C Major9 - Research on Harmony - Variation 1

Five notes, and the third E makes its only appearance alongside the ninth D — E4 and D4 sitting a step apart in the same octave, then D5 above. Played Lent, mp, legato, in four — the same slow arch as the opening, rising from C1 to D5 at the crest. The root C anchors the bass at C1 and C2, near-black. No fifth, no seventh — the chord stripped to root, third, and ninth.

Red compresses toward black in the bass. Yellow at E4 and orange at D4 sit close together at mid-canvas, the third and ninth in their most characteristic hues — warm neighbors, barely a step apart. Orange brightens at D5 at the peak. The canvas is almost entirely dark below and warm above, the middle registers holding the only saturated color.

A sparse reduction — three of the chord's five tones, the harmony implied rather than stated, the slow arch climbing from black into a brief warm center before folding back.