C Octaves - Reflexions 13

Six notes descending from G6 to C1 — the pitch C explored across five octaves, the phrase falling from near-white to near-black. Played Lent, mp, legato, in three — a slow waltz downward. Two accents outside the octave: orange at D4 and red-orange implied by the fifth G6 at the top, placed far above the rest of the chord.

C gives red, and the canvas darkens as the phrase descends — pale red at C5, warming at C4, compressing through dark gray at C2 to near-black at C1. The accent at D4 adds a warm orange glow at mid-register. G6 opens the painting from a height far above the root's territory, a pale shimmer before the long fall.

A descent through red — the root of all Western harmony repeated across five octaves, the color deepening from light to darkness, the waltz carrying the phrase from the upper register into the piano's deepest bass.