Rachmaninov: Piano Sonata No.2 Moments Musicaux Op.16

The virtuoso pianist and composer Sergei Rachmaninov, 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 Sonata No.2 and the Six Moments musicaux illustrate this perfectly, while encapsulating the composer's very distinctive poetry. After an acclaimed first recording devoted to the Russian School, Jean-Paul Gasparian confirms his impressive command of this repertoire. There is profundity, density and warmth in his playing - qualities perfectly suited to the incandescent lyricism and the ardor and nobility that characterize the works of this Russian composer.