Yevgeny Sudbin Essentials

Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and raised in Berlin, this pianist notched some of his earliest successes when exploring the Russian catalogue, though in an unexpected way: He eschewed a few early 20th-century chestnuts and instead explored late-Romantic rarities by Scriabin and Medtner. And since he doesn't always tend toward drama, his heavier interpretive choices can be thrilling surprises. With a technique that's as suited to Scarlatti and Mozart as it is to Rachmaninov—and given his curator's interest in discovery—Sudbin's aesthetic is both mature-sounding and refreshingly idiosyncratic.