I'm a big fan of Zimerman's performance of Rachmaninof's piano concerto no. 1. I've listened to a lot of different performances, and I find Ashkenazy's performance to be too slow for my liking, and most of the other performances too steady in dynamics. That's a problem for me here, because the dynamics are what make Rachmaninoff, and romantic (and later) music in general.

The way Zimerman addresses all melodies very clearly, and plays seemingly aggressive. Or passionate, however you like to call it.

Rachmaninoff's own performance of his concerto is also quite brilliant, even though the recording is very old, you can still hear what "message" he was bringing across.