The Canadian pianist Hélène Grimaud displays ample keyboard brilliance on this all-Rachmaninov release. The Second Concerto has been recorded often, and she doesn't challenge the versions of Richter, Rubinstein, Wild and Janis, among others. Her clean, hard-edged brightness detracts from the Romantic spirit of the first movement, pedestrian winds and dreamy tempos vitiate the Adagio sostenuto, and Ashkenazy's fussy conducting and the muddy sound don't help either. In the short pieces, Grimaud offers subtle shadings of light and colour, but without the quicksilver dash and brio we hear from past masters such as Moiseiwitsch. The Variations on a Theme of Corelli, though, are a complete success. She shapes the statement of the theme with precisely the right weight and shading and manages the varied changes of mood and styles within this 17-minute marvel to perfection. The sound in the Corelli Variations is outstanding, far superior to the rest of the disc, which was made in other venues by other technicians, suggesting that the "real" Grimaud can be found in this wonderfully lucid Romantic gloss on the Baroque. --Dan Davis