Bruce Leto Jr. - Mood Poems (2024) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

The work of award-winning Italian-American pianist Bruce Leto has often been referred to as “refined” and “kaleidoscopic” by review outlets such as Fanfare, Artisan Music Reviews, and Take Effect Reviews. Few words could describe his new PARMA release better: MOOD POEMS is a carefully-curated selection of solo piano works exploring the vivid, colorful spectrum of human emotion.

From mysterious and elusive moods (such as those in Apparition), to the blues (Drehleier), spiritual motifs (Old Swedes), emotional (Julian’s Song), pensive (Prelude in A Minor & Consolatio), to waltzes (Valses Nobles et Sentimentales), Leto’s latest release is meant to convey poetry; reminiscent of and inspired by his recent wedding, invigorating Costa Rican Honeymoon, and dedicated to the upcoming birth of his son in June 2024. He masterfully draws upon poetic elements throughout, using vivid imagery, deep emotion, and narrative flow to give listeners an introspective, meditative, and poignant sonic experience.

The featured composers consist of kindred spirits: 20th-century French giants Maurice Ravel and Francis Poulenc, Jean Sibelius (who was well known for his tone poems), and more contemporarily, American Curt Cacioppo, Leto’s academic advisor. Strikingly, Leto holds on to a red thread of expression, almost as if he knew the two late Frenchmen as personally as his professor. As Leto isolates the archetypes of emotion itself, the prime idea proposed on MOOD POEMS turns out to be buoyant and restorative: the human condition is fundamentally unchanging, and thus, there is great consolation to be found in every age — ours included.

Leto has won numerous awards via performance and recording of Cacioppo’s music, ranging from 1st Prize at the Seattle International Piano Festival — Virtuoso Artists Festival, to the American Prize (Judges’ Citation for Championing the Music of Curt and Charles Cacioppo), to the Progressive Musicians International Piano Competition, from which Leto made his Carnegie Hall debut in February 2022.

“MOOD POEMS is meant to celebrate, commemorate, and embrace,” says Leto. “Reaching back to march forward. My hope is that these works will foster moments of gentle reflection unique to each listener, and that they continue to discover more aspects of life where art and poetry shine through.”

Tracklist:
01 - Drehleier Blues
02 - Julian's Song
03 - Prélude, M. 65
04 - Ciclo metamorfico sul nome d'un maestro_ No. 3, Apparition
05 - Valses nobles et sentimentales, M. 61_ No. 3, Modéré
06 - Valses nobles et sentimentales, M. 61_ No. 4, Assez animé
07 - Dans le parc
08 - 5 Pieces for Piano, Op. 75_ No. 5, Granen
09 - Old Swedes
10 - Suite from Vespero Vermiglio_ III. Consolatio (Version for Piano)
11 - Mouvements perpétuels, FP 14a_ No. 1, Assez modéré
12 - Piano Variations on _Hail to the Chief__ Var. 7, Träumerei
13 - Pawnee Preludes_ No. 3, I Hear the Sound of a Child Crying
14 - Vaya con Dios


Thanks to the Original customer!