This lush and lovely album offers beguiling masterpieces for cello and orchestra by Russia’s most revered composer – played to perfection by the musical team of renowned Russian-American cellist Nina Kotova, with the legendary Russian maestro Vladimir Fedoseyev leading Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra: all musicians who have these soulful pieces in their very bones.

Kotova and company begin with Tchaikovsky’s lively Pezzo capriccioso before serving listeners the main course: one of the world’s most beloved works for cello and orchestra, the gorgeous Variations on a Rococo Theme. Then the cellist bows out as we are treated to one of the composer’s greatest orchestral pieces of smaller scale, the shimmering Serenade for Strings. In all, it’s a programme filled with soaring melodies and sheer musical delight.

“… a strong and individual artist whose depth of feeling and technical control are never in doubt” – Gramophone