As a result of a workshop on finding the voice in Beethoven and Schubert, violinist Francesca Anderegg was inspired to find her own voice in the music of the 20th century as well as finding her own personal interpretation of classical repertoire. She designed the program on this recording to show the ways in which the music of modernist composers Schoenberg, Perle and Carter shares the lyricism and expressivity of Mozart and Schubert.
Contents
W.A. Mozart, Sonata K.304 in E Minor
Arnold Schoenberg, Phantasy Op. 47 for Violin with Piano Accompaniment
George Perle, Triptych for Solo Violin and Piano
Franz Schubert, Rondo Op. 70, D.895
Elliott Carter, Four Lauds for Solo Violin
Francesca Anderegg, Violin,
Brent Funderburk, Piano
Reviews
“…stunning virtuosity…Anderegg and Funderburk have given us a disc of great interest for those who love the Viennese tradition.” -Fanfare Magazine
Recitals don’t come more appealingly designed than this one by violinist Francesca Anderegg (B.M. ’03, M.M. ’07, D.M.A. ’12) and pianist Brent Funderburk (M.M. ’11)—and Mozart’s touching E-Minor Sonata, K. 304, written at the time of his mother’s death, makes an elegant opening. Changing the mood sharply, the duo plunges into Schoenberg’s Phantasy (1949), an eight-minute fever dream that veers from the languorous to the skittish. Anderegg combines a dark expressivity with meticulous intonation—and Funderburk adds discreet counterpoint—in a performance that might change the minds of Schoenberg skeptics.
In addition to his compositional prowess, George Perle was known for his dry wit, and his Triptych for Solo Violin and Piano (2003) is a fine example of virtuosity melded with occasional humor. Schubert’s Rondo, D. 895, makes an impressive follow-up, with its majestic opening followed by a kaleidoscopic sprint through various keys and vivacious rhythms.
To conclude, Anderegg offers Four Lauds by Elliott Carter (faculty 1966-84), written from 1984 to 2001 as homages to Aaron Copland, Goffredo Petrassi, and former faculty members Roger Sessions and Robert Mann (Diploma ’38), the founding first violinist of the Juilliard String Quartet and now faculty emeritus. Anderegg’s accuracy in Carter’s daunting intervallic leaps will preclude multitasking; listeners will be too riveted to think about anything else. It would be hard to choose a favorite from these squibs, but the one from 1999, “Fantasy—Remembering Roger” and dedicated to the extraordinary violinist Rolf Schulte, is easily one of the late 20th century’s most virtuosic studies for the instrument, and in Anderegg’s hands, it becomes a bravura encore.
Engineer extraordinaire Judith Sherman, working at the American Academy of Arts and Letters, has given the recording a luminous sheen in a program that many will want to explore again and again.
-Bruce Hodges, The Juilliard Journal