In 2017, ECHO Klassik prize-winner Khatia Buniatishvili set her sights on the two most popular piano concertos by the late-romantic composer Sergei Rachmaninoff to present what was only her second concert recording.

Piano Concerto No. 2 In C Minor, Op. 18, composed in 1901, has long been one of the most frequently recorded of all concertos and has left an indelible mark on Tin Pan Alley, Hollywood and popular culture altogether. The much longer and far more technically challenging Piano Concerto No. 3 In D Minor, Op. 30 is one of the heavyweights of the repertoire. Rachmaninoff, an epoch-making pianist, composed it in 1909 for his own well-trained fingers to play on his first tour of the United States. Its dedicatee, Josef Hofmann, refused to touch it, claiming that he lacked the strength and the hand-width to negotiate the widely spaced chords of the absurdly difficult solo part.

Khatia Buniatishvili, called "The Fearless Virtuoso" in the title story of 2017's BBC Music Magazine, faced the challenge and recorded these two works with the Czech Philharmonic conducted by Paavo Järvi.

Rachmaninoff Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 3 is available on 180 gram black vinyl.