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"... wonderfully coloured and full-bodied without ever becoming overbearing ..." - The Guardian "... brings great dividends in these performances notable for their control and emotional restraint ... Ashkenazy is scrupulously discreet ... these performances provide rich musical rewards ..." - BBC Music Magazine "These are committed performances; Ashkenazy responds effectively to Rachmaninoff's difficult but idiomatic piano writing, and he and his colleagues seem to know that the only way to pull off this music is to play it 'all-in.'" - Fanfare "... played with responsibility and with Ashkenazy's well-honed instinct ... nicely tempered by some soft contemplative playing ... there is apt nervous tension in the finale to complement the distraught keening gestures that testify to the depth of Rachmaninov's grief." - Gramophone Revered pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy has a 50-year history with Decca Records and the music of Sergei Rachmaninov. On this 2013 release, Ashkenazy concludes his cycle of recordings of Rachmaninov’s works for piano. He performs both the Trio élégiaque No. 1 in G minor and the Trio élégiaque No. 2 in D minor Op. 9 tastefully accompanied by Zsolt-Tihámer Visontay on violin and Mats Lidström on cello. Rachmaninov began composing his Trio élégiaque No. 2 in shock and mourning on the day of Tchaikovsky's sudden death in November 1893. The grief-stricken tribute was inspired by Tchaikovsky’s Piano Trio in A minor.