YEVGENY AND BELA SUBDIN PLAY GLINKA AND TCHAIKOVSKY ON THE PIANO

Arrangements by Sergei Rachmaninov and Yevgeny Subdin

In the BIS-2198 CD the Russian-born British pianist Yevgeny Sudbin presents a collection of orchestral works by Tchaikovsky, along with Mikhail Glinka’s Overture to Ruslan and Ludmila, arranged by him for piano solo and with Bela, his 12-year-old daughter, for piano four-hands.

The Tchaikovsky piano pieces selected by Sudbin span two decades of the Russian composer’s career. They include lyrical selections, among them: The Waltz of the Flowers from the Nutcracker ballet, selections from The Seasons, from opus 10, 19 and 72: Nocturnes, Humoresque, Tendres reproches, Valse à cinq temps, and Chant élégiaque, and a true tour de force: the Overture-Fantasy Romeo and Juliet.

The recording unself-consciously celebrates a tradition that harks back to the days in the 19^th century when, outside major urban centers, the only way to enjoy large orchestral works was by way of piano reductions of composers like Beethoven and Mendelssohn arranged by Schubert and other composers like him.

Throughout the beautifully engineered BIS cd, Subdin and his young protégée play with light-heartedness, elegance, and superb technique, making this recording a fine acquisition for listeners who relish Romantic Russian music imbued by the interpreter with joie de vivre and finesse.

Rafael de Acha © 2023