This CD is called "Aveu passionne". On the one hand because of the Tchaikovsky piece with the same title (in English "Passionate Confession"), on the other hand because of my deepest connection to Russian music, especially Russian opera, and last but not least because of my great love for the singer Galina Vischnevskaya. It may not seem obvious at first glance, but on closer inspection of the pieces selected here, this connection can be better understood. For Borodin, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, but also Glinka and Tchaikovsky are first and foremost opera composers. Every time I perform their music on the piano, the whole cosmos of their operas is before my eyes. Since I have been fortunate enough to conduct some of these great operas myself - for example, Glinka's "Life for the Tsar", Dargomyshsky's "The Stone Guest", Mussorgsky's "Boris Godunov", Borodin's "Prince Igor", as well as some operas by Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky - they form for me the elixir of life that always fires my imagination. (Boris Bloch)