Review - "That's what happens when you give it your all."

Full Review: https://www.classical-scene.com/2017/09/17/albright-chopin-gardner/

Thank you to the Boston Musical Intelligencer for a wonderful review of my first concert of my new series at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston!

Excerpts:

"Charlie Albright brought an inspired approach, holding nothing back in a masterful display of musicality. His extraordinary technique always foregrounded both expressiveness and structure."

"Striking rendering."

"Characteristic of Albright’s approach was an arch-like shaping of long phrases, entering softly gently, building toward a peak, before returning altered from the traversal."

"Breath-taking intimacy, as though wooing an absent beloved."

"The study in thirds, No. 6 in G-sharp Minor, painted a gorgeous impressionist canvas with shimmering pastels and flashes of light."

"Crested a tidal wave of ineffable and unstoppable emotion."

"A sublime and unbridled threat of cosmic forces."

"The Etude in C Minor received a Byronic grandeur and subjectivity; its sublime cosmic scale engulfed worlds and difficulties into seamless and fractious beauty."

"Albright gave us a taste of the next Gardner concert with a brief improvisation, a moody, flowing late-Romantic piece evocative of Rachmaninoff but expressive of a distinctly modern and utterly authentic content."

New Album Release Date Announcement! | The Schubert Series - Live - Part 1

April 8, 2017 | The Schubert Series - Live - Part 1

I'm thrilled to announce the release date of my new live album, The Schubert Series - Live - Part 1, which will be available starting April 8, 2017!

Release Date Concert

The release will correspond with An Evening With Charlie, the benefit concert on 4/8/2017 in conjunction with the Centralia College Foundation, where we will be raising money for the Charlie Albright Scholarship and the Charlie Albright Piano at CC!

The Series

The recording is the first of a three-part set of all-Schubert concerts given in Boston, which covers many of his piano masterworks: the last three sonatas, all of the impromptus, and the Moments Musicaux.  Each CD ends with an Albright improvisation as an encore.  Recorded and mastered by Thomas Stephenson, the concerts were met with great reviews: 

“I will be surprised to hear another performance at this level very soon. It was gripping, both spellbinding and spellbound, quite unlike most solo recitals I’ve heard over the decades.” 

- The Boston Musical Intelligencer

Tracks

Schubert Impromptus, Op. 90

Schubert Sonata in B-Flat Major, D. 960

Albright Improvisation

More Info

Physical CDs (which can be signed) will be available at concerts worldwide, and digital versions will be available everywhere including iTunes.

The album photography is by T.C. Elofson and artwork design is by Stel Creative.  Published and produced by CAPC Music.

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/

"청중 사로잡는 피아니스트 찰리 올브라이트 (Charlie Albright) 보스톤 공연" - 보스톤 코리아 (Boston Korea)

보스톤 코리아 신문 기사

보스톤 코리아에서 기사가 나왔습니다!  보스톤에서 솔로 연주 3월 27일 2016년 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum에서 하고, 5월 18일/19일에 보스톤 팝스와 Symphony Hall에서 합니다!

한번 읽어 보세요! 

http://www.bostonkorea.com/news.php?code=&mode=view&num=23312

-찰리

Charlie Albright, Pianist

--------------------------------

Boston Korea Article

Check out the article in Boston Korea (in Korean) about the upcoming 3/27/2016 recital at the Gardner Museum and the 5/18-19 concerts with the Boston Pops at Symphony Hall!

Take a look at the article here!

http://www.bostonkorea.com/news.php?code=&mode=view&num=23312

-Charlie

Too much Beethoven? I think not.

I'm excited and getting ready to play some Beethoven, Beethoven, Beethoven, and then a Beethoven Concerto! Too much Beethoven? I think not.

If you like Beethoven, have I got an idea for you!

3/27 (Easter!): 3 Beethoven Variations at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum!
http://www.gardnermuseum.org/calendar/events/6923

4/9 and 4/10: Beethoven Concerto No. 3 with the Des Moines Symphony inDes Moines, Iowa at the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines!
http://dmsymphony.org/…/masterworks-6-moldau-don-juan-beet…/

Let's play some Beethoven. :)

Review | "Breathtaking, unbelievable control and speed, what we saw seemingly impossible, yet tossed off with no apparent effort."

Review - The Boston Musical Intelligencer
Full Review: http://www.classical-scene.com/2016/02/14/variations-gardner-albright/

"Breathtaking, unbelievable control and speed, what we saw seemingly impossible, yet tossed off with no apparent effort."

"Brilliant and fun pianism rewarded those of us who braved the bitterly cold Sunday afternoon. Albright’s marvelous touch came with clearly articulated tones in both hands, left and right as independent as you’ll ever hear, while his stunning technique disappeared into the music. Most striking, however, was the joy he radiated throughout; Albright clearly loves sharing his playing with us."

"He found the complexity in the score itself and brought out the Mozart’s richness."

"His wide range of touch comprised legato arpeggios in the third, big staccato chords in the fourth, and a light skipping tinged with sadness in the fifth. The minor key eighth variation was taken poco adagio, melancholy and regretful, suffused with the solemn grandeur of a bygone baroque era. The final variation was played allegro vivace, with beautiful running fingerwork in the left hand as the theme rang out triumphantly in the right."