Serge Rachmaninoff's piano music can serve as a powerful introduction to the instrument for those not yet familiar with classical repertoire: it's immediacy, sheer charm,...

Serge Rachmaninoff's piano music can serve as a powerful introduction to the instrument for those not yet familiar with classical repertoire: it's immediacy, sheer charm, and expressive power cannot fail to move even non-musical listeners. These same qualities, however, yield the most common prejudices against Rachmaninoff, especially among those who view him as a reactionary bent on easy appreciation, as if this were inherently synonymous with mediocrity. In these virtuosic performances of three Rachmaninoff solo works of which Isle of the Dead is a recording premiere Italian pianist Carlo Grante demonstrates the music's depth of thought, originality, and inventiveness, making a convincing case for it's viability today.