Following two highly praised recordings of Russian orchestral music (V5068 and V5073), this is the third recording by the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse and Tugan Sokhiev for Naïve. The CD includes two more great Russian masterpieces - Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances and Prokofiev’s Second Violin Concerto. The latter features the orchestra’s new leader, the talented soloist Geneviève Laurenceau.

Tugan Sokhiev became music director of the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse in 2008, following three years as principal guest conductor and artistic adviser. During this collaboration he has conducted many critically acclaimed concerts across Europe and Asia, and their first two discs for Naïve received remarkable reviews.

Born in Strasbourg in 1977, Geneviève Laurenceau was awarded the Grand Prix of the Académie Maurice Ravel at Saint-Jean-de-Luz in September 2001, and later won the fifth ‘Violon de l’Adami’ award. She has performed as a soloist with the leading French and international orchestras under the direction of such conductors as Michel Plasson, Kees Bakels, Walter Weller and Tugan Sokhiev.

Both Prokofiev and Rachmaninov left Russia following the Revolution of 1917, and both made careers abroad as composer-pianists. However, while Rachmaninov resolved never to return to Russia so long as it was under Soviet rule, Prokofiev took a more pragmatic approach and, though cautious in his dealings with Soviet authorities, remained on good terms with the Soviet authorities.