Trattenere i valori lunghi, precipitando su quelli brevi

[mibiqui]

Hello - I'm trying to understand the following directions in a contemporary musical score. The "values" are the length of the notes, which is one reason why this seems so confusing to me:

“Tratterere i valori lunghi, precipitando su quelli brevi”

Something like "Treat the values long, making them short"?

Thanks!

 

[furs]

Hold long notes, be extremely fast on short ones.
Precipitous is also said in English, after all...

 

[mibiqui]

Thanks - that makes much more sense!