Artyomov has claimed a deep interest in Russian folklore and a kinship with his 19th century musical forebears, who aimed to incorporate Russian cultural traditions into their art. For him, music is more than mere entertainment. It is a spiritual quest, and he has stated that he believes in music’s power to "transfigure the created world" – an almost Scriabinesque philosophy.

The Requiem (1986) was first performed at the Moscow Conservatory in 1988, and can be considered Artyomov's breakthrough work. The press were ecstatic in their praise and the piece was later aired by Moscow State Radio, the first time a Requiem Mass had been broadcast in the Soviet Union.

In 1976, Dmitri Kitaenko was named chief conductor of the Moscow Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, a position he held until 1990, when he left Russia for the West.

The works on this disc belong to Rachmaninov's early period, the first being an orchestral tone poem, The Rock, inspired by Chekhov's On the Road, the story of a young woman and an older man who meet at an inn on Christmas Eve. Tchaikovsky expressed admiration for The Rock, despite the fact that it is considerably more modern than almost anything in Tchaikovsky's oeuvre.

Coming shortly after his first piano concerto, the Symphony No. 1 was written on a grand scale but was a disaster at its first performance in St. Petersburg in 1897, due largely to the inebriation of the conductor, Alexander Glazunov. Rachmaninov fell into a deep depression that was only relieved by two years of hypnosis, after which his career resumed with the popular Piano Concerto No. 2.

The conductor Dmitri Kitaenko was born in St. Petersburg (then Leningrad) and studied there and at the Moscow Conservatory. Kitaenko was the very first winner of the Herbert von Karajan Competition in Berlin in 1969. He was only 29 years old when he was appointed chief conductor of the Moscow Opera Theater.

Recordings 1986/1984.