Scriabin, Alexander / Medtner, Nikolai: Piano Concerto No. 3 / Piano Concerto

   in Piano International (May, 2015)
A fascinating coupling, and apt since 2015 marks the centenary of Scriabin’s death. Great performances of Scriabin’s concerto have been few and far between: Ashkenazy clearly has a soft spot for it, for recordings exist of him as both soloist and (on another occasion) conductor. The main problem here is that Sudbin does not appear to be fully connected with Scriabin’s mode of post-Chopinesque expression. The technique is fine and strong, but in the final analysis this performance does Scriabin’s fine piece no great service. Similarly, Sudbin’s Medtner Third is trounced by Demidenko’s award- winning account on Hyperion, where the latter sounds appreciably more spontaneous (and is also caught in a …