Schumann: Piano Quartet, Op. 47 - Brahms: Piano Quintet, Op. 34 Yevgeny Sudbin

• Robert Schumann (1810-1856): Piano Quartet in E-Flat Major, Op. 47:
• 1 I. Sostenuto assai - Allegro ma non troppo 08:36
• 2 II. Scherzo. Molto vivace 03:16
• 3 III. Andante cantabile 05:59
• 4 IV. Finale. Vivace 07:29
• Johannes Brahms (1833-1897): Piano Quintet in F Minor, Op. 34:
• 5 I. Allegro non troppo 13:45
• 6 II. Andante un poco adagio 07:31
• 7 III. Scherzo. Allegro 06:45
• 8 IV. Finale. Poco sostenuto - Allegro non troppo 10:01
• Total Runtime 01:03:22

Info zu Schumann: Piano Quartet, Op. 47 - Brahms: Piano Quintet, Op. 34

Robert Schumann composed the Op. 47 Piano Quartet in E flat major in his so-called ‘chamber music year’ of 1842, immediately after finishing the famous piano quintet in the same key. Despite the proximity in time and tonality, there are clear differences between the two works: the quintet tends more towards a concertante dialogue between the piano and string quartet while the quartet favours equality between the four parts – even if the cello has something of a leading role among the strings.

Some ten years later, the young Johannes Brahms was entrusted with the task of making a piano four-hands arrangement of the quartet, and it is quite possible that this contact with Schumann’s chamber music for piano and strings opened his eyes to the potential of the genre. In any case, with its almost inexhaustible motivic abundance and captivating energy Brahms’s Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34, is one of the most often performed works for these forces. Completed in 1864 it had actually started off as a string quintet which Brahms first reworked as a sonata for two pianos before arriving at the final scoring. Performing these two central works in 19th century chamber music is Yevgeny Sudbin and an international group of eminent string players consisting of violinists Hrachya Avanesyan and Boris Brovtsyn, violist Diemut Poppen and cellist Alexander Chaushian.

Hrachya Avanesyan, violin
Boris Brovtsyn, violin
Alexander Chaushian, cello
Diemut Poppen, viola
Yevgeny Sudbin, piano

Yevgeny Sudbin
has been hailed by The Telegraph as ‘potentially one of the greatest pianists of the 21st century’. As BIS Records’ only exclusive artist, all of Yevgeny’s recordings have met with critical acclaim and are regularly featured as CD of the Month by BBC Music Magazine or Editor’s Choice by Gramophone. His Scriabin recording was awarded CD of the Year by The Telegraph and received the MIDEM Classical Award for Best Solo Instrument Recording at Cannes. It was described by Gramophone as ‘a disc in a million’ while the International Record Review stated that Yevgeny’s Rachmaninov recording ‘confirms him as one of the most important pianistic talents of our time’.

Yevgeny performs regularly in many of the world's finest venues and concert series, both in recital and with orchestra, including Tonhalle Zurich; Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall (International Piano Series) and Wigmore Hall (London Pianoforte Series) in London; Concertgebouw (Meesterpianisten, Amsterdam); Avery Fisher Hall (New York) and Davies Symphony Hall (San Francisco). Recent engagements and tours have included orchestras such as New Zealand Symphony, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, Lucerne Symphony, Czech Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, London Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. His performance of Rachmaninov's Concerto No.1 at the BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall was described by The Telegraph as ‘sublime.’

Yevgeny has collaborated with some of the world’s most influential conductors, such as Neeme Järvi, Charles Dutoit, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Osmo Vänskä, Hannu Lintu, Tugan Sokhiev, Mark Wigglesworth, Andrew Litton, Dmitri Slobodeniouk and Vassily Sinaisky. His love of chamber music has led him to collaborate with many other musicians including Alexander Chaushian, Ilya Gringolts, Hilary Hahn, Julia Fischer, the Chilingirian Quartet and many others. Appearances at festivals include Aspen, Mostly Mozart, Tivoli, Nohant, La Roque d'Antheron, Menton and Verbier.

Recent and future engagements include concerts and recording projects with the Tapiola Sinfonetta and Osmo Vänskä, Netherlands Philharmonic and Ivor Bolton, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Michael Seal, Rotterdam Philharmonic and Stanislav Kochanovsky, and extensive touring in North America. He also returns to many recital stages, including the Wigmore Hall, Moscow International House of Music and Serate Musicali (Milan).

Yevgeny was born in St Petersburg in 1980 and began his musical studies at the Specialist Music School of the St Petersburg Conservatory with Lyubov Pevsner at the age of 5. He emigrated with his family to Germany in 1990 where he continued his studies at Hanns Eisler Musikhochschule (Galina Ivanzova). In 1997 Yevgeny moved to London to study at the Purcell School and subsequently the Royal Academy of Music where he completed his Bachelor and Masters degrees under Christopher Elton. He was supported by the Hattori and Pulvermacher Foundations as well as The Wall Trust, of which he is now Vice President. In 2010, he was awarded a Fellowship by Academy and is now a Visiting Professor.

Booklet für Schumann: Piano Quartet, Op. 47 - Brahms: Piano Quintet, Op. 34