Francesca Anderen & Brent Funderburk - Wild Cities (2016) [Hi-Res]

Tracklist

01. Remix
02. Adjoining
03. I. Nothing Behind Me
04. II. Everything Ahead of Me
05. Nobody's
06. I. The Island of Many Calendars
07. II. The Island with the Imaginary Moons
08. III. The Island at Noon
09. IV. The Island of the Imaginary Birds


Violinist Francesca Anderegg has gathered an exciting collection of new works for violin and piano from young composers influenced by the minimalist heritage of John Adams. Inspired by Ginsberg’s poem, “After Dead Souls”, Anderegg explores an ever evolving American compositional tradition that romanticizes life on the road, freedom, exploration, individualism, and virtuosity. With her pianist collaborator, Brent Funderburk, Anderegg presents these works by Hannah Lash, Ted Hearne, Ryan Francis, Reinaldo Moya, and Clint Needham as heirs to the minimalist tradition, but also as contemporary contextualizations of the romantic character piece and early 20th century impressionism.

„Francesca Anderegg’s Wild Cities is haunted by the American dream, a dream of perpetual travel on an endless open road. This highway passes through neon swaths of electronic dance music, rusty belts of Appalachian fiddling, and fluid post-Romantic fields. With pianist Brent Funderburk, the young violinist takes on the music of five young American composers, each affected by the work and musical style of John Adams. Nationalistic it is not, but decisively American it is, as American as roadside attractions and Route 66.

Ryan Francis’s shifty Remix folds in some markers of EDM — choppy phrases, a bouncing pulse, an irregular structure that seems to respond to itself similar to how a DJ mixes in symbiosis with their crowd. Hannah Lash’s “Adjoining” curves and curls unexpectedly, developing and receding without the cathartic final swell that the beginning seems to tease. Clint Needham’s On the Road is first contemplative and poignant, expansive phrases in long notes with hints of restlessness sneaking in.

Ted Hearne’s Nobody’s — the wildest of the bunch — draws on the sinewy, aggressive attacks and double stops of the Appalachian fiddle tradition, an echoing thud keeping the beat. Reinaldo Moya’s Imagined Archipelagos is more spacious and optimistic, with little disquiet save the arpeggiated shards that introduce the “imaginary birds” of the fourth movement. In exploring the repetitions in both American minimalism and Venezuelan folk music, the piece sends four distinct impressionistic postcards. The second movement, “The Island with the Imaginary Moon,” is especially breathtaking, a gently melancholy moment to stop, breathe, and look around as the earth moves under you.

Through it all, Anderegg’s playing is crisp and eloquent, adapting seamlessly to the diverse natures of the five pieces. Funderburk’s piano is similarly flexible, sometimes charging forward confidently, other times sailing dreamily above the asphalt. The album has no clear peak, just a beginning and an ending that feels more like a “to be continued” than an end. Somehow, it feels right that way. As Needham’s inspiration, Jack Kerouac, writes - “there was nowhere to go but everywhere, keep rolling under the stars.” (Zoe Madonna, Q2 Music)

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