Healing Hearts 2
Louis Landon
2015 / Landon Creative
66 minutes
Review by Kathy Parsons
Louis Landon continues to soar on the wings of an amazingly creative period - now going on several years! Healing Hearts 2 is the follow-up to Healing Hearts, which was released the end of 2014 and is nominated for Album of the Year on Whisperings Solo Piano Radio. This is Landon?s second album for 2015 and he?s already working on his first release for 2016! The fourteen tracks on Healing Hearts 2 were gathered from improvisations created during sessions at Landon?s Healing Piano of Sedona (AZ), so the piano solos are very smooth and soothing - probably the most relaxed and relaxing album of Landon?s career. Recorded on a Steinway B grand piano at The Peace Palace in Sedona and mastered by Joe Bongiorno at Piano Haven, also in Sedona, the piano sound is impeccable - very warm and enveloping. Landon told me that this is the best music he never wrote, referring to the fact that the music just flows out of him during these sessions, reflective of each client?s wants and needs at the time of the session.

The full Healing Hearts 2 album is a little more than an hour of quietly uplifting music and works exceptionally well as a relaxing and healing experience. I?d like to mention a few favorite pieces, though. The album begins with ?Sisters,? a very gentle piece that expresses the love and special bond that can exist between sisters. Very light and free, it?s a beautiful start. ?Free At Last? starts out almost mournfully - dark and searching - gradually becoming livelier and more optimistic. It?s an amazing musical journey and development! ?Relax and Enjoy? expresses the warm comfort of just letting go and ?being? for awhile - leisurely and contented. ?Feeling the Love? is so warm and open that it feels like a musical embrace - melodic yet very free. ?All Is Well? is almost ambient, but what a wonderful atmosphere of quiet contentment it creates - a perfect peace. ?Transition? is like floating on a cloud - effortless and so peaceful. ?Dark Nights? is one of the most beautiful pieces Landon has recorded. It reminds me a little bit of Beethoven?s ?Moonlight Sonata? and some of Chopin?s Nocturnes - so poignant and heartfelt that it takes my breath away. The gracefully flowing ?Dancer? expresses freedom and elegant movement. ?Lullaby? closes this excellent album with a piece so soothing it could melt the tension out of anyone. Gorgeous!

If you are looking for music that will relax and refresh your inner being, you need to look no further than Healing Hearts 2. This is the real deal when it comes to soothing piano music with substance and heart. It is available from louislandon.com, Amazon, iTunes, and CD Baby. Highly recommended!
November 1, 2015

Recorded at The Peace Palace, Sedona, AZ, from November 2015 to February 2016. on a Steinway B.

Music mastering: Joe Bongiorno at Piano Haven Studio, Sedona, AZ



Louis Landon is a composer and Steinway artist. Formerly of New York and currently living in Sedona, Arizona, Louis has dedicated his life to music. His career has taken him around the world playing a variety of styles with some of the most recognized names in the entertainment industry. He toured nationally and internationally, playing classical music for Mikhail Baryshnikov; jazz fusion with The John Payne Band; Latin music with "Pucho and his Latin Soul Brothers?; pop music with Rupert "Pina Colada Song" Holmes; and rock & roll with John Hall, opening for "Little Feat?.

Louis began playing the piano by ear at 4 years old and began lessons at 5. As a teenager, he played guitar and keyboard in bands and went on to study music at Stony Brook University, Boston Conservatory and Berklee College of Music.

For the past 30 years, through his production company, Landon Music Company, Louis has written and produced music for film, video, and commercials. He recorded his first original album, Love Songs & Jazz, in 1994 and has since released 38 Albums/CDs on the LCI Record label. His latest, entitled Provocative Piano, was released on January 29, 2021. He has just finished up yet another solo piano album, Nighttime Piano for Relaxation and Deep Sleep, with a release date of April 23, 2021.

