"I can count myself as a very fortunate person indeed; all my album recordings with orchestra have been preceded by a major concert tour. This project was no exception. Before we recorded the album, Jonathan Bloxham and I played six concerts with the North West German Philharmonic. We grew ever closer, sharing our opinions of the music, and the depth of the interpretation and the extent of our freedom steadily increased. At the recording we played together as a perfectly coordinated team and yet were able to give free rein to inspiration. When I was studying in Moscow I concentrated principally on the works of the Romantic composers: Rachmaninoff, Chopin, Schumann. Then when I moved to Germany, I developed a real interest in playing the classic German pieces. Then Franck and Strauss came to mind because their music had always attracted me." (Ekaterina Litvintseva)