On today’s show, I’m so thrilled to talk to the amazing Pianist, Composer and Improviser, Charlie Albright!
Hailed as “among the most gifted musicians of his generation” with a “dazzling natural keyboard affinity” who “made quite an impression” by the Washington Post, American pianist/composer/improviser Charlie Albright has been praised for his “jaw-dropping technique and virtuosity meshed with a distinctive musicality” by The New York Times, and his “extravagance that had showmanship but never felt cheap” with his “ease and smoothness that refuses to airbrush the music, but animates it from within” by the Philadelphia Inquirer. Recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant and Gilmore Young Artist Award, Albright won the Ruhr Klavier Festival Young Artist Award presented by Marc-André Hamelin (Germany) and the Young Concert Artists International Auditions.
In addition to performing, Albright is sought after as a speaker, masterclass instructor, teacher, and competition judge. His debut commercial recording, Vivace, has sold thousands of copies worldwide and the first of a 3-part Schubert Series of live, all-Schubert recordings was released in 2017.
Recently, he made his Main Stage Carnegie debut with the American Symphony in January, and just returned from the Bergen International Festival in Norway (he was asked to fill in for Lang Lang after an injury in 2017, and returned for a sold-out solo recital and to do the honors of performing the yearly Grieg Concerto at Grieg Concert Hall.
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1:45 - Did you go to piano on your own as a child?
3:17 - Do you have perfect pitch? Can you play anything you hear?
3:45 - Did you play piano for pleasure or did parents make him practice?
4:38 - Did your piano teacher help train your ear?
6:07 - You can play the organ?
6:18 - When did you start to compose and improvise?
6:58 - Did you know theory at the time or was it all by sound?
8:15 - What kind of music did you listen to growing up?
9:13 - Favorite records or albums or artists growing up?
10:27 - Was it a shock to learn to read after playing by ear?
11:53 - What pieces did your teacher assign to you?
12:55 - Did playing Chopin influence your creativity?
14:01 - Do you have knowledeg in figured bass?
14:58 - The drawbacks of music theory
16:20 - Does the sound come first instead of the analysis?
16:27 - Did you experiment with music, harmonically?
17:42 - Do you take ideas from pieces you play?
18:10 - Give an example of taking an idea from a piece of music
19:33 - Can you imitate composer's trademark sounds?
20:26 - How did the training in Harvard and New England Conservatory influence you?
22:11 - What did the teachers do to develop you?
23:04 - What's been the reaction of your peers to your improvisation?
24:22 - How much time do you devote to repertoire vs improvisation?
25:44 - How did you feel about the music theory study at university?
26:12 - How did the music theory influence your approach to composition?
27:16 - When did you start seriously composing?
27:58 - Meeting Yo-Yo Ma for the first time
29:33 - Were you an undergraduate at the time?
29:53 - What was the rehearsal like?
30:41 - Was Yo-Yo Ma aware of your improvisational ability at the time?
31:33 - Did you feel like changing notes in the score for the concert with Yo-Yo Ma?
32:03 - Any interesting Yo-Yo Ma anecdotes?
32:57 - What is your temperament like? Do you get nervous?
36:34 - Talking about Marc-André Hamelin
37:49 - Was was the phone call with Hamelin like?
38:13 - Substituting for Lang Lang in a concert
39:30 - What do you think of Grieg and his music?
40:24 - Talking about improvising cadenzas
41:38 - What is going through your mind when you improvise in a cadenza?
43:17 - Main Stage Carnegie Hall debut with the Vivian Fine Piano Concerto
44:29 - Performing Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls of Fire" as an Encore at Carnegie Hall
46:41 - HOT SEAT: Top 3 Jazz Musicians
47:36 - HOT SEAT: Top 3 Classical Composers before 1900
47:59 - HOT SEAT: Top 3 Etudes
48:12 - HOT SEAT: If you could improvise with anyone in history, who would it be?
48:30 - HOT SEAT: If you could meet Chopin, what would you ask him?
49:05 - HOT SEAT: Top 3 Composers after 1900
49:16 - HOT SEAT: Proudest Music Moment
50:24 - HOT SEAT: Top 3 Piano Concertos
50:49 - HOT SEAT: Top 3 Small Piano Pieces
51:18 - Do you know many of your concert pianist peers in the world?
52:45 - Do you know Lang Lang?
52:53 - HOT SEAT: Top 3 Concert Pianists
53:21 - Talking about Emanuel Ax with the Avery Fisher Career Grant
53:47 - Advice on Classical Improvisation
55:47 - How to get started with Classical Improvisation
57:45 - Upcoming projects in 2019
58:36 - Social Media Links