Pianist Alexander Melnikov new album is dedicated to music of Sergei Rachmaninoff, centering his Variations on a Theme by Chopin. Melkinov traveled to Villa Senar, Rachmaninoff’s Bauhaus summer home on Lake Lucerne in Switzerland, to record on the composers’s own grand piano, a birthday gift from Frederik Steinway.

The album also features the luminous soprano Julia Lezhneva who joins Melkinov for a selection of 22 songs by Rachmaninoff. Celebrated as a Baroque specialist, Lezhneva is a surprising collaborator for this program, offering clarity in repertoire which is often presented with darker, warmer voices.