Scarlatti, D: Keyboard Sonata K455 in G major

“Time and again Wang shows us why she’s become the world’s darling, whether shading dynamics poetically in a morsel of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, clarifying the multiple layers in Albéniz’s Triana, or romping with the preposterous glitter of Horowitz’s Carmen Variations.” The Times, 23rd March 2012 ****

“A disc of encores needs a compelling executant to justify itself, but this young pianist’s technique is quietly transcendent, her musicianship zestful and profound. The sequence itself is satisfying.” Sunday Times, 1st April 2012

“In the Saint-Saens-Horowitz Danse macabre Wang storms the heights and her playing is of an unquenchable virtuosity. She herself declares all these pieces to be among her most cherished encores, and she has been superbly recorded in them.” Gramophone Magazine, June 2012

“No point trying to fault anything: the lightness and flexibility of her touch takes the breath away, and her sound is at every moment transparently controlled, each piece displaying insight and affection...Given that these bonnes bouches were never designed to be consumed in bulk, this young virtuoso has pulled off a remarkable feat.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2012 *****

“performances of a superlative vitality and super-fine sensitivity” Gramophone

“…there is plenty to enjoy in Sudbin's expressive, rhythmic and thoughtful playing, virtues which come together rewardingly in the Sonata in B minor (K87).” BBC Music Magazine, May 2005 ***

“This generously packed CD is sheer delight from start to finish. Even with recorded selections available from the likes of Horowitz, Pletnev, Schiff and Pogorelich, the 25-year-old Russian pianist Yevgeny Sudbin makes his solo debut on disc with performances of a superlative vitality and super-fine sensitivity.
His choice of sonatas is richly enterprising, pinpointing their infinite variety, their abrupt changes of mood and direction, so that whether familiar or unfamiliar (and there are many unfamiliar numbers), each offering is a delectable surprise. Free from the nervous tension that can sometimes plague him in the concert hall, Sudbin relishes the way Scarlatti turns convention topsy-turvy, presenting him in both performance and his affectionate accompanying essay as one of music's most ardent and life-affirming adventurers. He's brilliant and incisive in Kk545, and makes every bar of the reflective Kk57 glisten with poetry. What thrumming guitars he evokes in Kk435 and 487, reminding us that Scarlatti forsook his native Italy and later Portugal for a heady addiction to all things Spanish.
There are spicy and witty imitations of changing registrations and some notably rumbustious closes to make every facet of these diamond-like sonatas spark and scintillate as if new-minted.
This is, arguably, among the finest, certainly most enjoyable of all Scarlatti recitals. As a crowning touch Sudbin is heard in a beautifully warm and natural acoustic.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Sudbin finds, besides much to charm the ear, an infinite expressive depth in many of the minor key works, which are played here with appealing expressive freedom...There is sparkle and brilliance here too, and Sudbin can be both strong and delectably light-fingered. He is recorded splendidly, and this can be placed among the finest and most generous of recent single-disc Scarlatti collections.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition

“'Live happily' was Scarlatti's parting shot in the preface to his Essercizi per gravicembalo. Ares takes him at his word - lyrical as well as propulsive, he nails the music's Iberian soul.” BBC Music Magazine, April 2012 ****