Good Rachmaninoff to start with

[chopincat]

Today I heard someone play Rachmaninoff's C# minor prelude in a masterclass, and I was kind of blown away. I hadn't heard much Rachmaninoff before and I've never played any of his works, but now I definitely want to. Where would be a good place to start? Just for some reference I'm currently working on: Chopin Nocturne op. 9 no. 1, Beethoven Sonata op. 10 no. 1, Debussy "Voiles"  from the Preludes, and Ginastera Danzas Argentinas op. 2.

Also: I have unusually small hands, and that has limited me from playing some pieces in the past. Hopefully I'll be able to find a piece where that wouldn't be a problem.

[visitor]

Difficult to say really as none of his music is really written for anything less than advanced. His language is the culmination of most of the best the romantic era gave us and he then expanded on it with some very conservative modern twists .  The music is traditional considered among the most difficult forte instrument.

He had large hands and pianists with smaller ones tend I struggle with a lot of the reaches.  Best bet for you is to simply study scores , listen to recordings and READ and PLAY some of them.  It will become readily apparent wha is in your wheel house and what you might want to table for a while and come back later.
Also, do not overlook some on the incredible transcriptions by other pianist composers ie

This is actually quite manageable at times as the difficult parts can be worked out with solid practice and if you study , guidance

[cwjalex]

the C# minor prelude is pretty easy, and doesn't require big hands except for a single chord toward the end of the piece.  you can just omit one of the notes in the chord and it sounds fine. 

[classicalnhiphop]

if you can handle it do the g sharp minor prelude, it's not that hard and its really cool

[chopinlover01]

Check out the C# minor prelude if you like. I believe I made a thread similar to this one in the Students corner some time ago.
I'll see if I can link you to it. His Romanze is quite nice, as is his nocturne in a minor.

[maxy]

Today I heard someone play Rachmaninoff's C# minor prelude in a masterclass, and I was kind of blown away.

Then go for it! It's one of his easiest! Enjoy!

[cwjalex]

I've heard Rachmaninoff had big hands...