Program Note:   

The title of the piece comes from a recurring image in the libretto of my 1993 opera Shining Brow. There are four musical ideas in this piece: (1.) a melodic wedge — a handful of notes which lead inward towards, or splay outward away from a central tone; (2.) a cluster — a simultaneous sounding of adjacent pitches; (3.) a harmonic constellation of four triads — B flat major, E major, G major, and D flat major, associated with one another by (4.) the interval of the tritone — three whole steps. Built Up Dark is dedicated to Stephen Colburn and the Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra. It was composed in New York City and premiered by the MCO, led by their Music Director, Stephen Colburn, on 11 May 1995 at the Cathedral of Saint John in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Selected Review:

Milwaukee-born 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