Pianist Yevgeny Sudbin isn’t yet a household name, but he should be.
In a recital of works Thursday night mostly by or inspired by Frederic Chopin, the 30-year-old Russian-born virtuoso brought to Gates Concert Hall uncommon imagination and insight.
Opening with Fantasy in F minor, Op. 49 — one of Chopin’s grandest compositions for solo piano — Sudbin boldly probed the moody melodicism of the loosely structured work. Especially intense were his improvisatory, ascending arpeggios that progressively crescendoed in both tempo and excitement. And the second group of softer themes likened the intimacy of a whispered conversation.
In the two Chopin ballades and two mazurkas that rounded out the first half of the program, Sudbin delivered a consummate characterization of the composer’s poetic melodies and thick, interwoven harmonies.
His refined, interpretive pianism vividly portrayed the gently rocking rhythms and turbulent texture of Ballade No. 3 in A-flat Major, Op. 47. In Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52, Sudbin avoided the conventional sentiment of its Romantic-era context. He converged contrasting moods and often agitated themes and easily balanced simple, subtle phrases with elaborately ornamental countermelodies.
In the duo of mazurkas, the pianist brought to bear Chopin’s stylized use of cross rhythms and chromaticism. These light but strongly-accented dances are harmonically adventurous and well-suited to Sudbin’s intuitive expression of dramatic tension.
Although Sudbin’s playing was overall strongest in the second half of the program, the lowlight of the evening was Ronald Stevenson’s “Fugue on a Fragment of Chopin.” Despite Sudbin’s meticulous and passionate performance, he fell short of realizing the effect of a richly Romantic musical phrase set in a classic Baroque form.
Also on the ambitious program were Franz Liszt’s Transcendental Etude No. 11 in D-Flat Major (“Harmonies du Soir”) and Maurice Ravel’s “Gaspard de la Nuit.” The pairing underscored Sudbin’s poise, polish and remarkable interpretive range, from spellbinding tenderness and introspection throughout the etude to dazzling agility and fluid technique in Ravel’s ferocious tour de force.
