“If allowed only one item for celebration, it would have to be Rachmaninov’s Vocalise, played here in Zoltan Kocsis’s elaboration and sounding as emotional and tear-laden as even the most ardent Rachmaninov lover could wish. Piano Classics’s sound is impeccable, allowing you to savour fully a pianist to strike awe and envy into all possible rivals.” – February 2012, Gramophone. At only 26, Russian pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk can already boast of an impressive international career. After having won several prestigious competitions (first prize Hamamatsu in Japan at 16, the First Prize A. Rubinstein Competition in 2005) he played with such orchestras as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Russian National Orchestra. His last recital in the International Piano Series in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw was a triumph and was recorded red hot by Piano Classics immediately after the event. Gavrylyuk’s technique knows no limits, as is proven in the virtuoso Russian repertoire on this disc, but there is so much more than technique…his shaping of phrases, his boundless palette of pianistic colours, the characterisation of both the melancholic and brutal elements in this music: Gavrylyuk is a true artist.
