Program Note:   

The farmer, as he placed an unasked-for pear in my hand along with the over-ripe produce he'd given me in exchange for a fistful of francs one warm fall 1989 afternoon in Cassis, France, said, "Here, son, a lagniappe. Save it for breakfast tomorrow." This, my ninth and final piano trio, finished 38 years after my first, is a firm farewell to a chamber music combination that I have loved from the beginning more than any other. It has been good to me, and the place where I have shared my most cherished moments with musical siblings. It was written to have been written, and to close a chapter in my life both poignant and personal. The movement titles can mean whatever you want them to – they mean something to me, of course; but, in the end, what do they matter except that the music came because of them? That music I share in this trio in the same spirit with which a farmer once pressed a fine red anjou pear in my hand so long ago.

–Daron Hagen, March 2023