The Études-Tableaux are miniature masterpieces of an extraordinarily harmonious beauty: of form, pianistic writing, synthesis, evocative images, and not least an immense musical and technical difficulty. The music is so wonderfully vivid that it is appropriate for listeners to imagine for themselves the pictures, even worlds, that each étude paints in sound.

I lacked the courage to play the Études while I was a full-time pianist, despite having Rachmaninov's major works under my hands, including his formidable third concerto. As it turned out, I decided to study and record them after my life had become considerably more complex: working as an engineer by day and a pianist by night. It is possible to set seemingly impossible goals when life is already more than full, and doing so is worth it whichever the path.

The piano is my own, a beautiful Bechstein D282 that I call Albus. Owning such an instrument had been a lifelong dream, realised after more than twenty years when, in April 2023, Albus was delivered to me directly from Berlin. This recording is its inauguration. I oversaw the preparation and tuning of the instrument and carried out the sound engineering myself: microphone placement, balance, acoustic treatment and recording, with Sennheiser and Schoeps microphones and Millennia and Rupert Neve preamplifiers. My producer, Marco Lincetto, took care of mixing and mastering in a strictly analogue chain.

Rachmaninov is my musical soulmate. I have dedicated the last fifteen years to studying and playing his works, and with this album I pay homage to him again, this time by playing his music, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of his birth. I recommend listening to the album in order and as a whole.