Daron Hagen’s The Art of Song is a cycle of 24 songs for voices (various) and piano grouped thematically into four “seasons”.  The texts are drawn from a wide variety of sources from Sappho to Donald Trump via, among others, Dante, Blake, Rossetti and Yeats plus various modern poets including members of the composer’s family.

“Summer” deals with the political degradation of the United States since the civil war.  Hence the ark from Whitman and Crane to McCarthy and Trump.  It’s textually and musically complex with pieces being “mashed up”.  Fort example lines from Stephen Crane’s “War is Kind” are interlaced with Yeats’ “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death”. Continue reading →