The Russian cellist Anatoly Brandukov was a best man at Rachmaninov’s wedding in the spring of 1902. He was quite a bit older than the groom, but the two had been close friends for some years, and it ...

One of the musicians I miss most in this current deep freeze is the Russian pianist Arcadi Volodos. He always loved eluding the press – when I was commissioned to interview him in Madrid, he almost ...

Sergei Rachmaninoff’s wordless and hypnotic Vocalise follows, showing a change in cello writing that would reflect the beautiful, vocal quality of the instrument. Then the program will catapult into ...

This is a disc of high contrasts. Rachmaninov's ardently romantic cello sonata is clearly the work of a piano-obsessed composer, one who couldn't stop himself writing a huge piano part that's ...