Chaliapin père, like Rachmaninoff, was a wilful artist, shaping a musical work as he saw fit, creating the impression of genius in compositions that perhaps were not so powerful to begin with. For instance, I heard his performance of Alexander Grechaninov’s religious music: Chaliapin sang divinely, with such dramatic impact that you were literally torn to pieces. I’m not so sure that the score would have had the same effect in anyone else’s interpretation.