Rachmaninoff: Etudes-Tableaux op. 33 und 39

Informatie

Rachmaninoff always found piano pieces particularly difficult to compose. In a letter to N. S. Morozov (of 30 July/11 August 1910) he wrote, referring to the start of his work on the cycle of Preludes op. 32 “…work on the small items for piano goes worst of all. I don’t like doing it, and it’s hard going for me. There’s neither beauty nor joy in it.” (translated by Stuart Campbell). The two books of Etudes-Tableaux, op. 33 and op. 39, were composed with a gap of several years between them, which has inevitably resulted in each book having its own distinctive characteristics. Nevertheless, it is impossible to overlook the similarity in style and concept that make the Etudes-Tableaux an integral compositional cycle.