BIS is proud to present a new disc from star pianist Yevgeny Sudbin who here combines works by Liszt, Ravel and Saint-Saëns under the themes of Love, Delirium and Death.
Funérailles is Liszts elegy for his Hungarian countrymen who died in the 1849 uprising against Habsburg Rule. Death also appears in Ravels depiction of a hanging Le Gibet (The Gallows) from Gaspard de la Nuit and closes the programme in Saint-Saëns Danse macabre.
Love is present in the Petrarch Sonnets originally song settings of poems in which Petrarch immortalises, the object of his unrequited passion and Ravels Ondine the tale of a water nymph tempting a mortal to join her in the depths of the lake.
Delirium is present throughout the disc, especially during the nightmarish portrait of the goblin Scarbo.
Yevgeny Sudbin has received considerable critical acclaim for his recordings on BIS. His disc of music by Scriabin was described in BBC Music Magazine as being as terrifyingly changeable and emotionally all-engulfing as the music itself.
Sudbin is a pianist of prodigious gifts. Among the most striking is the astonishing beauty of his sound at the instrument, as limpid and pure as water from a mountain spring. This quality is nowhere better showcased than in the formidable Gaspard de la nuit, long recognised as Ravel s most pianistically challenging creation. --International Record Review, January 2013
Sudbins own arrangement via Liszt and Horowitz of Saint-Saënss Danse macabre, another tour de force conjuring once more a young pianist released from all inhibition, going his own way with dazzling imaginative resource...This is a record I shall return to for an ever-renewed sense of wonder and fascination. --Gramophone, February 2013, Bryce Morrison
His Liszt is remarkable [Yevgeny Sudbin]. The F minor Transcendental Studys brand of miraculous virtuosity, at once tumultuous and limpid, is marvelously captured...Plus points include superb recorded sound throughout, and BISs inclusion of the relevant text. ***** --BBC Music Magazine, February 2013, Malcolm Hayes
The build up of tension is awesome in Sudbins performance, his relaxation into the musics more reflective lyricism beautifully realised, Liszts terror stricken virtuosity at the climax fearsome in its power...This is a truly great disc, inspired and inspiring. --The Daily Telegraph, Geoffrey Norris
His Liszt is remarkable [Yevgeny Sudbin]. The F minor Transcendental Studys brand of miraculous virtuosity, at once tumultuous and limpid, is marvelously captured...Plus points include superb recorded sound throughout, and BISs inclusion of the relevant text. ***** --BBC Music Magazine, February 2013, Malcolm Hayes