Prelude in B-flat minorOp. 28, No. 16

The sixteenth of Chopin's 24 Preludes, Op. 28, published in 1839. Six accented chords, f, end on a fermata; then, Presto con fuoco, the right hand races in sixteenth notes over left-hand bass notes and chords that leap across the keyboard. The music rises to ff, presses on through stretto and sempre più animato, and both hands run together in a crescendo before the prelude closes with a ff chord and a final B-flat minor chord. This edition follows Catelin's Paris first edition of 1839.