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Musically, the Prelude in B Minor represents one the best of many preludes within Rachmaninoff’s oeuvre. The piece had originally been inspired by Bocklin's dramatic picture, The Return. While the work leaves much to the imagination, it is essentially a colorful tone-picture. The colors, though somber, give the piano an almost symphonic quality. The first theme, a nod to Schubert, slowly vanishes in the midst of complex polyrhythms, before reemerging more vibrantly at the conclusion. The last three bars, ringing of melancholic nostalgia, are in a sense a backward glance across Rachmaninoff's entire career. This is modern piano music at its finest.
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