Leon Gurvitch, solo piano & composition

• Poetic Whispers
• Hommage a Stravinsky
• Autumn Song
• November (improvisation)
• Impressions from Concerto de Aranjuez
• G. Faure. Pavane
• Rainy (improvisation)
• Erik Satie. Gymnopedie Nr. 1
• Reflections (improvisation)
• A. Piazzolla. Oblivion
• A. Piazzolla. Milonga del Angel
• Lonely (improvisation)

Notice from Leon

The idea of this album „Poetic Whispers“ appeared 2 years ago but

I have composed some pieces since about 10 years. „Poetic Whispers“ is one of them.

I came from Belarus to Germany in 2001.

Homesickness, nostalgia, sadness but also hope for a better life.

The melancholic feelings of my first years abroad have never left me.

Where there is light, there is always shade.

These changes of mood reflect my new album „Poetic Whispers“.

Astor Piazzolla matches this image quite well. The music of the Argentinian master celebrates exactly the tension between despair and vitality. I admire his music a lot.

Freedom is an important issue for me, also by making music.

Improvisation is its best expression.

The album combines my compositions with those by classical composers like Erik Satie or Gabriel Fauré. I feel a close connection with Igor Stravinsky. I think he was at home everywhere and at the same time everywhere a stranger.

I always carry music, melodies in me. My own compositions often arise spontaneously. I composed „Autumn Song“ a week before the recording. I believe this song made the album complete.

To write and play music is my elixir of life.

Released by Centaur Records. 2017

Leon Gurvitch, solo piano & composition

• Poetic Whispers
• Hommage a Stravinsky
• Autumn Song
• November (improvisation)
• Impressions from Concerto de Aranjuez
• G. Faure. Pavane
• Rainy (improvisation)
• Erik Satie. Gymnopedie Nr. 1
• Reflections (improvisation)
• A. Piazzolla. Oblivion
• A. Piazzolla. Milonga del Angel
• Lonely (improvisation)

Notice from Leon

The idea of this album „Poetic Whispers“ appeared 2 years ago but

I have composed some pieces since about 10 years. „Poetic Whispers“ is one of them.

I came from Belarus to Germany in 2001.

Homesickness, nostalgia, sadness but also hope for a better life.

The melancholic feelings of my first years abroad have never left me.

Where there is light, there is always shade.

These changes of mood reflect my new album „Poetic Whispers“.

Astor Piazzolla matches this image quite well. The music of the Argentinian master celebrates exactly the tension between despair and vitality. I admire his music a lot.

Freedom is an important issue for me, also by making music.

Improvisation is its best expression.

The album combines my compositions with those by classical composers like Erik Satie or Gabriel Fauré. I feel a close connection with Igor Stravinsky. I think he was at home everywhere and at the same time everywhere a stranger.

I always carry music, melodies in me. My own compositions often arise spontaneously. I composed „Autumn Song“ a week before the recording. I believe this song made the album complete.

To write and play music is my elixir of life.

Released by Centaur Records. 2017

Leon Gurvitch, piano, melodica, composition

• Remember me
• Prelude (after Chopin)
• Mein Leben
• Legend
• Megapolis
• Improvisation #2
• Gnossienne Nr.1 (Erik Satie)
• My Hope
• Improvisation #1
• Inventio
• Russian Suite

Notice from Leon

This CD comprises primarily my own compositions created in the recent 13 years and developed in course of solo concerts in the last time. Stilistically this material is something between modern classic & improvised music. It is also full of jazz and world music influences.

I grew up with classical music and studied more classics than jazz, nevertheless I wanted to present my own arrangements of Chopin and Satie. I also composed a piece „Mein Leben“ thought as a reminiscence for the equal-named book written by Marcel Reich-Ranicki. The piece „Legend“ actually flowed from the pen of a well-known Armenian composer Komitas. I composed and added my own motives to it and interpreted this music freely on melodica. „My Hope“ has a melody, which is almost impossible to recognize, however it is based on original called „Hatikva“. My Russian soul comes out in the piece „Russian-Suite“, which is full of folklore impacts. In free improvisations I left everything sound as at live concerts without any cuts. Much more improvisations were recorded at the studio, but unfortunately not all of them can appear on this album due to limited CD-capacities.

I would like to thank all the people who assisted me with recording and producing of this CD-release: Kulturradio rbb, Ulf Drechsel, Ulli Blobel, a wonderful team of rbb: Wolfgang Hoff, Nikolaus Loewe, Ulrich Hieber, Monika Steffens, Photograph Henriette Mielke.

Special thanks goes to my family, which always supported me.

I hope that this album „Remember me“ can tell a story, namely for every listener his or her own, personal story.

Booklet

morgenland/harmonia mundi/Naxos

All compositions & arrangements by Leon Gurvitch ©

Leon Gurvitch Project feat. Frank London

• From London to Berlin
• Kdusha
• Agizn Parovoz
• Eldorado
• Hamsin
• Talisman
• Belz
• Die Hexe
• Barukh Elokeinu
• Fiesta
• Spiel & Tanz

Inspired by the folk tunes of his motherland Belarus, the compositions of Leon Gurvitch are always reminiscent of his roots. The composer himself characterizes his music as world jazz. Perceptible influence of Russian, Balkan and Oriental elements as well as that of klezmer motives imparts particular energy to Leon Gurvitch’s compositions. This typical feature of his music creates a unique individual style and thus distinguishes itself among the wide spectrum of world music streams. The compositions of Gurvitch, possessing their own dynamics, by no means pass into the range of traditional klezmer. Most compositions and arrangements of Leon Gurvitch belong to East-European tradition and at the same time obviously cross the borders of national music, embodying modern European jazz stylistics.

Frank London – trumpet, fluegelhorn

Leon Gurvitch – piano, melodica

Inna Vysotska – vocal

Vladimir Karparov – saxophon, clarinet

Omar Rodriguez Calvo – contrabass

Dimitris Christides – drums, percussion

Booklet

morgenland/harmonia mundi/ Naxos

All compositions & arrangements by Leon Gurvitch ©