Voices Of The Land
Navona, 2023
8/10
The composer Christina Rusnak walks us through America and pays tribute to its people and land, where the Juventas New Music Ensemble fleshes out the rich and rhythmic listen with much detail.
“Coal Creek” opens the listen with Ryan Shannon and Mina Lavcheva’s stirring violins interacting much attention to mood alongside the light percussion, and “Free Land” follows with Robinson Pyle’s booming trumpet adding an unpredictable element to Sho Kato’s well timed flute and Thomas Schmidt’s atmospheric marimba.
The middle tracks belong to “The Way Through” and “Canyon Voices”, where the former provides much precision from Thomas Barth’s cello, while the latter is populated by Jonathan Hess’ marimba and percussion and Celine Ferro’s clarinet for the meticulously textured album highlight.
The final piece, “Pine Meadow”, is a very distinct exit focused entirely on percussion, where Brian Gardiner, Will Ren, Nick Rose and Wanyue Ye all lend their talents to the creativity.
A listen that certainly embraces some nature-esque moments just as it does culture, history, and art, Voices Of The Land is as complicated as the country it revolves around and lends itself to reflection.
Travels well with: Myroslava Khomik- Protest; Georgini Rossi- Chorinho