Sergei Rachmaninov - Moment musicaux No. 4, Presto in E minor

Presto in E minor from “Six moments musicaux“. Author: Sergei Rachmaninov (1873 - 1943). The fourth piece, Presto, is similar to the second in the quality of its performance, it reveals resemblance to Chopin’s Revolutionary étude in the taxing left hand figure place throughout. Further it looks, sounds, and feels as if it were an improvisation on Chopin’s Prelude in G major (Op. 28, No. 3). Presto is in ternary form with a coda. The piece begins with a fortissimo introduction with a thick texture in the left hand consisting of chromatic sextuplets. The melody is a “rising quasi-military“ idea, interspersed between replications of the left hand figure, the mostly two-note melody being a strong unifying element. The middle section is a brief period of pianississimo falling figures in the right hand and rising scales in the left. The third section is marked Più vivo (more life) and is played even faster than the intro, 112 quarter notes per minute. At this point the p