Nikolai Medtner; Sergei Rachmaninov - Piano Concertos (Yevgeny Sudbin)

Information

Composer: Nikolai Medtner; Sergei Rachmaninov

• Medtner - Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 50
• Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto No. 4 in G minor, Op. 40
• Rachmaninov - Floods of Spring, No. 11 from Twelve Songs, Op. 14 (trans. Yevgeny Sudbin)

Yevgeny Sudbin, piano

North Carolina Symphony Orchestra

Grant Llewellyn, conductor

Date: 2009

Label: BIS

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Review

This richly enterprising programme couples Rachmaninov’s 1926 version of his Fourth Piano Concerto with Medtner’s Second, works which both composers lovingly dedicated to each other. For good measure Sudbin adds his own transcription of Rachmaninov’s Floods of Spring to say nothing of lively accompanying notes that refer to “Music-Neanderthals” who demean both Rachmaninov and Medtner. By 1941 Rachmaninov presented a drastically pruned version of his Fourth Concerto, reducing it by 192 bars, and it is this version, much to Sudbin’s chagrin, that is generally played today. But here he makes a strong case for Rachmaninov’s early length and elaboration both verbally and in playing which captures a special sense of the chill wind that blows across its surface, the fast fading of the emotional warmth of the first three concertos. Here, former sweetness is very much on the turn and there are many moments when this dazzling and unsettling work sounds like a parody of Rachmaninov’s first rhetoric and grandiloquence. Less vital or revelatory than in his recording of Tchaikovsky’s First Concerto, Sudbin’s relatively low-key playing never leaves you in doubt of his musicianship and dexterity. For him both Rachmaninov and Medtner are too serious for overt display so that even when you miss Michelangeli’s legendary frisson and authority (his record is of Rachmaninov’s 1941 revision – EMI, 5/00) or Demidenko’s scarcely less formidable brilliance in Medtner’s Second Concerto (Hyperion, 4/92) you may well warm to a gentler, more accomodating view. Sudbin’s poetic quality shines through every bar of his encore, the elemental force of Earl Wild’s arrangement and recording (Dell’Arte, 11/87) again reduced to more comfortable proportions. BIS’s sound and balance emphasise their pianist’s reserve and occasional self-effacement.

-- Bryce Morrison, Gramophone

More reviews:
https://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2010/Jan10/Rachmaninov_Medtner_bissacd1728.htm

https://www.classical-music.com/reviews/orchestral/rachmaninov-medtner-piano-concertos

https://www.amazon.com/Rachmaninov-Piano-Concerto-Medtner/dp/B002SF2VHA

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Nikolai Medtner (5 January 1880 [O.S. 24 December 1879] – 13 November 1951) was a Russian composer and pianist. He studied at the Moscow Conservatory from 1891 to 1900, having studied under Pavel Pabst, Wassily Sapellnikoff, Vasily Safonov and Sergei Taneyev among others. His works include 14 piano sonatas, three violin sonatas, three piano concerti, a piano quintet, two works for two pianos, many shorter piano pieces, a few shorter works for violin and piano, and 108 songs including two substantial works for vocalise. His 38 Skazki for piano solo contain some of his most original music.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Medtner

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Sergei Rachmaninov (1 April [O.S. 20 March] 1873 – 28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. He is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music. His music was influenced by Tchaikovsky, Arensky and Taneyev. Rachmaninov wrote five works for piano and orchestra: four concertos and the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. He also composed a number of works for orchestra alone, including three symphonies, the Symphonic Dances Op. 45, and four symphonic poems.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Rachmaninoff

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Yevgeny Sudbin (born 19 April 1980) is a Russian-born British concert pianist. He studied at the musical school of the Leningrad Conservatory. After his family emigrated to Berlin in 1990, he studied at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler, then at the Purcell School and the Royal Academy of Music in London. Sudbin has lived in the UK since 1997, and made his debut at The Proms in July 2008. In September 2010, he was appointed visiting professor of piano at the Royal Academy of Music. Sudbin has recorded music of Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Medtner, Scarlatti, and Scriabin for the BIS label.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yevgeny_Sudbin

https://www.yevgenysudbin.com/

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