(IDIL BIRET)

Preface

Tarantelle is a dance which has its origins in Sicily. Chopin’s A-flat major Tarantelle is a piece unique among all his work. It seems to be possessed by a bad spirit symbolised by the bite of the spider tarentula. The peak point (point culminante) of the piece comes with the “sempre più animato crescendo”, the succession of 43 last measures that form the coda which have to be played faster and faster and more and more crescendo. In order to achieve this irresistible acceleration of the tempo and sound one should be careful to play the beginning of this long passage neither too fast nor too forte and build it up with care in order to keep the nervous energy intact until the last bar.

IMC#3593