Concert Reviews
The Gramophone
MAY 2007 DISC OF THE MONTH/EDITOR'S CHOICE“To describe 26-year-old Yevgeny Sudbin as music’s brightest young star pianist is in a sense to do him a disservice. For he is above all an artist, and here in his eagerly awaited concerto debut on disc he gives us a Tchaikovsky First of spine-tingling brilliance, poetry and vivacity. This is never the Tchaikovsky youhave always known but an arrestingly novel rethink with the concentration on mercurial changes of mood and direction. Here, amazingly, is one of the most familiar of all concertos rekindled in all its first glory, brimming over with zest and shorn of all clichés that have adhered to it over the years.
WIGMORE HALL, LONDON
FEBRUARY 11, 2005"Such is the quality of the playing, that one has to look to the great interpreters to find pianists equal to Mr Sudbin’s achievement: just as the rhapsodic brilliance of his Chopin recalls Cortot, so his Scarlatti recalls Pletnev." - Marc Bridle, Seen and Heard Recital Review, Musicweb-International.com
HERFORD, GERMANY
JUNE 23, 2003"At the concert on Saturday evening the young pianist Yevgeny Sudbin was feted by the audience after his brilliant performance of Tchaikovsky’s 1st Piano Concerto. Rarely has one heard certain of the octave passages played with such virtuosity as by Sudbin. Wonderfully shaped were the frequent transitions from strong, virtuoso effects to tender, emotional melodic motifs." - Westfällische Zeitung
RÜGEN, GERMANY
AUGUST 15, 2003"Masterful Piano Playing - It is possible that the young man may actually be as he seems; reserved, very focused, in fact quite serious and almost shy. But when at the piano, a broad spectrum of intense expressiveness is revealed through his concentration on the essential in music. Sudbin’s music-making is very focused and direct. His concepts are clear and his “message” unequivocal. Moreover, the impression that all efforts are entirely devoted to the specific work, is of most significance to him…With his talent, all roads are open to him." FULL REVIEW - Ekkehard Ochs
WIGMORE HALL, LONDON
FEBRUARY 11, 2003"His opening group of three Scarlatti sonatas at once proclaimed a pianist of uncommon sensitivity and refinement, with a lean, limpid sound and total confidence in his imaginative conception of each piece. …Sudbin's extraordinary illumination of detail, the endless variety of his tonal shading and the thrilling buoyancy of his fingers. The Scriabin really danced. In Medtner's Sonata Tragica, the rapid passage-work…had a thrilling vitality, the torrent of feeling unstinted, while the private communing at the heart of the work was deeply felt and seemed absolutely authentic. Sudbin astonished his select audience with Rachmaninov's elaborations of Fritz Kreisler's "Liebesleid" and "Liebesfreud" – both so inventively phrased and so spontaneously expressive, they seemed like inspired improvisations: absolutely delicious. A great recital." - Adrian Jack, The Independent
BAD SALZUFLEN, GERMANY
JUNE 23, 2003"He is only 23 and plays with an absolutely unbelievable maturity. Brilliance and fluency seem as a natural prerequisite of a world of expression, that shape the entire work, with a masterly sound production, a deeply sensed Rubato (Agogic) and a first rate instinctive grasp of the works architecture." - Lippische Landeszeitung
DUBLIN, IRELAND
OCTOBER 20, 2002"Superb soloist Yevgeny Sudbin..he is studying in London and is playing with a remarkable fluency and authority. Superlative musicianship." - Ian Fox, The Sunday Tribune
GSTAAD, SWITZERLAND
MARCH 5, 2001"This Russian pianist proves that the discovery of a young talent is more stunning than that of a lost manuscript (by Beethoven). Yevgeny displayed unbelievably mature and thoughtful playing in his recital. Somewhere behind that noble silhouette which reminds one of the young Liszt, behind that nose of aquiline profile, broods a dark force which unfolds during the 5th Sonata by Scriabin and Ravel’s Gaspard de la Nuit (Scarbo). Gradation of sound-palette, treatment of single notes as a mass formation, achieving supreme legato; Yevgeny Sudbin has everything to make a great career. He particularly has this ability of penetrative insight that enables him to have the vision of a piece in its entirety in just a split second." FULL REVIEW - Julian Sykes, Le Temps
GSTAAD, SWITZERLAND
MARCH 6, 2001"Sovereign playing which transmits nervous power and full abandon in Scriabin, revealing lyrical poeticism in Chopin’s Ballade No 4 and an astonishing capability of elucidation in Gaspard de la Nuit by Ravel." - Eric Dahan, Libération
GSTAAD, SWITZERLAND
MARCH 9, 2001"With his piano recital on a Sunday afternoon, the young 20 year old Russian pianist Yevgeny Sudbin ended these concert series stunningly. Yevgeny Sudbin clearly knew how to bring out all the warm, tender, sometimes even cosmic sounds of the piano that opened up a gateway to pure, infinite spheres of existence for the audience, and he then immediately shocked us with those explosive outbursts emanating from Scriabin’s extraverted side...The young pianist mastered this work (Chopin’s 4th Ballade), which is full of soft and tender poetry, but always allowing room for very virtuosic and passionate passages, with an unbelievable artistic maturity and a great musical sensitivity...Yevgeny Sudbin’s excellent, very lively and sensitive interpretations will certainly have left a long-lasting impression on the audience!" - Ursula Messerli, Anzeiger von Saanen
MÜNICH, GERMANY
OCTOBER 10, 2001"In Schumann’s Kreisleriana, Sudbin established an ideal contrast between the feverish musical thrust, broad narrative tone and transcendental expression." - Gerhard Summer, Süddeutsche Zeitung
WOLFSBERG, SWITZERLAND
APRIL 7, 2000"Nothing seems to be difficult for the young Yvgeny Sudbin. The organizers were absolutely justified in proclaiming that this pianist is well on the way to a successful international career. In the melancholic Andante con moto (Beethoven Bagatelles op. 126), he projected the ideal purity of the movement in balanced contrast with the rhythmic passages and rising dynamics. Sudbin articulated the passages in a crystal-clear manner as if Bach himself was looking over his shoulder. In Scarbo, Evgeny dazzled the audience with pianistic fire-works of a rare kind. What this young Russian did was the ultimate proof, that what the audience had encountered here, allows us to hope for only the best." FULL REVIEW - Gerhard Hellwig, Thrugauer Zeitung