Name: O gloriosissimi lux vivens by Jared Aragón
Duration: 7 min 5 s
Description: Commissioned by St. Mark's Presbyterian Church in Tucson, AZ. This piece is inspired by the writings, visions, and works of St. Hildegard von Bingen. The Latin text comes from St. Hildegard and fragments of her composition are hidden throughout the piece. Premiered May 11, 2019 with Angelica Dunsavage, mezzo-soprano, Barbara Freischlad, percussion, and Jared Isaac Aragón, organ.

Great to hear another one of your compositions. I always like the ones that incorporate the organ.

Very interesting textual choice too. What inspired you to do something about angels?

https://sites.google.com/a/barnard.edu/musforum/hope-of-dawn

H O P E O F D a w n was commissioned by composer and organist Alexandra Fol, in conjunction with the International Research and Information Centre Thracica in Bulgaria.

The piece depicts the tragic events of the Japan’s earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. The appalling images of this catastrophic event encouraged me to render a tribute to all the victims and their suffering.

Two ideas are alternated throughout the piece: Serene-­‐soft chorale like passages, in contrast with a Fast-­‐drastic passages characterized by chromatic relations. This alternation between these two main ideas happens 7 times throughout the piece.

A main 7-­‐note motive connects these two contrasting ideas, passed through the many organ layers, which becomes rhythmically altered or transposed in each section.

The piece begins with an ascending chordal idea in which a single note gradually builds in by adding extra notes thus creating a dense chord yet a placid one. This idea is constantly recycled throughout the piece and it symbolizes a revival of hope for all the survivors, as well as a spiritual praise to all the victims.

Fast-­‐drastic passages symbolize the severe drastic earth and water movements of both the earthquake and tsunami, respectively. Compositionally, these passages are created through interval codes in which occasionally, the main motive is added, either complete, incomplete or backwards.

The last idea of the piece happens to be the opposite process from the beginning. That is, an extremely thick yet peaceful chord gradually fades away by the subtraction of notes, resulting in a single note that represents the end of an intense, dramatic event but also a restoration of hope for a better future in the Japanese communities... 

HOPE OF DAWN

The Midnight Laundry; The Midnight Candy for Vla/Cello/Contrabasn/Bass Flute  

Rose Holden ( BASS flute)	Flute
Samuel Nordlund	Viola
Michael Fernandez	Cello
Dylan Ingram ( CONTRAbassoon)	Bassoon
Recorded on 03/30/2016
from the Cicada Consort Charity Concert Marathon 2016

The Midnight Laundry, The Midnight Candy (1)

A trio for oboe, bassoon, and piano depicting the rituals of curanderas, the traditional healers of Hispano people.

Curanderas

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, mvt. 3

Organ solo work after a text by W. H. Auden: 

He is the Truth.
Seek him in the Kingdom of Anxiety:
you will come to a great city
that has expected your return for years.

This performance by Paul Graeme Thomas on the Casavant Organ at St. Luke Lutheran Church in Albuquerque, NM. Recorded in May of 2017. Printed music now available by instant download from Firehead Editions. http://fireheadeditions.com/downloads/the-kingdom-of-anxiety/

The Kingdom Of Anxiety

O Night was commissioned by Jared Isaac Aragon in the fall of 2016. The world premiere performance was in Tucson, Arizona in July of 2017. Performed by Jared Isaac Aragon, organ & David Ramirez, flute at Catalina United Methodist Church as part of the parish summer organ festival. 

I took as an inspiration and starting point a poem by the late 20th century Italian poet Giuseppe Ungaretti titled 'O Night'. It begins this way:

 "...Out of daybreak's huge and restless hunger
Trees--like masts--revealed.

Anguished awakenings.
Leaves, sister leaves,
I hear your lament...."

The contrast between the mast-ly tress and the delicate lamenting leaves offered me a metaphor of sorts to work with in writing this music. I wanted both instruments to have their own space and though they are combined not to lose their character or identity. So, in the course of this piece, one or the other instrument has the full spotlight, and at other times they find each other in tandem and conversation.

The poem concludes:

Autumns,
Dying sweetnesses.
O youth,
Only just past now, the moment of detachment.
Unbridled surge.
And already I am desert.
Lost inside this curving sadness.
But night disperses distances.
Oceanic silences,
Astral nests of wishes.
O Night.

Giuseppe Ungaretti, 1919

Get score and parts at Firehead Editions:
http://fireheadeditions.com/downloads/o-night/

O Night (world premiere)

Music for chamber orchestra with piano. After a short story by H. P. Lovecraft from 1923 which begins:  "I hate the moon—I am afraid of it—for when it shines on certain scenes familiar and loved it sometimes makes them unfamiliar and hideous..."

Score and parts available from Firehead Editions.
https://fireheadeditions.com/downloads/what-the-moon-brings/

What The Moon Brings (Chamber Orchestra)

Commissioned by St. Mark's Presbyterian Church in Tucson, AZ. This piece is inspired by the writings, visions, and works of St. Hildegard von Bingen. The Latin text comes from St. Hildegard and fragments of her composition are hidden throughout the piece. Premiered May 11, 2019 with Angelica Dunsavage, mezzo-soprano, Barbara Freischlad, percussion, and Jared Isaac Aragón, organ.

O gloriosissimi lux vivens

All parts recorded on a spinet (sampled and performed on MIDI keyboard for out of range parts)

Le sacre du printemps: 2. Les augures claveciniers - Danses des sautereaux

Music for organ by Frederick Frahm. From the Canterbury Sketchbook (2020). This work played by the composer on the 1868 Odell pipe organ (opus 76) at St. Thomas of Canterbury Episcopal Church in Albuquerque, NM. Score is available by instant download from Firehead Editions:

https://fireheadeditions.com/downloads/canterbury-sketchbook/

'Frankincense', from the Canterbury Sketchbook

Dream States - II: A fiddler in the desert plays for an audience of dancing sparrows (MIDI Demo)

Born in Central New Mexico, Jared Aragón has degrees in Music Composition from Eastern New Mexico University, the University of Arkansas, and the University of Arizona. He has studied under composers Mark dal Porto, Robert Mueller, Daniel Asia, and Pamela Decker. He serves as organist and director of handbells at St. Mark's Presbyterian Church in Tucson, AZ and is a member of the percussion and organ duo sonidos encendidos.

O gloriosissimi lux vivens

Jared Aragón

Recent comments

Nathan Gale

Nathan Gale

Related tracks