Bruce Leto Jr. – Mood Poems. (2024) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

Bruce Leto Jr. – Mood Poems. (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 29:24 minutes | 476 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Navona

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:

1-1. Bruce Leto, Jr. – Drehleier Blues (02:25)
1-2. Bruce Leto, Jr. – Julian’s Song (02:49)
1-3. Bruce Leto, Jr. – Prélude, M. 65 (01:25)
1-4. Bruce Leto, Jr. – Ciclo metamorfico sul nome d’un maestro: No. 3, Apparition (01:29)
1-5. Bruce Leto, Jr. – Valses nobles et sentimentales, M. 61: No. 3, Modéré (01:44)
1-6. Bruce Leto, Jr. – Valses nobles et sentimentales, M. 61: No. 4, Assez animé (01:29)
1-7. Bruce Leto, Jr. – Dans le parc (01:32)
1-8. Bruce Leto, Jr. – 5 Pieces for Piano, Op. 75: No. 5, Granen (02:50)
1-9. Bruce Leto, Jr. – Old Swedes (03:07)
1-10. Bruce Leto, Jr. – Suite from Vespero Vermiglio: III. Consolatio (Version for Piano) (02:10)
1-11. Bruce Leto, Jr. – Mouvements perpétuels, FP 14a: No. 1, Assez modéré (01:21)
1-12. Bruce Leto, Jr. – Piano Variations on “Hail to the Chief”: Var. 7, Träumerei (02:32)
1-13. Bruce Leto, Jr. – Pawnee Preludes: No. 3, I Hear the Sound of a Child Crying (01:15)
1-14. Bruce Leto, Jr. – Vaya con Dios (03:09)

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