Rachmaninoff Prelude in C# minor

I actually played this piece for a competition a few years back, so I got pretty intimate with it. I just happened to hear it on the radio (WICR) and thought it would be a good one to talk about. First of all I LOVE this piece. There's just somthing so beautiful about the melody and how it is harmonically put together. There is a definitive ABA form. (Actually I guess the second A section could be more considered an A prime because even though it is the same melody in the same key, its texture is pretty much doubled. In the first A section, the melody is played and replayed, but in different chordal inversions and intervals on the scale. There are several chromatic leading tones and such. Even the opening monophonic notes sound chordal and powerful. There are a few deviations from the melody in the A section, but it isn't till the end of the section that the music gives a hint of changing and developing as the texture thins. In the B or development section it uses the same melody, but then changes the rhythm, speed and texture and then variates it. This then moves back to the A section only it splits into 4 lines for two hands (whew) and is just a huge mass of the same persistant melody. The end is very interesting. It kind of falls into a category of its own. It is slow and simply chords that are changing sometimes just one note at a time. They sound like they are emmulating bells. There is also something very emotional about this highly Romantically stylized 20th century piece that makes me connect with it. There is a wide range of dynamics and speeds which I think reflect the human emotions. Its almost as if this piece is its own entity. No wonder it is a classic favorite.