DESCRIPTION:
This was the first composition Rachmaninoff ever published (part of the Op.3 'Morecaux de Fantaisie' collection, which includes the famous C# minor prelude).

As the name suggests, it is a lament for the dead, and so the music overflows with anguish, pain and anger.

Although Rachmaninoff was only 18 when he composed this piece, it bears all the hallmarks of his later works: the arpeggiated left hand, the soaring right hand romantic melodies, and of course intense dark emotion.