The virtuoso pianist and composer Sergei Rachmaninoff, one of the last great figures of Russian Romanticism, was prone throughout his life to painful bouts of depression. His troubled nature found release in music of flamboyant intensity, combining dazzling, feverish, almost expressionistic passages with perfectly limpid melodies. The emotionally intense Piano Sonata No. 2 and the Six Moments musicaux illustrate this perfectly, while encapsulating the composer’s very distinctive poetry. Jean-Paul Gasparian is in his element here: after an acclaimed first recording devoted to the Russian School, he confirms in this third opus not only his elective affinities, but also his impressive command of this repertoire. There is profundity, density and warmth in his playing – qualities perfectly suited to the incandescent lyricism and the ardour and nobility that characterise the works of this Russian composer. © Evidence