This CD is the third release from Challenge Classics to showcase the talents of the Russian pianist Alexei Volodin. It features a wide ranging selection of pieces by his compatriot Sergei Rachmaninov, including the “Variations on a theme of Corelli”, 5 of his Preludes, the 2nd Sonata (second version), and four of his Etudes-Tableaux.

Alexei Volodin was born in St. Petersburg in 1977, and began taking piano lessons there at the age of nine. A year later he moved to Moscow, and in 1994 he enrolled at the Moscow Conservatoire. During 2001 and 2002 he studied at the Theo Lieven International Piano Foundation in Como. He has won several prizes at different international competitions, including First Prize at the Concours Géza Anda in Zurich in 2003. Alexei Volodin’s debut recording for Challenge Classics (CC72354), released in March 2010, was devoted to the music Chopin, and his second CD which was issued in May 2011 (CC72508) brought together works by Schumann, Ravel, and Scriabin.