The Official Website of Yevgeny Sudbin

RACHMANINOV

"...Despite his social aloofness, his music always communicates at a deeply personal level and goes to the very root of human emotion. That might be the reason why his compositional style changed comparatively little over the years, in contrast with the world and fashion, but also why he was, and to a large extent still is, one of the most misunderstood composers of his period..." READ MORE

SCARLATTI

"...Probably one of the most outrageously individual compositional outputs of the Baroque era is to be found in the keyboard sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti. Scarlatti was born in 1685, in the same year as J. S. Bach and Handel and two years earlier than Rameau. His sonatas pose an exception to most “rules” in musical history. Unlike so many other compositions, it is impossible to trace at all clearly the influences on which their style depends. They stand out undoubtedly as Scarlatti's own, highly original inventions..." READ MORE

2005 WIGMORE HALL PROGRAM NOTES

"...One of his least known works, Rachmaninoff began composing the Variations on a Theme of Chopin op. 22 and the Preludes op. 23 in the summer of 1902 at the family estate in Ivanovka, shortly after returning from a lengthy honeymoon abroad. The variations are based on Chopin’s famous C minor Prelude op. 28, No. 20 (like Busoni’s much shorter set of variations) and were premiered by the composer almost exactly 102 years ago (10th February 1903) at a concert for the Ladies’ Charity Prison Committee in Moscow, to very little acclaim! The repetitions in melodic line and particularly what was regarded as the piece’s excessive length were the major sources of criticism at the time..." READ MORE

MOZART PIANO CONCERTO NO.21 IN C MAJOR, K467

"...The concerto in C K467 was performed by Mozart on the 10th of March 1785 in the Imperial-Royal National Concert Theater when Mozart was at the peak of his popularity among the Viennese society. Unfortunately we lack original Mozart cadenzas for this concerto (1st and 3rd movements) and it was common (especially during the 19th century) for performers to write their own cadenzas as well as the Entries (Eingaenge) for the concerto..." READ MORE

DEBUSSY & BEETHOVEN

"...Beethoven’s (1770-1827) Bagatelles op. 126, translated: Kleinigkeiten (Small Things) show an outstanding example of compositional paradox: a combination of supreme mastery with a small format. Beethoven composed these cycle of trifles..." READ MORE

2003 WIGMORE HALL PROGRAM NOTES

"...Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) headed his Sonata No. 5 (1907) with this epigraph, taken from the text, which he wrote for his orchestral erotic-mystical composition Poem of Ecstasy (1905-8). The Sonata has been called “a glorious afterthought” to the Poem of Ecstasy. It exists on the same plane of burning excitement and strives for a similar orgiastic climax..." READ MORE