By Nestor CASTIGLIONE

Though the only work of his on Sunday’s program is a relatively minor one, it’s Tchaikovsky’s spirit that looms largest in Le Salon de Musiques’ January program. The Russian composer’s “Souvenir d’un lieu cher” will be the nexus of the concert, which takes place Sunday, Jan. 21 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

The music of Tchaikovsky profoundly touched and influenced the other two composers on the program: Anton Arensky and Sergei Rachmaninoff.

The former composer was written off after his untimely death by his elder colleague, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, who dismissed Arensky as being a Tchaikovsky epigone who would quickly be forgotten by musical posterity. Indeed, his music has struggled to find its footing in the concert repertoire. But it has gained favor and advocacy in the last quarter century thanks to musicians and organizations curious to explore the less travelled paths of Romantic era music.

Arensky is represented on Sunday’s program by his “Piano Trio No. 2,” a late work in his brief career, in which the influence of Tchaikovsky is palpable, albeit synthesized with touches peculiar to the younger composer.

Rachmaninoff’s “Trio Élegiaque No. 2,” on the other hand, was conceived as a memorial tribute to Tchaikovsky. The aching melancholy that sweeps over Rachmaninoff’s better known work takes center stage in this three-movement opus.

Le Salon de Musiques’ Russian program will take place this Sunday at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion starting at 4 p.m. The concert will be preceded by a lecture, then followed after with refreshments. Ticket prices are $85 for general admission and $45 for students. To obtain tickets and more information, please go online to http://www.lesalondemusiques.com or call (310) 498-0257.

  Nestor CASTIGLIONE