Along with Souvenirs d’enfance, Prélude en Ré is one of the earliest works for piano by Yoritsune Matsudaira. Composed in 1934 and included in 1935 in the 5th volume of the Tcherepnin Collection, Contemporary Japanese Piano Pieces, this piece was premiered by Alexandre Tcherepnin in Munich, and its recording made by him was broadcast on European radio. This work is important in that it reflects Matsudaira’s friendship with Tcherepnin and Alexandre Tansman, who came to Japan in 1932 and inspired him to write this piece, as Matsudaira says. Two simple melodies are both repeated twice, each accompanied by augmented or diminished intervals. After a transition of four measures, the original melodies are recapitulated, followed by a coda of four measures. The latter half of the piece clearly presents D major, except the coda ending on an empty fifth. Published first by Tcherepnin, Prélude en Ré was included in Contemporary Music for Original Dances: 1st volume, piano music (Gendai Shichōsha, 1953), Yoritsune Matsudaira : OEuvres pour piano (Zen-On, 1971), and his OEuvres pour piano (Zen-On, 1991).