CORVALLIS — There’s plenty of musical tradition on the menu for the Corvallis-OSU Symphony Orchestra’s “Russian Masters” concert Monday night.

With the spotlight on Russian music — from Prokofiev to Borodin and ending with Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 — some of that is inevitable, of course: One of the things that the orchestra’s music director, Marlan Carlson, admires about Russian composers is their “rootedness in their own culture and history,” and that’s bound to come through on Monday.

But Carlson also points to another musical tradition in the concert: The composer-pianist, as exemplified in this case by the towering figure of Sergei Rachmaninoff. Literally towering, and imposing as well: Rachmaninoff was once described by Igor Stravinsky (a friend) as a “6 1/2 -foot scowl.“

Carlson notes that this type of composer-pianist was long at the core of Western classical music, dating back to Bach and Beethoven, among others. “Now, we’ve gradually gotten away from that. … I think we’re losing something here.“

In part, Carlson said, it could be that the technical demands now required of concert pianists leave little time for composing. Rachmaninoff and others of his ilk were no slouches at the piano in their day, he said, but “whether they could win competitions today, I don’t know.“

The guest pianist who will tackle Rachmaninoff’s “Third Concerto” on Monday, Mariangela Vacatello, is no slouch at the keyboard herself — and has victories in international competitions to prove it. Vacatello is familiar to mid-valley audiences, although this is her first time performing with the symphony. Most recently, she opened OSU’s Steinway Piano Concert Series on Nov. 13. She squeezed a concert date in Indianapolis in between her Corvallis performances.

Vacatello has the skills and the character to interpret Rachmaninoff’s warhorse of a concerto, and that’s essential.

“We do not want just a perfectly technical performance,” Carlson said. “We want character in there as well.“

Monday’s concert also includes two other pieces, Prokofiev’s “Scythian Suite,” and Borodin’s “Polovetsian Dances.”

Carlson said he’s wanted to do the “Scythian Suite” — “so colorful and so dissonant” — for decades.

As for the Borodin, it’s a piece that may be familiar in part to audiences, but with one big element missing, Carlson said: “No one’s heard it live and with a chorus.”

To solve that, OSU’s Steven Zielke is leading a combined chorus of some 200 musicians, including OSU’s Glee Choir, its Chamber Choir, the Meistersingers, Bella Voce and the Sweet Home High School choir.

The singers joined the orchestra for rehearsal for the first time earlier this week. Carlson’s verdict? “It’s absolutely thrilling.“