Rachmaninoff's first solo piano piece (predating his Op. 1 Concerto!), a Romance

[williamhu]

Rachmaninoff's set of 4 pieces for piano (initially intended to be his opus 1) predates all his catalogued works but are no less charming than his more complicated projects!

The romance, the first in the set, is a rather heavy and moody piece for the most part, glued to a continuous quaver melody that can't quite seem to escape the plodding, gloomy left hand. At 1:12 we finally break free into a moment of crystal clear lightness, only for it to spiral out of control into a strange trancelike section (1:22) that grows in intensity until it collapses into nothingness.

The piece slowly re-emerges into the much more tranquil final section at 2:02, whose melody only bears a passing resemblance to the one at the start. In a major key now, we drift higher and higher until 2:43 lets us back down gently, like a sigh of relief that in the end, everything will work out.