Pianist
Lara Downes has issued innovative thematic albums, some pertaining to her African American heritage, most not. Every one of them reflects original ways of thinking about music and its rootedness in its cultural surroundings, but those who have been lucky enough to hear
Downes in recital have heard her music-making at another level, with wide-ranging programs unified by an insistence on the relevance of the music to her own experience.
Some of These Days comes closest to replicating this concert experience, and it's a remarkable piece of work.
Downes explores the resonances of the African American spiritual, and there are a few newer pieces associated with the civil rights movement during which
Downes' parents met. Those resonances are striking in their variety, including classical treatments by
Margaret Bonds and
Florence B. Price, arrangements of the spirituals for piano and for multi-performer media by several composers, including
Downes, and vocal renditions in multiple styles. Guest artists include vocalist
Toshi Reagon, the
PUBLIQuartet, and vocal duo the
Chapin Sisters.
Downes' piano weaves through everything, coming to the fore in solo pieces, and ultimately what makes this a groundbreaking recording is the sense of her growing ability to connect larger ideas to her personal circle of connections. An extensive note from
Downes describes how each of the musicians, pieces, and arrangements came into her life; while this device is common enough in folk music, it's nothing less than a breath of fresh air for a classical recital.
Some of These Days, in one way, represents an old idea: musicians have been applying classical treatments to the African American spiritual since the days when
Harry T. Burleigh played for
Dvořák. In other ways, though, the album represents something entirely new.