Alkan "En augmentant" what does it mean?

[dtao12]

Working on Alkan's Grande Sonata 1st movement "Vingt Ans" which is obviously very fast and scherzo-ish. There are a few passages where the phrase "en augmentant" is used. I've looked for it as a musical term, unsuccessfully, though the basic meaning of the French is "increasing" which seems clear from the root of "augment." But increasing in what way? Volume/size by "broadening" the tempo? Or just the opposite, increasing the tempo? Lots of Alkan's other markings are more "emotional" (e.g., amoureusement, avec enthousiasme, valereusement) than "technical" but "augmentant" seems like it more likely referring to either tempo or dynamics.

When Hamelin performs these passages on his recording, he gets a louder but doesn't vary his very fast speed. Another performer (Weiss) does it quite differently, "increasing" the distance between notes, i.e., slowing down, but not increasing the volume.

This is the only the second Alkan piece I've learned, so I'm not familiar with whether this "en augmentant" phrase is commonly used throughout it work, and whether it has a clear meaning, or whether it's a very subjective (left up to performers to do whatever seems right to them).

Suggestions welcome. Thanks,

David

[richard black]

I don't recall seeing it very often anywhere and my take on it is that it's ambiguous - use your discretion!