Program Note:

Composed during a residency at the Rockefeller Center Conference and Study Center in Bellagio, Italy and commissioned by horn virtuoso Sören Hermansson, Horn Concerto addresses the soloist-ensemble paradigm by making the horn player a leader among equals. Accordingly, the five movements which make up the piece each highlight the instrument in a series of musical dialogues—with the massed strings in the first movement, the winds in the second, a three-way colloquy for horn, winds, and brass in the central movement, a duo for the horn and soprano sax in the penultimate movement, and a massed tutti treatment in the finale.

Formally, the movements surround the central one in concentric parenthesese. Although programmatic titles are offered—the tale of a sleepless night, like Hagen’s Cello Concerto, is inferred—the piece is essentially an extended modernist, process-oriented work built of rhythmic and melodic cells. The horn part is virtuosic, and includes in the final movement an extremely difficult solo cadenza crafted specifically to emphasize the special gifts of the work’s dedicatee, Sören Hermansson, who premiered it with the Wisconsin Chamber orchestra, conducted by David Lewis Crosby, in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1996.”

— Christopher Hume, 1993

Selected Review:

“Performed by Sören Hermansson with fluidity and aplomb, the five moevements explore a series of moods based around a night theme. The first movement, “Nightfall,” is a quick and short piece that evokes a carnival mood, in a vaguely post-Stravinskyian style.

This is followed by “Serenade,” a calm movement that the composer described as “decorative” during his pre-concert talk. “Midnight” is a rather raucous discussion between the soloist and the violins and cellos. Hagen’s comments referred to late night arguments with roomates he had in his student days. This movement forms the capstone of the arch form of the work as a whole.

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 saxophone, with a short interlude by the oboe. The counterpoint between the various parts in the texture was very well done. The best movement of the entire piece, it was repeated as an encore.

Closing the work is “Daybreak.” Its rhythmic and motivic character doesn’t really gel until about the middle of the movement. Hagen’s originality in this work is the narrative structure, an impressionaistic journey through the night. There is 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 more aphoristic than developmental.”

—Ron Wiecki, Wisconsin State Journal, 2 November 1996