Filled with beauty, passion and drama, these Russian songs and arias go straight to the heart of the nation’s 19th-century musical soul. Rachmaninov’s popular Vocalise is part of a line which includes songs of love and sadness such as Tchaikovsky’s Op 47, two of which are included here, while yearning melodies, high drama and vivid orchestral colour are to be found in the operas of all three featured composers. Montserrat Caballé has described soprano Dinara Alieva’s rare talent as ‘the gift of Heaven’.