Louis Landon mission:

To create a more compassionate world by writing, recording and performing music that inspires love, peace, joy and gratitude.

Reviews:

?While some pianists are virtuosos in their playing and others may not be as technically proficient, but have great emotional content in their music, Louis Landon brings it all together with impeccable style and grace. His work covers diverse compositional terrain, incorporating influences of classical, new age, jazz, pop, and more in a mellifluous spectrum of moods and musical colors.? Michaeldiamondmusic.com

"He has a gift for composition that is second to none." Zone Music Reporter

"? indeed meditative and mellow, [he] sacrifices no musical rigor to achieve those ends. With backgrounds in jazz, Latin music, rock, pop, film composing, and classical piano, Louis brings his breadth and depth of experience to bear here. His playing and compositions are sensitive as they are complex and? a diverse range of influences is more than apparent.? Keyboard Magazine

Recognition:

Louis Landon's music has had over 140 million streams on Pandora radio!

Louis Landon's music has had over 34 million streams on Spotify!

Thanksgiving Piano was nominated for Album of the Year 2020 by Whisperings Radio.

Departure - Solo Piano was nominated for Album of the Year 2017 by Whisperings Radio.

Healing Hearts 2 - Solo Piano won 2016 ?Contemporary and Modern? Album of the Year at solo piano.com and was nominated for Album of the Year at Enlightened Piano Radio, also in 2016.

Healing Hearts - Solo Piano was nominated for Album of the Year at Whisperings Radio 2015.

Solo Piano for Love, Peace & Mermaids was nominated for Album of the Year at Whisperings Radio 2010.

Solo Piano for Peace was nominated for the 2009 ZMR Music Awards in three categories: Album of the Year, Best Instrumental Album - piano, and Best Cover Art by Zone Music Reporter. Solo Piano for Peace was listed at #30 of the top 100 albums for airplay in 2009 by Zone Music Reporter.

Peace Revolution! was Louis Landon's 7th CD and 2nd solo piano CD. It was #7 on the NAR top 100 charts and was played on over 50 stations worldwide.

unwind charted at #3 of the top 100 cds for the month of February, 2006 on Zone Music Reporter's website, playing on over 121 stations internationally.

Visit LouisLandon.com for bookings, CDs, sheet music, contact info and more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SYROYYYOc8


?At Last? was composed by Mack Gordon and Harry Warren for the musical ?Sun Valley Serenade? in 1941. It was recorded by Glenn Miller and his orchestra, becoming a chart hit in 1942, and in 1960 by Etta James, who was subsequently inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The song is a frequent wedding favourite for quartets.

Why chose my arrangement?

This is a song from my gig repertoire, and as such I have spent a long time on the piano part to make sure that it lies under the fingers. I have assigned the opening to the piano as it is tricky, even for very experienced violin players, and I shortened the introduction to make it more appropriate for concerts, wedding venues and pub gigs. I have also made the piano notation slightly smaller so that it falls onto two pages. It?s very important for a live performance to be able to see it easily. And unlike some sheet music that you can buy, I make sure the treble and bass clefs are easy to read?.very few horrible ledger lines!

The violin part has difficult rhythms but I enclose a midi version to help you. (Watch the video) Having said that, although the pianist needs to hold a steady pulse, the violin part can be extremely varied and you can play around with the tune as much as you like. I have included a cadenza that my daughter sings in live performances, but feel free to change it, or miss it out altogether.

I have also included an Easy Violin version for your pupils, or as a way in to working on the more difficult version.

My tips for the performance.

The first piano chord is tricky, but works if you do a glissando in the left hand, and land on the A on the first beat of the bar. I tried many different spacings of the chord but this is the one that sounded best. I have largely written a quaver accompaniment throughout the song, but sometimes I hint at it rather than playing it literally. There are some fingerings that I have found helpful, but feel free to change them, of course! The same goes for my bowing. Take as many bows as you need to feel comfortable.