The Space In Which To See
New Focus, 2021
8/10
Listen to The Space In Which To See
The Borderlands Ensemble, led by Johanna Lundy, brings us cultured songs from Arizona and Mexico here, where their easily accessible version of classical music highlights the works of Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti, Jay Vosk, Vivian Fine, Charles Daniels and Alejandro Vera.
The title track, by Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti, starts the listen with quivering strings and strategic horns that emit much mystery and an ominous quality as atypical rhythm in the cello and a stirring, often unstable environment unfolds, and Jay Vosk’s “Passing Ships” follows and blends horns and strings in a somber tone of expressive dialogue.
Elsewhere, Vivian Fine’s “Songs And Arias” unfolds over 6 movements of diverse songwriting that’s romantic, humorous and full of plenty of charm while taking nods to music of many decades ago, while “Dream Machine” showcases the strings dancing around the brass in an indeed dreamy climate.
Close to the end, “La Llorona”, an arrangement of a traditional Mexican song, displays Bill Tyers and Johanna Lundy’s classically influenced vision and “Sobre las Olas”, also a traditional, exits the listen with Lundy’s meshing of European waltzes, polka and mazurkas amid a playful spirit.
Ellen Chamberlain, Joseph Rousos-Hammond, Freya Creech, Ann Weaver, Sarah Toy, Robert Chamberlain, and José Luis Puerta accompany Lundy, and their vast talents illuminate the rich culture of the American Southwest with much intrigue.
Travels well with: Michael Compitello- Unsnared Drum; David Tanenbaum- As She Sings