustling; a low, indistinct, and often continuous sound: mumble, murmer, sigh and sough. As I was writing the piece, I came upon this apt quotation from Longfellow, which stands as an epigraph in the score: 'The chant of their vespers, mingling its notes with the soft susurrus and sighs of the branches.' -- Longfellow
--- Daron Hagen, 2003
Reviews
The world premiere of a specially commission '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