Sergei Rachmaninov: 24 Preludes – Nikolai Lugansky

Rachmaninoff took the genre of the prelude to its highest degree of perfection with his boundless musical invention and fearsome technical demands. In his first recording for harmonia mundi, Nikolai Lugansky brilliantly meets the challenge, offering a programme of the finest gems in his repertory of choice. A summit of pianistic wizardry!

Nikolai Lugansky regularly works with top level conductors such as Osmo Vänskä, Yuri Temirkanov, Mikhail Pletnev, Charles Dutoit, Gianandrea Noseda and Vladimir Jurowski. Concerto highlights for the 2017/18 season include engagements with the London and Baltimore symphony orchestras, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Junge Deutsche Philharmonie and theYomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra. He will also take part in European tours with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra (Sakari Oramo), and the Russian National Orchestra.

A regular recitalist the world over, upcoming performances include London’s Wigmore Hall, Paris’ Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, New York’s 92nd Street Y, Aix-en-Provence, Lisbon, Tokyo, Rio de Janiero andthe Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire. Lugansky regularly appears at some of the world’s most distinguished festivals, including La Roque d’Anthéron, and the Verbier, Tanglewood and Ravinia festivals. His chamber music collaborators include Vadim Repin, Alexander Kniazev, Mischa Maisky and Leonidas Kavakos.

Lugansky captures the depth of emotion and sheer variety…he demonstrates a balance of power and poise that mark him out as a notable Rachmaninov interpreter. The Steinway model D sounds glorious. — BBC Music Magazine, May 2018,