Rachmaninoff: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 3 BBC Symphony Orchestra & Yevgeny Sudbin, Sakari Oramo

• Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 - 1943): Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 18:
• 1 I. Moderato 10:09
• 2 II. Adagio sostenuto 10:11
• 3 III. Allegro scherzando 11:37
• Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, Op. 30:
• 4 I. Allegro ma non tanto 16:45
• 5 II. Intermezzo. Adagio 10:49
• 6 III. Finale. Alla breve 14:24
• Total Runtime 01:13:55

Info for Rachmaninoff: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 3

Over the course of almost 10 years, Yevgeny Sudbin has been recording Sergei Rachmaninov’s works for piano and orchestra. The journey began in the U.S.A. in 2008 with the Fourth Piano Concerto, and what Classic FM Magazine described as ‘a glorious recording’ with the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra under Grant Llewellyn. For the Paganini Variations and Piano Concerto No. 1, Sudbin continued to Asia and highly praised collaborations with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and conductor Lan Shui. Reviewers remarked on the soloist’s ‘transcendental virtuosity and kaleidoscopic keyboard colour’ (BBC Music Magazine) and enjoyed piano-playing with ‘depth of tone, subtlety and richness of texture, and scintillating dynamism allied to acute lyrical sensibility’ (Gramophone).

The grand finale of Sudbin’s Rachmaninov cycle combines the two best-loved concertos – No. 2 in C minor and No. 3 in D minor – but it also constitutes a home-coming of a kind, as it was recorded in London, Yevgeny Sudbin’s base since 1997. For his partners in these monumental and almost iconic concertos, Sudbin has chosen the BBC Symphony Orchestra and its chief conductor Sakari Oramo.

Yevgeny Sudbin, piano
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sakari Oramo, conductor

Yevgeny Sudbin
Hailed by the Daily Telegraph as ‘potentially one of the greatest pianists of the 21st century’, Yevgeny Sudbin released his first disc on BIS in 2005. Since then his recordings have met with critical acclaim and have been regularly featured as CD of the Month by BBC Music Magazine or Editor’s Choice by Gramophone. Sudbin performs regularly in prestigious venues such as London’s Royal Festival Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall (International Piano Series), the Amsterdam Concertgebouw (Meesterpianisten), Tonhalle Zurich, Avery Fisher Hall (New York) and Davies Symphony Hall (San Francisco). Recent engagements have included performances with the Minnesota Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, Warsaw Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Yevgeny Sudbin collaborates with eminent conductors such as Neeme Järvi, Charles Dutoit, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Osmo Vänskä, Philippe Herreweghe, Mark Wigglesworth and Andrew Litton. His love of chamber music has resulted in partnerships with musicians including Alexander Chaushian, Hilary Hahn, Julia Fischer and the Chilingirian Quartet. Appearances at festivals include Aspen, La Roque d’Anthéron, Mostly Mozart and Verbier.

The Critics’ Circle (UK) in 2013 named Yevgeny Sudbin the recipient of its Exceptional Young Talent Award in the instrumentalist category, and in 2010 he was presented with a fellowship by the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he is currently a visiting professor.

Born in St Petersburg, Sudbin began his musical studies at the Specialist Music School of the St Petersburg Conservatory with Lyubov Pevsner at the age of five. Emigrating with his family to Germany in 1990, he continued his studies at Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin. In 1997 Sudbin moved to London to study at the Purcell School and subsequently the Royal Academy of Music under Christopher Elton.

Booklet for Rachmaninoff: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 3