"Michael Daugherty's music has always embraced the full, polyglot spectrum of American culture. He's composed a Metropolis Symphony after the Superman comics and an opera called Jackie O, while Dead Elvis was a work for bassoon and ensemble, and Tales of Hemingway is his cello concerto. But This Land Sings, "inspired by the life and times of Woody Guthrie", first performed in 2016, is a much more straightforward, touching tribute to the singer-songwriter, who is one of the iconic figures in the history of American music ... There are plenty of musical references from American folk music and borrowings and near-quotes from elsewhere, too ... It's all done with a light, affectionate touch that often disguises its sheer musical fluency and ingenuity, while the performances by Annika Socolofsky and John Daugherty ... with the ensemble Dogs of Desire under their conductor David Alan Miller, get just the right balance between edgy precision and freewheeling exuberance"