Leon's latest release: "The same water that ebbs ..."

I just got my recording for my latest piece that was performed. To hear it click here.


Title: "The same water that ebbs ..."
Composer: Leon Harrell
Pianist: Juri Seo


Program Note:

"The same water that ebbs…" is a line from the poem "The Heart
of the Buddha" by Hsu Yun.

No need to chase back and forth like the waves.
The same water which ebbs is the same water that flows.
No point turning back to get water
When it's flowing around you in all directions
The heart of the Buddha and the people of the world...
Where is there any difference?

This piece is the first piece I have completed after a long creative
drought. I wanted to create a piano piece that borrowed the technical
agility found in Ravel’s Sonatine and also use a harmonic language
that progressed beyond Impressionist harmonies yet retained the rich
quality and warmth found in the piano works of that period.

Although I found the poem after finishing the work I think it captures
the process of the piece’s creation. For many weeks I worked not
knowing what to do with this piece and wondering if I would ever feel
the same way about composing after such a long period of not writing.
But during the process I was reminded that often when you don’t know
what to do you must allow yourself to just work. Like the water in the
poem our creative spirit ebbs and flows, yet it is always around us.