Melodious Pieces Op. 149 No. 26

About this work

The Alla Turca marking gives number 26 of opus 149 a bold profile: repeated chords in the secondo, quick semiquaver upbeats in the primo and fortissimo at the opening. Rests cut into the pattern as precisely as the notes do. The strength of this Allegro comes from the players’ shared clarity as much as from their volume.
Prepare the upbeat and hear the releases
The primo launches the phrase with two quick notes. Count the space before that entrance and prepare the first point of emphasis together. The secondo can then practise the chords with a short gesture, allowing the hands to relax after each attack. Keep the bass notes audible beneath the repeated chords.
When a similar motif returns softly, preserve its articulation while changing the weight of the touch. That contrast makes the return to forte more effective. In a duet rehearsal, choose a break within the phrase and check that both players release the keys together. A single note held over by one player can blunt the other player’s reply.
Score and playback
The PDF contains the secondo and primo parts for piano four hands on 2 pages. The MIDI provides a guide to the notes and rhythm. Alberto Simões typeset this score with LilyPond for the Mutopia Project. It is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 licence, which requires attribution and the same licence terms for adaptations.
Credits and files: Mutopia entry, source score and licence. Find more music on LesPartitions.info.