Iconoclastic pianist Lara Downes takes a fresh look at the music of Scott Joplin on her album Reflections: Scott Joplin Reconsidered, the newest release in her Rising Sun Music series, which brings to life the rich, 200-year lineage of Black composers in America. This recording looks back through a modern lens to explore the many layers of Joplin’s creative vision, as well as the complexities of his American experience. Now, half a century after the Joplin revival of the 1970s, Downes reintroduces audiences to Joplin through works that range from his early ballad A Picture Of Her Face, in a world-premiere recording with baritone Will Liverman, to selections from Joplin’s opera Treemonisha, and his most beloved rags, reimagined in kaleidoscopic arrangements by Downes and other writers.
Reflections: Scott Joplin Reconsidered – Lara Downes
