Interviewed by Musical America in 1921, Rachmaninoff was asked: "would you agree that the heart should be the composer's guide through the labyrinths of accepted forms?" "Yes", he replied, "the heart above all. Of course, the head must aid in the building of great musical structures, but by itself the head is impotent. If a composer is devoid of heart or hasn't his heart in the right place, it is impossible for him to conceal his deficiency. This explains why Russian music is so superlatively great; it speaks so directly to the heart. That is what gives it it's vital beauty, it's universality of appeal, and thus all great art is universal and national in character- it were better to say local instead of national - at one and the same moment." It is perhaps for this reason that young pianist Nikolay Medvedev has chosen a program of Russian piano masterpieces for his debut album.