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Middle Child

Teagan Faran violin, viola, bass violin, vocals

Release Date: January 24, 2025
Catalog #: NV6704
Format: Digital
21st Century
Chamber
Solo Instrumental
Flute
Violin
Voice

MIDDLE CHILD from multi-instrumentalist Teagan Faran confronts concepts of culture and identity through the music of Johannes Brahms’ Intermezzo Op. 118, no. 2, from 6 Klavierstücke along with the works of contemporary composers. Faran employs the Brahms intermezzo (rearranged for multi tracked violin choir) as a recurring motif; it reappears throughout the album, each time reimagined by a different artist in a different style. The album also features contributions from artists like Leilehua Lanzilotti and Jens Ibsen. Reflecting on her Cantonese-Irish heritage, as well as her own “middle child” status and her family’s connection to Hawai’i, Faran seeks a sense of belonging through the blending of past and present through this Navona Records release.

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Track Listing & Credits

# Title Composer Performer
01 O Superman (for Bach) Laurie Anderson, J.S. Bach, arr. Teagan Faran Teagan Faran, violin, bass violin, and vocals; Leo Sussman, vocals 9:04
02 koʻu inoa Leilehua Lanzilotti Teagan Faran, viola and vocals 4:32
03 Intermezzo Op. 118, no. 2, from 6 Klavierstücke Johannes Brahms, arr. Teagan Faran Teagan Faran, violin and bass violin 5:43
04 stir crazy Carlos Simon Teagan Faran, violin; Leo Sussman, flute 2:48
05 Outermezzo for Fiddle Davis West Davis West, violins and remix; Teagan Faran, violins 4:09
06 Watch Over Us Nathalie Joachim Teagan Faran, violin 8:03
07 FARAHMS Misha Vayman Misha Vayman, violins, keyboard, and remix; Teagan Faran, violins 4:20
08 Temptress Jens Ibsen Teagan Faran, violin 11:36
09 Iridescent Grace Ann Lee Teagan Faran, violin 3:05
10 hypnagogic Abby Swidler Abby Swidler, violin, field recording, and remix; Teagan Faran, violin 2:49
11 Life is like a Washing Machine, You Never Know What You're Gonna Hit Xenia St. Charles Iris Llyllyth Teagan Faran, violin 4:27
12 Casimiro Julián Graciano Teagan Faran, violin 4:08

Tracks 1-4, 6, 9, 11-12
Recorded May 2024 at the Recording Studio in Greencastle IN
Recording Session Producer Leo Sussman (Tracks 1 & 3), Matt Albert (Tracks 2, 4, 6, 9, 11-12)
Recording Session Engineer Ritchie Faran (Tracks 1-4, 6, 9, 11-12)

Track 5
Recorded April 2024 in Berlin, Germany
Recording Session Engineer Davis West

Track 7
Recorded March 2024 in Los Angeles CA
Recording Session Engineer Misha Vayman

Track 8
Recorded December 2023 at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in San Francisco CA
Recording Session Producers Jens Ibsen, Leo Sussman
Recording Session Engineer Jason O’Connell

Track 10
Recorded May 2024 in Brooklyn NY
Recording Session Engineer Abby Swidler

Producer Matt Albert
Recording Engineers Ritchie Faran, Jason O’Connell
Remix Artists Misha Vayman, Abby Swidler, Davis West
Production Support Leo Sussman
Mastering Melanie Montgomery

Executive Producer Bob Lord

A&R Director Brandon MacNeil
A&R Kryztyna Hernandez

VP of Production Jan Košulič
Audio Director Lucas Paquette

VP, Design & Marketing Brett Picknell
Art Director Ryan Harrison
Design Edward A. Fleming
Publicity Aidan Curran
Digital Marketing Manager Brett Iannucci

Artist Information

Teagan Faran

Violinist, Violist, Vocalist

A native of Buffalo NY, Teagan Faran is a multidisciplinary musician focused on enacting social change through the arts. Her playing has “brought the house down” (Represent Classical) as she explores the boundaries of genre and performance. An avid collaborator, she has worked with the International Contemporary Ensemble, Alarm Will Sound, Palaver Strings, and the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra. Recent recording features include albums with Carlos Simon, La Martino Orquesta Típica, loadbang, and Diamanda Galás. She has had compositions featured at the NYSSMA Conference and the Persis Vehar Competition for Excellence.

