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While it’s poetic to say “catch a falling star and put it in your pocket, save it for a rainy day,” you’ll spend less time getting THAT tune out of your head than it will take to get your copy of the Five Borough Songbook, the double CD collection from 5IVE Borough Music Festival (5BMF).  Jesse Blumberg, Artistic Director and Donna Breitzer, Executive Director, founded 5BMF in 2007 to promote high quality musical events, to venues all over New York City, that celebrate the experiences of the city’s denizens, via both classic works and new works rapidly becoming classics.
2011 saw the commission of new vocal works from 20 of the composers based in NYC, inspired by the worldly City itself.  The composers themselves chose the texts and presented a textured tapestry of interpretation and wit.  It is a love letter that will have the cognoscenti nodding in recognition of all that resonates, shimmers and knells in the Big Apple.
Premieres of the work occurred in each of the five boroughs from 2011 through mid 2012 and the works are astonishing in their variety.  Some texts come from W. H. Auden and Walt Whitman and some are by the composers themselves.  Some lyrics are “found,” overheard in diners and restaurants, on the street or in the subway stations.  Every song is a piece of the portrait, yet even assembled together, there is still room left for the pieces that may be added in the future, by other composers or even ourselves.  But then that’s the joy of the ever changing City.
Artists include Javier Abreu, Mireille Asselin, Thomas Bagwell, co-founder Blumberg, Meg Bragle, Scott Dispensa, Jocelyn Dueck, Blythe Gaissert, Martha Guth, Keith Jameson, David McFerrin, David Adam Moore, Harumi Rhodes, and Alex Richardson.  These musicians—singers and instrumentalists—weave a web of wonder.  What a gift it is to be able to walk through the streets while listening to Mohammed Fairouz’s “Refugee Blues,” after Auden’s poem, or hear Gilda Lyons’ “rapid transit” while waiting for the fetid breath of the arriving subway train.  Russell Platt’s “The Avenue (II)” ruminates on the beginning of an end, even while invoking midnight rambles to gather one’s thoughts. There are gems in every aspect of this recording–among the voices, the music, and the energy of each piece. This is perfectly programmed from start to “The Center of the Universe,” Richard Pearson Thomas’ brilliant encapsulation of who-what-when-where-why and it must be yours. Visit http://5bmf.org/five-borough-songbook/ to get more information and to acquire your copy.  Sign up for the mailing list so you’ll be among the first to hear what’s new in NYC.