Lara Downes’ Diversity of American Perspectives

Lara Downes on the cover of her new album (from its Amazon.com Web page)

The title of pianist Lara Downes’ latest album is This Land. The Amazon.com Web page includes the following description provided by Pentatone: “a probing, nuanced reflection on the kaleidoscopic diversity of stories and journeys that have converged and collided throughout American history.” Those familiar with Downes’ previous albums will probably know about her interest in that diversity. Indeed, one of the selections, composed by Arturo O’Farrill, has the title “Kaleidoscope,” while Downes herself discusses the nature of the diversity in the album’s final track, which also carries the title “This Land.”

One of the tracks was previous released as a “single” this past February. That was “Rhapsody in Blue Reimagined,” a new arrangement of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” created by Puerto Rican composer Edmar Colón on a commission by Downes. Since this is a recording of Edwin Outwater conducting the SFCM (San Francisco Conservatory of Music) Orchestra with Downes as soloist, I have to confess to at least a bit of personal bias!

Taken as a whole, however, the album is a mixed bag. My own tastes favor the opening track, Benton Overstreet’s “There’ll Be Some Changes Made,” one of the most memorable recordings made by Ethel Waters. On the other hand, Noah Luna’s arrangement of Paul Simon’s “America” never really registered with the impact of the composer’s performance with Art Garfunkel (but then, to be fair, that album figured significantly during my days at the campus radio station of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology).

This was clearly a very personal album for Downes. It concludes with a ten-minute track of her personal reflections. This account of “afterthoughts” was definitely engaging, but I do not think it had much impact on my reactions to the performances on the preceding nine tracks.