Learn More

Notes

I have two brothers: one older, one younger. Yeah, the middle child, you know how that goes… except, I’m the only daughter so that’s its own thing, and we’re all spread out in age, so…

Oh yeah, Chinese-Irish. With some English, too, as it goes. No, actually my family’s Cantonese but we’ve been in Hawai’i for a few generations so I don’t speak any Mandarin… or Cantonese.

Yeah it’s been English in our household since we were trying to become Americans, right. Oh no, I don’t speak Hawaiian either. I mean I learned Spanish, so… and how come no one ever asks me if I speak Irish…

That’s why I called this album MIDDLE CHILD, reflecting on growing up between my brothers, but also finding myself caught between cultures, between identities, between ideas of what makes me “me.” I was (am?) always worried that I am not “enough” of something to entirely belong to The Group. But I have a wise friend, also hapa, who reminds me that we’re not two halves of stuff stuck together, but rather fully two things. Or, I guess, one whole new thing. Being a middle child means existing, creating, and celebrating at the intersection of distinct but overlapping worlds.

Our steadfast companion throughout this album is a favorite intermezzo by Johannes Brahms, originally for solo piano, that I arranged and recorded for multi-tracked violin choir. Each time the piece returns, it has been remixed by a new person, in their own style. Just as these artists have sonically reshaped me, amplifying my musical voice beyond its solitary potential, so too do they influence and inspire me through our relationships and collaborations.

We’ll also encounter original music by dear friends of mine, many of whom extend the classical tradition into other genres and artistic practices. I am grateful to find homes in the sound worlds that these artists have crafted; these people and stories continue to guide and encourage my own explorations of self. Below, I have included some reflections from these creators to further contextualize their work.

Spanish moss from my Popo’s garden hangs in my parents’ kitchen window. It has no roots, so it was ok to bring some from Honolulu to the mainland. It was ok to travel because it carried nothing with it, no trace of the land where it first grew. Except that it holds memories of that garden, and the garden holds memories of the house… and the house holds memories of the family…

I do not know how to hold a lot. So I placed these memories, questions, and hopes into these recordings for safe keeping. This music reminds me that I don’t have to carry all of this by myself: together, we can all share the loads that we hold dear. Finding yourself caught in-between siblings, cultures, worlds — a child in the middle — means that you are surrounded by those who care for you.

Thank you to the communities who have let me take on parts of them and give parts of myself. Special and immense thanks to my brother, Ritchie, who let me talk him into mixing this in the midst of at least three other lives going on, as well as my parents and my brother James for the love they continually share. Deep gratitude to Matt Albert who has helped me shape my relationship with myself as both an artist and a person. An overflowing heart to my partner, Leo Sussman, who reminds me where the ground is while helping me look at the stars. A light to our nieces — this world can be what you want it to be and we are here to help shape it for you.

— Teagan Faran

Homesick bariolage based on the anthem Hawai’i Aloha

Commissioned by the Gabriela Lena Frank Music Academy in response to the COVID-19 pandemic

I’ve lost count of how many debates (and lifelong friendships) have started with my earnest statement, “I don’t like Brahms.” While some of his music is interesting, I mostly find him a bit too predictable and, honestly, a little cheesy. But when I was asked to rework this Intermezzo, I figured I’d try to uncover what my Brahms-loving cheesemonger friends cherish so much. The framework is Brahms, but the flavor is mine — rice, tonkatsu, and just a hint of cheese. Hope you enjoy this jazz fiddle blend, served with compliments to the bossman.

— Davis West

Watch Over Us is inspired by “Two Gods,” a documentary film by Zeshawn Ali, that tells the story of Hanif, a casket maker and body washer of the Islamic tradition, and his mentorship of two young men, Furquan and Naz. The violin material explores the physical characteristics of water: its ability to be flowing, rhythmic, overwhelmingly and suddenly powerful, and still, all at once. The melodic material also examines the symbolic aspects of water as an emotional healing, cleansing or soothing agent, as well as an indication of rebirth and life. An athan (Islamic call to worship) from the film is sampled as the basis of the accompanying electronic track, and appears paired with synthesizers and processed vocal articulations. The track is intended to be distinctly fixed, yet yearns for the fluidity of the acoustic violin. The work closes with the violin taking on some of that duality — a metaphorical blurring of lines between the hard and soft edges of life.

