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Pianist Laura Leon

Music for a Day: 8 Play-full Pieces for Piano

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Music for a Day: 8 Play-full Pieces for Piano is an enchanting group of 8 very short, captivating contemporary pieces for solo piano-more in the guise of short poems-filled with Leo Kraft's inviting signature sonorities, unexpected and delightful harmonic and motivic twists and turns, subtle heartfelt sensitivity and humor.

Composed by Leo Kraft in 1982 with young intermediate pianists in mind, this group stands as a meaningful short group of pieces for all pianists, a gift to contemporary solo piano repertoire. I received a copy in 1982 from Leo and have been playing them every since.

Taking them into a concert setting, I had the opportunity to give its premiere performance as part of Composer's Voice September 28, 2014 4th Annual Children's Month concert at the Jan Hus Church in NYC.

The titles are as inviting as the music, including a musically inflected greeting-like “Good Morning," intervals of seconds cleverly drizzling and waltzing in “Raindrops” atop an umbrella, and the gentle swirl of “Afternoon Breeze,” to “In Evening” invoking Copland’s cherished American sound and “Distant Bells" - a nod to Debussy’s impressionist “Cathedrale engloutie”, all expressive and engaging.

Leo titled Music For a Day as an invitation to pianists and listeners to an engaging soundtrack for any given day.

Recording Engineer/Producer: Adam Abeshouse
CD Cover Art: Karen Leon, Broken Tail Productions
Publisher: Subito Music (subitomusic.com)