This handsome compilation features major works by distinguished Russian composers Alexander Scriabin and Anton Rubinstein in a single full-score edition drawn from authoritative sources. In the mid-nineteenth century, the development of the Russian piano concerto was left largely to Rubinstein. Of his five surviving concertos, the Fourth emerged as a powerful vehicle for both virtuoso soloist and orchestra in an arresting work that has remained in the concert repertoire since its first appearance, In fact, so great was its impact on the Russian scene that Tchaikovsky's immortal First Piano Concerto — composed a decade later — carries its strong influence in every movement. Rubinstein's Fourth was a product of his mature years, by Scriabin's Concerto, Op. 20 — composed three decades later — was a youthful work, reminiscent of the composer's early idol, Fr#65533;d#65533;ric Chopin, and highlighted by the same sort of inventive, glittering passagework. Scriabin's piece created a uniquely new chamber-music collaboration between piano and ensemble, filling the work with a sense of free spontaneity — even improvisation — marking a firm control of structural organization unusual in a young composer.