With his Études-Tableaux Rachmaninoff continued down the path that Chopin and Liszt had already set out on with their concert etudes: the most demanding technical tasks are presented in the form of expressive character pieces. Rachmaninoff composed two cycles, each originally with nine Études-Tableaux; however, shortly before Opus 33 went to print, he removed three of the pieces.

Several posthumous editions later reversed this decision. However, in this edition Henle follows the exact structu...