Piano Concertos by Tchaikovsky & Medtner [Hybrid SACD]

Don't miss out on this Tchaikovsky 1st

Others have praised this recording for the Medtner Piano Concerto, noting that it is more than just an interesting coupling. I came away more impressed with Sudbin's Tchaikovsky 1st. I have long enjoyed several recordings of the Tchaikovsky 1st, especially Cliburn/Kondrashin, Freire/Kempe, Gilels/Mehta, Kissin/Gergiev and Rubinstiein/Leinsdorf. Sudbin's performance is refreshing and refreshingly different. His playing is animated, colorful, crisp, sensitive and playful. He loves the inner detail and wants to lose nothing to too much pedaling. He gets admirable support from the Sao Paulo Symphony and John Neschling -- I thought the orchestra was a more well-known group based on the quality of their sound. The stereo sound is beautiful even though I was not able to take advantage of the SACD aspect.

I am a great fan of Medtner's piano music, especially his Szazki, but I was not familiar with his piano concertos. I could sense that Sudbin brought the same admirable perspective to this Medtner concerto that he did to the Tchaikovsky, yet the Tchaikovsky concerto is why I will return to this admirable disc.

I recommend it highly. August 20, 2008

YOUTHFUL ARDOR

Yevgency Sudbin, in this recording, certainly plays Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto with overwhelming virtuosic skill along with much youthful ardor. One really gets the impression that he really loves the work. What splendid technique he has; plus he plays with gorgeous tone! It will be very interesting to hear him play this work ten years from now and to hear what his thoughts are at that time--I'm sure it will be wonderful because he plays the work wonderfully now. The seldom heard Medtner piano concerto #1 in C minor is also included in this recording.

Nikolai Medtner's piano concerto #1 in C minor is a very late romantic piano concerto that is filled with much romantic virtuosic dazzle, loads of keyboard spanning octaves and with some dissonance thrown in. Yevgeny gives it a splendid performance that is filled with "jaw-dropping" virtuosic splendor. His playing of the work is also beautiful in tone.
As I expected, the sound of this recording is splendid!

If you desire to hear some great piano playing that is filled with lots of youthful energy and ardor, buy this disc.
January 11, 2008

Scintillating pianism

I am quite familiar with both of these concertos, and was taken for quite a ride listening to this disc for the first time. Sudbin focuses on detail in both pieces in such a way that they sound almost new. The comparisons I have come up with may or may not help. They are like a skilled chef slicing and presenting a roast in a way that immeasurably adds to the dining experience, or perhaps a diamond cutter presenting you will a dazzling gem. While he is capable of the most virtuosic abilities, Sudbin is a musician who suits his tempi, color, and dynamics to that section of the piece in front of him. While this may sound like a recipe for excessive rubato, or even for fragmentation of the music, it is done in such a refined and musical way that it convincing and unique.

I could never conceive of using these performances as background music. I listened intently, and was drained by the experience. May 29, 2007

Sudbin, Neschling, Sao PauloSO: Good Tchaikovsky, Better Medtner: Recommended

This super audio disc can be highly recommended on three grounds. One for the sound, and one each for each of the two composers. First off the sound and technical production of the recorded performance are quite up to the high standards this label sets for itself. Multi-channel play is subtle but surrounds the listener in an encompassing and embracing manner. This sound most likely recreates the acoustic of the venue, presumably, and that venue would be the Sala Sao Paulo, Brazil. It sounds to be a medium sized hall with good frequency balances and a good balance between resonance and reflections which localize.

The Tchaikovsky performance emphasizes the piano concerto's musical claims. Though Sudbin and the band led by John Neschling (a film composer, including Pixote) are completely up to the technical and virtuoso demands of the music, sheer flash is never the point. At first hearing that approach may strike a listener as too low key, but I suspect that repeated hearings will wear well over the long run.

Nevertheless, the recorded competition in the Tchaikovsky first piano concerto is stiff. Even restricted to super audio, we have the likes of the famously famous Van Cliburn debut (remastered), Arkady Volodos out-Horowitzing Vladimir, Olga Kern on HM USA (rather dim and diffuse sound for SACD), Nikolai Lugansky on Pentatone (hampered a bit in Romantic effusiveness by Kent Nagano's strict competence), Scherbakov burning with heart and fire on Naxos, and that current high representative of worldwide piano flash, Lang Lang. Of this super audio group, surely the Cliburn and the Volodos and the Scherbakov will hold their own as time marches on.

If we widen our comparisons to include red book CD, then the field gets very crowded - including my own favs, Lazar Berman, Andrei Gavrilov, Nelson Freire, Gary Graffman, Peter Donohoe, Sviatoslav Richter, Martha Argerich , Emil Gilels, and Earl Wild under Fistoulari on Chesky.

Then the new disc moves on to give us the Medtner Piano Concerto 1, and the comparisons immediately shift. The amazing Scherbakov reappears in this group also. And we add in, Geoffrey Tozer, and Geoffrey Douglas Madge. One wonders why Barry Douglas is missing, or John Lill, from the recorded catalogue of these concertos. But the explanation is probably all about the reputation Medtner has for being hard to like on first hearings, although this same reputation admits that Medtner grows on people, both players and listeners with increased exposure.

I like Medtner, and so for me, this new recording of the first piano concerto is very welcome. I am a Scherbakov fan, too, but Sudbin and Neschling and Sao Paulo more than hold their own. In fact, I think this Medtner first piano concerto is a better reason to buy the disc than is the Tchaikovsky per se, just because we have so many other fine choices in that field. Not only does Medtner deserve the exposure, but given the sort of expert and loving attention Sudbin and associates give the composer in this recording, we could expect for his music to come even more out of the repertoire's margins. In addition to long and luscious Russian melodies, Medtner offers a modernized feel for evolving harmonies - rather like, but still different from, say, Nielsen - and a ability to juggle and mesh textures which like Reger try to bring polyphony back into the Late Romantic gesture. If fine performances like Sudbin's cannot aid the cause, then surely Medtner's cause is still lost. But this recording offers hope, just because it shows the composer is such a good light.

Tchaikovsky recommended, then, and Medtner highly recommended. Five stars. Hope this team gets around to the other two Medtner concertos, if not also the Tchaikovsky second. Kudos to the production team and the engineering team at BIS. April 9, 2007

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