Monday, October 3, 2016

Review: "Albright Undisputed Master of Variations"

Review: "Albright Undisputed Master of Variations"

Whew! Just got back from a whirlwind of concerts this September, starting with a couple with the Colorado Springs Symphony, then two with the Mobile Symphony Orchestra, and just yesterday in a recital at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum!  It will be nice to catch my breath for a little while before the next batch starts up!

The Boston Musical Intelligencer wrote a kind review about my performance...here are some excerpts:

"Many pianists possess great technique; many retain a broad repertoire. Charlie Albright has something extra: the propensity to make concerts riveting, fun and exhilarating. His unique way of communing with the music merges his intentions with the composer’s, bringing freshness of vision and unique expressive ability to his performances.

Albright played it as a fellow musician-composer, in intimate communion with the essentials of the music.

"Two right hands are just what Albright has, and in his hands the jazziness was not only emphasized, but was perfectly executed in the best rendition of this work that you are likely to hear. At times he seemed to be channeling Art Tatum, the difficult rhythms seeming effortless and natural, the variations the essence of jazz. 


"Enthusiastically acclaimed, Albright encored with an improvisatory set of variations based on four notes supplied by members of the audience.  The first variation had a Debussy-like sensitivity to ambient color, the next one more dramatic and stormy, shrouded in darkness. Each new variation disclosed a distinctive quality, ranging from urgent to lyrical, solemn to adventurous, shifting from waltz to march to ballade and more—all while maintaining the overall coherence of the idiom. A vast momentum gathered before coming to a convincing cadence.

I'll be looking forward to starting the next cycle in about a year...this time themed around Chopin!

-Charlie

Full Review: http://www.classical-scene.com/2016/10/03/albright-variations/

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