The Five Preludes, Op. 16 (1894-1895) are among those works from the early stages of Scriabin's career that clearly demonstrate a debt to the music of Chopin and Liszt. Both Chopin and Liszt exerted a palpable influence over the young composer up to about 1900, by which time he had evolved a distinctive musical voice into which he was to soon incorporate mysticism and more radical compositional methods.

The first of the Five Preludes, marked Andante, presents a beautiful theme in the post-Romantic vein without divulging any obvious influences. There are, probably more by coincidence than by imitation, hints of Rachmaninov in the prelude's lushness and in the character of its flow. The second prelude, marked Allegro, begins with a sort of stutter-step motive that the composer cleverly converts into a theme of nervous beauty and great passion. The third prelude, marked Andante cantabile, has a Lisztian religiosity in its solemn manner, while the fourth, marked Lento, transforms the mood of the third into a more earth-bound ponderousness. The half-minute-long fifth prelude, marked Allegretto, dispels the solemnity, bringing the set to a close with a fleeting brightness.

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More often than not, when Scriabin's music is dark or melancholy, it has an ethereal or mystical quality that especially shows up in his later works. This Prelude for piano, however, in the rarely encountered key of E flat minor, is gloomy, but suggests nothing cosmic or mystical. Instead, it has an emotional neutrality: marked Lento, the music is mournful but remains calm and almost serene in its dignified, sweetly solemn character. In many ways, it is the perfect foil for the lyrical beauty of the preceding G flat major Prelude, and deftly sets the stage for the brief and glittering finale to the set, the sprightly F sharp major. This E flat minor Prelude opens with a hesitant, sparsely scored theme in the upper register that is soon underpinned by gentle tolling chords in the bass. All seems in descent here, the mood one of restrained grieving. The brief second subject is heard and does not break the funereal glow, even if at the outset the listener senses it will turn warmly consolatory. The main theme reappears in a meek, skeletal guise, and the work quietly ends, leaving the vague impression that this one-minute morsel might have been about the closing stages of life.

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