This recording is the first in a two-volume series of transcriptions and paraphrases for solo piano of music by Tchaikovsky, most of which are receiving their first recordings. Volume one concerns orchestral concert works and operatic music; the second is of his ballets. He himself has long been recognised as a master of piano writing, the most famous example being his Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, Op. 23, famously pronounced unplayable (and worthless) by the great pianist Nikolai Rubinstein but which has become one of the best loved and most performed of all piano concertos. Tchaikovsky himself made piano versions of his own works, mostly for four hands, and approved paraphrases of his works by an admired piano virtuoso such as Paul Pabst (see volume 2 – Divine Art DDA25106 due for release in late 2012).