Alexandre Tharaud’s recorded catalogue is large and eclectic, but this is the first time he has devoted an entire album to Russian repertoire – specifically to the music of Sergei Rachmaninov.

The composer’s famous C sharp minor prelude featured on Autograph, the recital CD Tharaud released in 2013. This new album contains a work that is even more widely loved, the Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor. The French pianist is partnered by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, which over the last ten years has reached new heights under its Russian Principal Conductor, Vasily Petrenko. For this recording, another major Russian conductor was in charge, Alexander Vedernikov, formerly Music Director and Chief Conductor of Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre and described by Tharaud as “perhaps one of today's greatest Rachmaninov specialists”.