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The long last Prelude of the set, No. 24 opens with a thundering five-note pattern in the left hand. Throughout the piece, the left hand continues this pattern as the right hand plays a powerful melody punctuated by trills, scales (including a rapid descending chromatic scale in thirds), and arpeggios. The piece closes with three booming unaccompanied notes– the lowest D on the piano.

Prelude No. 23 is spacious and melodic in the left hand, with running semiquavers throughout in the right.

Prelude No. 22, molto agitato, is in 6/8 time; it begins with a characteristic dotted rhythm (quaver, dotted quaver, semiquaver) that Scriabin was later to make his own, in his early preludes that are perhaps the most important to emulate this genre of Chopin’s.

Prelude No. 21 is marked cantabile, and features an easy melody in the right hand; the left has continuous doubled quavers characterised by chromatic movement, taken up by the right hand also in the latter half of the piece.

Prelude No. 20 is short but quite famous, with slow majestic crotchet chords in the right hand predominating, against crotchet octaves in the left. It was originally written in two sections of four measures, although Chopin later added a repeat of the last four measures at a softer level, with an expressive swell before the final cadence.

Prelude No. 19, vivace, consists of widely spaced continuous triplet-quaver movement in both hands.

The irregular Prelude No. 18 is suggestive of a mortal struggle. The technical challenges lie chiefly in the irregular timing of the three runs, each faster than its predecessor, played simultaneously by each hand one octave apart. A fortissimo five-octave arpeggio echoes downward into the depths of the bass registers, where the final struggle takes place and culminates with the double-fortissimo chord finale.

Prelude No. 17 is one of the longest and the favourite of many musicians, including Clara Schumann. Mendelssohn wrote of it “I love it! I cannot tell you how much or why; except perhaps that it is something which I could never at all have written.”

Prelude No. 15 in D-flat, nicknamed the “Raindrop” Prelude, is the longest of the twenty-four. The main melody is repeated three times; it is melancholy, despite its major key. The middle section is much darker; the melody moves to the bass and the right hand mostly repeats G sharp (enharmonically equivalent to the repeated A flat of the opening section), first alone and then in octaves. The mood becomes more agitated with the melody’s return to the right hand and an increase in volume, with many large chords. After this the melody and texture of the first section return briefly, leading to a restful ending.

Prelude No. 14 recalls Prelude No. 1 in its shortness and textural uniformity.

Prelude No. 13, lento, is long and has continuous single-note quaver movement in the left hand, with chords and melody in the right.

Prelude No. 12 presents a technical challenge with its rapid hold-and-release of quavers against crotchets in the right hand, involving much chromatic movement.

Prelude No. 11 is in 6/8 time and is similarly brisk, with continuous quavers.

Prelude No. 10, molto allegro, is short and light, with alternating triplet and non-triplet semiquavers in the right hand, over arpeggiato chords in the left.

Prelude No. 9 is a harmonically dense piece with a low “plodding” bass line.

Prelude No. 8, molto agitato, is considered one of the most difficult in the set, featuring continuous demisemiquaver figuration in the right hand, with contrasting semiquaver triplets (alternating with quavers) in the left hand.

Prelude No. 7 is written in the style of a mazurka, in 3/4 time.

By Alexander Kobrin

By Rafał Blechacz

Prélude Op. 28 No. 6 B minor sheet music

By Alexander Kobrin

By Rafał Blechacz

Prélude Op. 28 No. 5 D major sheet music

Prelude No. 2 is an immediate contrast, with a slow melody over a fixed accompaniment of four-note chords played two quaver notes at a time.

Prelude No. 1 marked agitato, is short and uniform with its triplet-semiquaver figuration.