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`POTENTIALLY ONE OF THE GREATEST PIANISTS OF THE 21ST CENTURY'GILMORE RISING STAR YEVGENY SUDBIN ALREADY HAS A STRONG CRITICAL FOLLOWING
By Elizabeth Clark
http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/kzgazett e/index.ssf?/base/features-2/1194276021228300.xml& amp;coll=7
Sunday, November 04, 2007
KALAMAZOO -- Russian-born and London-based pianist Yevgeny Sudbin's
Gilmore Rising Stars Recital Series concert at the Wellspring Theatre
next Sunday may be a bit of a misnomer.
Between his rigorous itinerary of performances around the world and
far more than a mantle-full of awards --including the Alfred Brendel
Prize, Orpheum Public Award and the Vendome Prize to his name and
his five-year recording contract with BIS Records -- the distinction
between "rising" and risen has most certainly been met.
The 27-year-old performer typed a smiley face in an e-mail interview
from London when asked whether he took umbrage at being considered a
"rising star" more than a decade into his noteworthy career.
"Not at all," he wrote. "I think you find some of the most unique
talents within the `rising stars' category. ... I am somewhat
oblivious to how people view me or my career. I was always preoccupied
discovering composers and works that would suit my musical personality
and preparing for the next concerts. The perception of others is the
last thing on my mind!"
More pressing on his mind at the time of his writing was his then
upcoming trip to Yerevan, Armenia, where he would be performing
Beethoven's "Emperor" Piano Concerto as a "run-through" for his debut
soon with the Minnesota Orchestra. While Beethoven's Fifth might prove
daunting for some because it is so well-known, Sudbin said he was no
more nervous about his debut with the Minnesota orchestra than any
other concert.
"I have to mention that I am nervous before every concert, no matter
how important," he wrote. "This nervousness is a positive one and
important in order to achieve some excitement in the performance. I
don't think I can perform without being nervous at all. (Nervousness
is maybe the wrong word.
I think a type of excitement is probably more like it.) I am at a
stage now where every performance is very important and in a way each
has to be better than the previous one. Although it is impossible to
achieve it in practice, this is an ideal I strive to."
A Gramophone UK reviewer examining his performance of Medtner and
Tchaikovsky concertos said nervousness isn't palpable in Subdin's
performance. "There is nothing tentative about his commanding
style. ...
Sudbin's performance here fairly explodes with imagination, feeling
and desire. Here, one feels, is a pianist hungry to test himself
intellectually and emotionally as well as technically." A London Daily
Telegraph reporter hailed Sudbin as "potentially one of the greatest
pianists of the 21st century."
The program he'll play at his Gilmore recital is prevalent on his 2007
itinerary and is full of contrasts. Sudbin writes his own program
notes and explores in great detail the composers and the pieces
in fascinating text in his show-bills for concert-goers to further
explore the pieces including Haydn, Medtner, Chopin and Scriabin.
"Both Haydn Sonatas oppose each other in character; while the B minor
one is declamatory and often full of fury, the C major is cheeky
and full of humor," Sudbin wrote. "I love Medtner's music but the
audience sometimes finds his music hard on the first hearing. His
Sonata Reminiscenza is probably some of his most accessible works, and
I usually get positively surprised how much the audience warms to it."
Half of the program focuses on Chopin Mazurkas and what he calls
the "mystical world" of Scriabin. "I devoted a whole second half to
Scriabin because I feel one should experience how his style progresses
and his sound world changes. It is quite incredible; from innocent
romanticism (Mazurkas) and nostalgic impressionism (2nd Sonata)
his music develops into demonic outbursts of truly terrifying power
(in the 9th Sonata)."
Recital
Gilmore Rising Stars Recital Series: Yevgeny Sudbin -- Solo piano
recital by 2008 Gilmore Young Artist, 7 p.m. next Sunday, Wellspring
Theater, 359 S.
Kalamazoo Mall, Kalamazoo. $22, $5 students. 342-1166.
By Elizabeth Clark
http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/kzgazett e/index.ssf?/base/features-2/1194276021228300.xml& amp;coll=7
Sunday, November 04, 2007
KALAMAZOO -- Russian-born and London-based pianist Yevgeny Sudbin's
Gilmore Rising Stars Recital Series concert at the Wellspring Theatre
next Sunday may be a bit of a misnomer.
Between his rigorous itinerary of performances around the world and
far more than a mantle-full of awards --including the Alfred Brendel
Prize, Orpheum Public Award and the Vendome Prize to his name and
his five-year recording contract with BIS Records -- the distinction
between "rising" and risen has most certainly been met.
The 27-year-old performer typed a smiley face in an e-mail interview
from London when asked whether he took umbrage at being considered a
"rising star" more than a decade into his noteworthy career.
"Not at all," he wrote. "I think you find some of the most unique
talents within the `rising stars' category. ... I am somewhat
oblivious to how people view me or my career. I was always preoccupied
discovering composers and works that would suit my musical personality
and preparing for the next concerts. The perception of others is the
last thing on my mind!"
More pressing on his mind at the time of his writing was his then
upcoming trip to Yerevan, Armenia, where he would be performing
Beethoven's "Emperor" Piano Concerto as a "run-through" for his debut
soon with the Minnesota Orchestra. While Beethoven's Fifth might prove
daunting for some because it is so well-known, Sudbin said he was no
more nervous about his debut with the Minnesota orchestra than any
other concert.
"I have to mention that I am nervous before every concert, no matter
how important," he wrote. "This nervousness is a positive one and
important in order to achieve some excitement in the performance. I
don't think I can perform without being nervous at all. (Nervousness
is maybe the wrong word.
I think a type of excitement is probably more like it.) I am at a
stage now where every performance is very important and in a way each
has to be better than the previous one. Although it is impossible to
achieve it in practice, this is an ideal I strive to."
A Gramophone UK reviewer examining his performance of Medtner and
Tchaikovsky concertos said nervousness isn't palpable in Subdin's
performance. "There is nothing tentative about his commanding
style. ...
Sudbin's performance here fairly explodes with imagination, feeling
and desire. Here, one feels, is a pianist hungry to test himself
intellectually and emotionally as well as technically." A London Daily
Telegraph reporter hailed Sudbin as "potentially one of the greatest
pianists of the 21st century."
The program he'll play at his Gilmore recital is prevalent on his 2007
itinerary and is full of contrasts. Sudbin writes his own program
notes and explores in great detail the composers and the pieces
in fascinating text in his show-bills for concert-goers to further
explore the pieces including Haydn, Medtner, Chopin and Scriabin.
"Both Haydn Sonatas oppose each other in character; while the B minor
one is declamatory and often full of fury, the C major is cheeky
and full of humor," Sudbin wrote. "I love Medtner's music but the
audience sometimes finds his music hard on the first hearing. His
Sonata Reminiscenza is probably some of his most accessible works, and
I usually get positively surprised how much the audience warms to it."
Half of the program focuses on Chopin Mazurkas and what he calls
the "mystical world" of Scriabin. "I devoted a whole second half to
Scriabin because I feel one should experience how his style progresses
and his sound world changes. It is quite incredible; from innocent
romanticism (Mazurkas) and nostalgic impressionism (2nd Sonata)
his music develops into demonic outbursts of truly terrifying power
(in the 9th Sonata)."
Recital
Gilmore Rising Stars Recital Series: Yevgeny Sudbin -- Solo piano
recital by 2008 Gilmore Young Artist, 7 p.m. next Sunday, Wellspring
Theater, 359 S.
Kalamazoo Mall, Kalamazoo. $22, $5 students. 342-1166.