Etudes-Tableaux, Op. 39

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) composed this second (Op. 39) of two sets of piano études in 1917. The title Études-Tableaux translates as “study pictures.” But while the works were inspired by some visual stimuli, Rachmaninoff did not disclose what those were, preferring to “let [the listener] paint for themselves what each of the nine tableaux’s most suggests.