For his first CD release on Ondine, star baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky has chosen art song repertoire of great intensity and emotion from his Russian home country: 26 featured romances by Sergei Rachmaninov include such popular songs as Spring waters, Op. 14/11 or in the silence of the mysterious night, Op. 4/3. Together with his longstanding duo partner, Estonian pianist Ivari Ilja, they have frequently performed many of these songs to great critical acclaim ('Mr. Hvorostovsky used the infinite shadings of his luxuriously dark and dusky voice to illuminate the yearning nuances of bitterness and regret. his admirable range of expressive and dynamic shadings [was] aptly mirrored by Ivari Ilja, an exemplary accompanist'. - the New York Times). The digital release of this album includes two more songs as special bonus tracks.