It is hard for me to believe Albert Newberry did not come out of the womb playing the piano.
There is only one way I can sum up his playing: If he is able to achieve with his future bride what he accomplishes on a piano during any given concert, he is destined for an inevitably rapturous wedding night.
Every muscle in his body seems to work in concert to ensure that the exact note he intends emanates from his grand piano. Somehow, it happens without fail every time. The Bland County native divides his time between his Southwest Virginia home and New York, where he teaches piano and plays gigs whenever possible.
It was my honor to see this virtuoso of the ivories live in concert at St. Paul Episcopal Church in Wytheville on Sunday, Aug. 9. This was the best performance I have ever seen from Newberry, as a fortunate audience of only a couple dozen people were treated to 21 original compositions that will eventually be released across two albums.
“We recorded so much music that we had to split it up into two albums,” he explained. “I have not timed the entirety of the songs all together, so if they end up being too long, I may cut some for the record.”
I pray he does not make that decision, because the full expressions of all these compositions would be the ultimate gift to anyone who appreciates exceptional piano music.
In an 80-minute concert that flew by as though it lasted only five minutes, Newberry gave us a glimpse into his incredible musical genius. He opened with two original compositions, “Pastorale” and “Toccata,” numbers that were filmed in that same beautiful church for PBS Appalachia. The film went on to win an Emmy Award.
Newberry’s playing has an uncanny ability to heighten the imagination. During one number, you could envision a Charlie Chaplin film unfolding before your eyes; during another, a Looney Tunes cartoon came to mind; and still another seemed perfectly suited for a Steve McQueen chase sequence. To observe Albert Newberry at the keys, one might almost believe he has more than two hands playing his own compositions.
Watching his hands cross over one another and his arms contort into seemingly impossible positions to execute these genius sounds is jaw-dropping, to say the least.
Newberry has also experienced a great deal of personal loss during the past year. He lost a friend in Blacksburg whom he considered one of the greatest appreciators of music he had ever known.
“This man was not a musician,” Newberry explained. “But he had a separate room in which he did nothing but listen to records. Most of us have music playing in the background, but he kept a room where he could just simply listen to the music.”
For his friend, Larsen Bowker, Newberry dedicated his song “Home.” He also lost his Russian grandmother during the past year and dedicated another beautiful piece to her, entitled “Autumn.”
Those were probably the most resonant pieces for me personally during the evening. Having lost my own father around the same time Newberry’s grandmother passed away, I felt those songs deeply, perhaps in a way that allowed me to understand something of what he must have felt while writing them.
There were also several groups of compositions, including the six-part “Rhythmic Studies,” the four-part “Disparate Elements” and the three-part “Perpetuum Mobile.”
Another of the evening’s more moving pieces was “Piece for Peace,” inspired by the many friends Newberry has in both Ukraine and Russia.
“I wrote this when the war involving Russia and Ukraine broke out,” he said. “As the son of a Russian mother, my family and I have many friends and relatives who are affected by this war.”
Newberry possesses a quintessential ability to create more emotion with a series of notes than many composers can achieve with lyrics. His music engages the senses and evokes vivid images within the listener’s mind.
His talent is unparalleled, and we in Southwest Virginia are fortunate to call a person of his genius, and an equally heartfelt human being, one of our own.
As much as I enjoyed his performance last Christmas with guitarist Casey Lewis, I enjoyed this solo performance even more because it allowed me to witness, without distraction, the magic Newberry creates through his own compositions. It was an evening that demonstrated not only his extraordinary technical ability but also the emotional depth and imagination that separate a gifted pianist from a true artist.
Both of the albums are produced by Bartosz Lasecki, a composer based in New York. It was recorded in July at Echo Park Studios in Bloomington, Indiana with engineer and owner, Andy Beargie. I will await the release of both albums with bated breath, and I am anxious to see what other incredible work Albert Newberry will produce in what appears destined to be an extraordinarily bright future.
