Noctave
The piece
Marked Allegro molto agitato, this farewell is no polite bow. In A minor, it opens with a right-hand tune over repeated eighth-note chords, then breaks into a stream of eighth-note triplets, twelve to the bar, with the melody hidden among passing notes. In the central section the triplets move down to the left hand as arpeggios, under a melody in quarter notes.
The right-hand triplets move at about five and a half notes per second. The task is to bring out the melody tucked inside them: the accented notes should stand out while the others slide around them. Play only those melody notes first, in rhythm, then fill in the triplets around them without changing their weight. In the middle section the left hand plays almost nothing but broken-chord triplets; keep them steady, with no bump at each change of harmony, while the right hand sings legato. The agitation in the title comes from the drive of the phrases and the dynamics, not from hurrying: keep a firm four-beat pulse.