Prelude, Op. 32 No. 10

1. 0:00
   Opening phrase, B minor

   Short triplet figures sound against long, tied chords. Both hands play together in B minor, and a short rest follows. The marking is Lento, and the first phrase stays near the middle of the piano.

2. 0:40
   Preludes in all twenty-four keys

   With the thirteen preludes of Op. 32, written in 1910, Rachmaninoff completed a set in all twenty-four major and minor keys. The ten of Op. 23 and the single C♯ minor Prelude of Op. 3, written at nineteen, supply the other eleven.

3. 1:44
   Pesante over low F♯

   The piano repeats its chords over a low F♯, and the short rocking rhythm grows louder. A crescendo leads to the broad, two-handed chords of Tempo I.

4. 2:08
   Böcklin’s The Return

   Rachmaninoff said that Arnold Böcklin’s painting The Return inspired this Prelude. His tone poem The Isle of the Dead was also based on a Böcklin canvas.

5. 2:28
   Böcklin, The Return, 1887

   In Böcklin’s The Return (1887), a man in a red coat sits with his back turned on the stone rim of a square pool, his reflection below him. Beyond the water is a dark house under autumn trees, with one window lit.

6. 2:48
   Long upper notes over runs

   After the repeated chords the piano returns to pp. Long upper notes are held over quieter chords, and short runs form around them. The runs grow from groups of six and seven notes into a rapid passage across the keyboard.

7. 3:20
   Recording by La Pianista, 2010

   La Pianista, the name under which this pianist publishes, made this recording on 12 May 2010. The pianist released it as their own work under a Creative Commons Attribution licence.

8. 3:50
   Return of the opening phrase

   A tempo, come prima (at the tempo, as before). After the long runs, the opening’s rocking notes and tied chords return in B minor, and the hands move close together again.

9. 4:42
   Closing bars, low B

   The bass descends in the closing phrases, with short flourishes above. A final low B sounds far below the held chord. Rachmaninoff marks the ending pp, with a fermata.

Joins

1. 1:44
   The triplet rhythm becomes pesante

   A low F♯, the dominant of B minor, is held beneath repeated chords marked pesante. The triplet rhythm of the opening continues as the chords rise in a crescendo. At Tempo I, both hands play fortissimo.

2. 2:48
   Ritardando and fermata into L’istesso tempo

   The repeated piano chords slow and diminish to a fermata. L’istesso tempo follows at pp, with long upper notes over widely separated bass notes. Small runs begin to fill the space between the chords.

3. 3:50
   Rising run and return of the opening

   The piano’s rapid figures climb, make a diminuendo and stop under a fermata. At A tempo, come prima the rocking phrase returns in B minor. The hands give up the wide-ranging runs and go back to the joined chords of the opening.

4. 4:42
   The last bass notes descend

   The returning phrase breaks into shorter exchanges. Low bass notes descend beneath the piano’s short flourishes and end on B below the last held chord. The final marking is pp, with a fermata.