Noctave
The piece
Published in 1799 as the Grande Sonate pathétique, with a dedication to Prince Karl Lichnowsky, this sonata takes its name from the first edition. The first movement opens with a Grave of massive chords and tense silences, then breaks into a headlong Allegro di molto e con brio. The Grave returns twice, at the threshold of the development and just before the end. This movement is part of the “Vers la Fantaisie-Impromptu” journey.
The Allegro rests on the left hand: broken octaves in tremolo, at more than eight attacks per second, which you have to sustain for a long time without tensing up. The secret is the wrist, rotating slightly rather than striking each note. The second theme calls for a different gesture: the left hand crosses over the right to play high notes decorated with mordents, 68 of them in the score. These crossings and the broken octaves account for the large number of measured leaps. In the Grave, what matters is reading the fine rhythms, thirty-second notes and dotted figures. The movement lasts nearly eight minutes, so pace yourself and keep something in reserve for the coda.