Like the pianist/composers of the Classical era, this late-Romantic Russian wrote music in order to have material handy for his live gigs—including his famous Piano Concerto No. 3, which Rachmaninoff brought on his first American tour. His floridly dramatic preludes and concertos for piano have worked as proving grounds for virtuosos such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Martha Argerich and Yuja Wang. But his symphonic music is just as rewarding (as recordings by the London Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra demonstrate).