Op.48 - 4 Preludes

A set of four very brief pieces:
No. 1, Impetuoso fiero
No. 2, Poetico con delizia
No. 3, Capricciosamente affanato
No. 4, Festivamente
The first prelude is craggy and ferocious, with a playfulness somewhat similar to the second movement of the Sonata No.4 but more rebellious. The second is a very poetic and translucent improvisation, reminiscent of Chopin, with very high chords under a nonchalant left-hand line—a process that will be reused in later pieces. The third is capricious and seductive. The last piece anticipates the sonorities of Debussy’s Études (Pour les Octaves…), with the eternal leitmotiv of repeated descending chromatic notes already present in the finales of both Sonata No.3 and No.4.