MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Rachmaninov: Trio Elegiaque No. 1 in G Minor / Tchaikovsky: Piano Trio in A Minor Op. 50

Making the big news of Lang Lang's first ever chamber music recording bigger, joining him on the violin and cello are two giants of their instruments: Vadim Repin and Mischa Maisky. Lang Lang could not be in better company to reveal the inexhaustible inventiveness of Tchaikovsky's Piano Trio, Op. 50 in A minor or the tender consolations of Rachmaninov's Trio élégiaque in G-minor, a short early masterpiece composed before Rachmaninov was twenty.

Lang Lang's rare forays into chamber music have been extolled by the press. The critic for the Sueddeutsche Zeitung described his concert experience as "almost like seeing a newborn Lang Lang." Famous for his dynamic, impetuous, hair-raising virtuoso solo turns, Lang Lang unveils a fascinating facet of his musical make-up: He is a team player on the highest possible level. His league is excellence.

Tchaikovsky composed the expansive Piano Trio Op. 50 in A minor, "In memory of a great artist," to commemorate the death of his friend and mentor, Nikolai Rubinstein. The only major piece Tchaikovsky composed in 1881, the Trio's unusual form reinvented the genre. In two long movements, its short variations in the second are colorful evocations of Rubinstein's personality. The Trio is an intriguing example of Tchaikovsky's musical evolution. Before composing it, Tchaikovsky was convinced that piano and strings, given their dissimilar sounds, were incompatible in small ensembles. The completed Trio in A minor happily proved him wrong!

NOTE: Outer cardboard cover may have some very slight wear