Rachmaninoff began work on his first substantial piece, the Symphony No. 1 in D minor, in 1895. Its premiere in 1897 was a disaster, and the resulting critical reception robbed Rachmaninoff of his confidence to compose for some three years. With the help of Dr Nikolai Dahl, Rachmaninoff finally regained faith in his compositional prowess and embarked on writing his Second Piano Concerto. This proved to be a phenomenal success. In 1901, the year the concerto premiered, Rachmaninoff composed the Prelude in G minor, now No. 5 of his set of Op. 23. No.5 was actually the first prelude of the set, with the other 9 preludes being composed in 1903. The fifth Prelude encases melting lyricism (meno mosso) within a militant energy (alla marcia).

Unlike Chopin, who composed his 24 Preludes in one fell swoop, Rachmaninoff took 18 years to bring his 24 Preludes – in two sets of 10 Preludes Op. 23 (1903) and 13 Preludes Op. 32 (1911), and one in isolation – to completion. It is unlikely that he had any inkling that a project of such scope would take shape when he published the ever-popular Prelude in C-sharp minor in 1893, the work which brought immediate success to the then 19-year-old composer.

With the minor mode as his preferred tonal colouring, Rachmaninoff crafted achingly nostalgic melodies à la Tchaikovsky alongside sharply chiselled passages of muscular pianism. Prominent in his sound world is the ringing of bells large and small, from the tintinnabulation of sleigh bells to the weighty pendulum swings of cathedral bells evoked so dramatically in the opening of his Piano Concerto No. 2.

Rachmaninoff’s massive hand, that could easily stretch a 12th, gave him magisterial control over the keyboard and the freedom to create complex two-hand textures blooming with countermelodies and a wealth of decorative ornament. These traits are particularly concentrated in his two sets of Preludes Op. 23 (1902) and Op. 32 (1910), works more akin in their scale and ambition to Chopin's Etudes than to the same composer’s brief Preludes.

The Op. 3 "Morceaux de fantaisie" (French for Fantasy Pieces) were composed in 1892. The title reflects the pieces' imagery rather than their musical form, as none are actual fantasies. The set was dedicated to Anton Arensky, his harmony teacher at the Moscow Conservatory. The second piece of the set, entitled Prelude, is the most famous of the five.