The two piano concertos (Nos. 1 & 4) are bookends to Rachmaninov's career. The first concerto was written when he was only 18 years old and is very much the work of an impetuous youth with its stormy orchestral writing and flashy piano part. Pianist Simon Trpceski fiercely fires off an avalanche of notes in the work's outer movements without ever sacrificing clarity, but also brings warmth and a fragile tenderness to the Andante, the best thing in the concerto and where we get a glimpse of the great tunesmith Rachmaninov would eventually become.

The fourth concerto dates from 1927 and is an interesting creation. It's outer movements, (a pair of Allegro vivaces), suggests a more modern music. The first movement has a jittery edge, while the finale is impish in the best Shostakovich style. Sandwiched between the two is a typically Russian, therefore, melancholy Largo. There's nothing especially soulful about the work that rounds out the recording, the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. This is a scorching performance but not without its moments of poetry. For example, there's the finely shaped variation no. 12 where Trpceski and the orchestra make a lovely kind of chamber music, and the big theme in variation no. 18, which sings gloriously.

What's most striking about this recording is the ideal balance that's struck between soloist and orchestra. This is a pianist's music written by one of the greatest pianists who ever lived, but Trpceski, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Vassily Petrenko make it a brilliant collaboration.