“Rachmaninov’s concertos represent a journey – and a destination,” says Daniil Trifonov in the album notes, a sentiment which is true of virtually every piece of music ever composed. Yet this idea gives the disc its title and the rationale for the many pictures scattered throughout the booklet of the soloist in and around trains. Somehow the use of music from the Piano Concerto No 2 in one of the best-remembered “train” movies of all, Brief Encounter, doesn’t get a mention.

There is a lot of pulling and pushing going on in this concerto as played here, as if conductor and soloist feel the need to underline every expressive point. You first notice this in the arpeggiated...