Solo Piano Publications Reviewer Kathy Parsons writes: "Hope For Harmony is a gorgeous debut from pianist/composer Kathryn Toyama. Gentle, subtle, and very soothing...the music has the spontaneous feeling of improvisation, and much of it is more ambient than melodic, setting a mood of quiet yet intense peacefulness...so effortlessly floats on a cloud of sound.... Passionate yet serene, the music follows the path of a spiritual journey that hopes for harmony within each individual and reaches out to global peace through acceptance and tolerant understanding."
As an artist expressing her deepest truths, Kathryn felt that the depth of her reality could only be captured by recording it “in the moment” and preserving each original expression from start to end, just as a live performance would be recorded without any creative alterations or enhancements. She felt that the most honest acoustic performance she could give was to keep the integrity of each composition by recording each track without digital editing. Only fade-outs were applied at the end of “Carefree” and “Floating on Dreams.” Kathryn composes her music by letting the melodic structure develop intuitively. She says that before the melody can come to her, she must first open her heart, and then her musical expression begins to unfold. In today's wonderful digital era, recording artists are blessed with the liberty to edit and enhance their compositions, but on this first album, it was important for Kathryn to offer the entire truth of her emotional journeys.

..~..~..~..~..~..~ * Hope for Harmony * ~..~..~..~..~..~..