Noctave
The piece
The third nocturne of Op. 9 has the gait of a scherzo: Allegretto, marked scherzando, it moves in 6/8 with the lightness of a dance. The contrast comes in the middle, where the metre changes to four beats and the key to B minor for a long Agitato episode, sempre legato, close to stormy. The first theme then returns, and the piece ends with a passage senza tempo followed by a few bars of Adagio. The text follows the 1915 G. Schirmer edition.
The left hand plays a leaping accompaniment, bass then chord, with 233 jumps of an octave or more at a light tempo. It needs to stay discreet so the right hand can play scherzando, with detached notes and flexible accents. In the Agitato section the balance flips: the line becomes continuous and dense, and you must sustain the legato throughout without tightening. Five sharps in the key signature, plus the accidentals of the B minor episode, make reading demanding, so work out the harmonies of the middle section slowly before adding momentum. More than five minutes of playing also means pacing your energy.