Chopin: Fantaisie in F minor - Ballades - Mazurkas - Nocturnes

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Charismatic St. Petersburg-born pianist Yevgeny Sudbin released a highly acclaimed Rachmaninov album, and now that he turns to Chopin the results are about what might be expected, and highly effective in many places. Sudbin structures his program around three large works, the Fantaisie in F minor, Op. 49; Ballade No. 3 in A flat major, Op. 47; and Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52, which come respectively at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end save for a short paraphrase of his own on the "Minute Waltz," which very much has the character of an encore. These are muscular works of Chopin's maturity, with nationalistic overtones, considerable technical difficulties, and a big, public quality, Chopin at his most Lisztian, perhaps. And Sudbin is very much at home here, with plenty of flair and confidence in connecting the sections of the intricately shaped Ballades. In the connective tissue, consisting of nocturnes and mazurkas, he is less confident. It's not so much that there's anything annoying about his readings, which are technically sharp and carefully shaped; it's just that a work like the Nocturne in C minor, Op. 48/1 (track 3), doesn't seem to cohere. Mileage may vary, and there's no question that Sudbin is a promising new figure in the great Russian school.

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