— Nathalie Joachim

Before making FARAHMS, I went up a big hill and stared into the distance while listening to Brahms Intermezzo in A Major, Op. 118, No. 2. After that I focused on making an electronic ambient work that would make me feel the same way as sitting in a high place, seeing far, and listening to this music.

Overall, themes of nostalgia, memory, and the feeling of coming face to face with overwhelming beauty pervade the track to me. I was inspired to start work on the track by rotating the original piece backwards, in keeping with my ideas on nostalgia. Small quotations of the main theme float around loosely like in a memory. Things break down and then come together again as the track struggles against itself.

The structure of FARAHMS is very similar to the intermezzo — a sandwich of central thematic material with a breakdown in the middle. I also used a few sections of Teagan’s beautiful arrangement, and recorded myself playing the ending, and then to end the track, some of the beginning.

— Misha Vayman

Temptress was an interesting experiment for me as a composer, as it was an opportunity to explore the possibility of translating the musical hallmarks of progressive metal, such as fast, syncopated notes, bass ostinati, and irregular rhythm, onto a single instrument — a very high-flying one, at that. I was initially uncertain of whether this was doable, but I quickly was pleasantly surprised to find that the ideas that emerged fit both the instrument and the aesthetic vision I had set out for the piece.

As with many of my pieces, I chose a title from the very beginning, and allowed it to be a focal point behind my ideas as a way of verbally encapsulating the piece’s essence. This piece lives up to its title in a couple of ways. For one, the violin has a long-standing mythos of devilishness (Paganini and Ysaÿe come to mind). I felt the piece needed to evoke that essential part of the violin’s character. It possesses, more than most instruments, a capacity to be sublimely sweet, or as nasty as sin with but the smallest changes in intention, pitch, bow pressure, and articulation.

The music, as a result, is an exploration of this polarity between sweet, angelic tunefulness and devilish, distorted discord. There is a single, lyrical theme that weaves itself in and out of the piece which ends up being interrupted by jagged figures reminiscent of “shredding” in metal: the art of playing very quick notes with heavy distortion. The melody embodies temptation: it lulls the listener into a false sense of security before the sting of the shredding sends them reeling. In the end, the listener can decide which idea emerges victorious in this musical battle of wills.

— Jens Ibsen

Iridescent (adj.)/ˌɪr.əˈdes.ənt/ – showing many bright colors that change with movement (Cambridge Dictionary)

When Teagan asked me to make a Brahms remix for their album which draws on themes of in-betweens or middleness, I couldn’t help but imagine what her “hypnagogic” state would be like after playing Brahms. Hypnagogia is the transitional state between wakefulness and sleep. Hypnagogic phenomena may include fragmented, rapidly changing visions, images, inspirations, and hallucinations often with an auditory component. Many people imagine their own name called and experience a hypnagogic jerk, which awakens them suddenly for a moment. This sonic collage includes many of these elements and more as I’m imagining what is going on in Teagan’s brain during this in-between period.

— Abby Swidler

I composed, learned, and premiered this piece just a few days after the Trump administration announced it would be eliminating an Obama-era regulation that prohibited healthcare workers from discriminating against transgender patients. As a trans person with a pre-existing condition, I felt broken. The idea of someone denying me healthcare based on my transness made me sick. So in response, I did the two things I know how to do best: make silly jokes, and make noise. The title of the piece is a reference to feeling awash, and it is also a reference to the famous Forrest Gump quote, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” The piece itself is very noisy, and represents the act of walking the line between being in complete control and completely losing control. I do my best to walk this line, and while this particular cruel episode from the Trump administration has since been struck down, trans rights are brought up to the chopping block quite frequently. Until that changes, I’ll continue walking this line.

— Xenia St. Charles Iris Llyllyth

Composition dedicated to one of the first violinists who has had the tango, precursor in the application of the resources of the violin in tango and first influence in the subsequent performers, said by Don Julio De Caro who developed his technique taking as a starting point to Casimiro Alcorta. Composed with much affection for the virtuous violinist Teagan Faran.

Casimiro Alcorta — Afro-Argentinian born in 1840. He was a son of slaves and freed himself as a child, he was imposed the last name of its owner, the rancher and musician Amancio Alcorta (1805–1862), one of the first classical composers of Argentina. Alcorta died in 1913 in Buenos Aires.

— Julián Graciano