Pavane celebrates its 40th anniversary with a new collection: Pavane Anthologia. The first four titles are reissues of acclaimed recordings from the catalogue. This release brings us the first recording of the brilliant young pianist Alexander Melnikov (aged eighteen years old) just after his prize win at the Queen Elizabeth Competition.

Alexander Melnikov was born in Moscow in 1973. He studied with the great professor Lev Naumov at the Moscow Conservatory. His most formative musical moments in Moscow include an early encounter with Sviatoslav Richter, who thereafter regularly invited him to festivals in Russia and France. He was awarded important prizes at eminent competitions such as the International Robert Schumann Competition in Zwickau (1989) and the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels (1991).

His brilliant careerhas taken him round the world with famous orchestras including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Philadelphia Orchestra, NDR Sinfonieorchester, HR-Sinfonieorchester, Russian National Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, Orchestre des Champs-Elysées and the NHK Symphony, under conductors such as Mikhail Pletnev, Teodor Currentzis, Charles Dutoit, Paavo Järvi and Valery Gergiev. He also performs regularly with distinguished period ensembles including the Freiburger Barockorchester, Musica Aeterna and Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin. His abundant discography (for Harmonia Mundi since 2004) receives regular awards from the international musical press.