Description
There is barely a rest anywhere in it: this is the most violent music the set has offered so far. The twelfth of the 24 Preludes, Op. 28, it closes the first half of the cycle.
The right hand hammers the same figure insistently while a melody snatches short breaths inside it, in G-sharp minor and triple time. The left hand never stops either, and with both hands running at the same density the listener is given nowhere to pause. Its 1,250 notes in seventy seconds work out at some eighteen a second.
What the advanced rating asks for is the stamina to sustain that density to the end. A locked wrist will not survive a minute of it, so checking that the arm stays free comes first. Do not reach for violence by raising the volume; drive it with speed and urgency instead. Holding the first half back leaves something for the passage late on where the music is pressed harder still.
A set of 24 short pieces Chopin composed in 1838-39, covering all 24 keys, each with its own distinct character — a poetic cycle for piano.
Browse all songs in 24 Preludes Op.28 →Sheet Music
Sheet music provided by Mutopia Project
About the Composer
Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Frederic Chopin was born in Poland and made his career in Paris, remaining unusual among great composers for writing almost exclusively for piano. He poured his longing for his homeland into mazurkas and polonaises, while his ballades and etudes combine poetic melody with harmonic innovation. This site includes the "Revolutionary" and other etudes, Ballades No. 1 and No. 4, nocturnes, and the Preludes, Op. 28.
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