Lara Downes - America Again (2016)

America Again, a collection of American music inspired by Langston Hughes's poem Let America Be America Again. Pianist Lara Downes mines the traditions of the concert hall, the American Songbook, jazz, ragtime, and folk ballads to capture the essence of the American dream and the American struggle.

As Hughes wrote in 1938, still so true in our time: "Let America be America again– The land that never has been yet– And yet must be–the land where every man is free. Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed–Let it be that great strong land of love."

This music is a tribute to the generations of Americans who dream the impossible: black and white, men and women, immigrants and pioneers. A uniquely diverse American portrait, featuring music by composers including Harold Arlen, Amy Beach, Irving Berlin, Leonard Bernstein, Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, Morton Gould, Florence Price, David Sanford, and George Walker.

Tracklist:

01. American Caprice
02. I. Waltz in C
03. II. Hesitation Waltz
04. III. Waltz in A
05. Shenandoah (arr. for piano)
06. From Blackbird Hills, Op. 83
07. 24 Negro Melodies, Op. 59: No. 10. Deep River
08. Lonesome Roads: Nocturne
09. Poems of the Sea: III. At Sea: Allegro vivo (version for piano)
10. Porgy and Bess, Act II: I Loves You, Porgy (arr. N. Simone for piano)
11. Sueno Recurrente
12. 13 Anniversaries: No. 3. For Stephen Sondheim
13. Promise
14. Slumber Song
15. Gladiolus Rag
16. The Jazz Singer: Blue Skies (arr. A. Tatum for piano)
17. Fantasie negre
18. Blues No. 1 (Sentimental Melody: Slow Dance)
19. Melancholia
20. Li'l boy named David
21. The Wizard of Oz: Over the Rainbow (arr. for piano)