MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Rachmaninov: Trio élégiaques

Rachmaninov's two Piano Trios, both bearing the subtitle "Elegiaque" (elegiac), are dark, passionate works, composed under the influence of Tchaikovsky; the first is a short, one-movement piece rich in typically Slavic sentimentality, the second was written as a personal memorial to Tchaikovsky himself, alternately celebrating the life and grieving the loss of the great Russian composer of whom Rachmaninov said "Of all the people and artists whom I have had occasion to meet, Tchaikovsky was the most enchanting. His delicacy of spirit was unique."