With the 2005 release of his first recording for BIS Records, Yevgeny Sudbin was catapulted into the pages of the international music press. The disc was a Scarlatti recital that prompted reviewers worldwide to compare the then 24-year old pianist to Scarlatti experts such as Horowitz and Pletnev. It went on to receive a long list of distinctions, including a description in Gramophone as ‘among the finest, certainly most enjoyable of all Scarlatti recitals’. Since then, Sudbin and BIS have enjoyed a highly successful collaboration, resulting in numerous acclaimed recordings of both solo programmes and concertos. To celebrate the past 10 years, a new Scarlatti recording seemed the obvious choice – Sudbin was reunited with his long-term producer Marion Schwebel and in the silken acoustics of St George’s Bristol they recorded 18 sonatas further sonatas. This is a collection of striking variety, and through it all Sudbin guides us with authority and zeal. He vividly brings to life elements which his own insightful liner notes (attached) describe as ‘church bells and gunshots (K119), trumpets appearing on the horizon (K159), head-spinning dances (K425) but also a wonderful sense of humour (K125) – as well as scenes as melancholic, lean and desiccated as a sun-baked Mediterranean landscape (K99).’BIS have made a short video including scenes from these sessions, and comments from both performer and producer about the music itself, the recording process and the collaborative aspects behind it:
