A Minor - Research on Harmony - Variation 4

The series' sub-bass reaches A0. Variation 4 descends all the way to A0 — the lowest A on the keyboard, among the deepest notes available — from A5 in the upper midrange. Six notes in waltz time, Lent: A5, A4, E4, C3, A2, A0. The phrase opens in warm yellow-orange and falls through the chord to near-silence at A0.

A0 is near-black, but at a register so low it barely registers as pitched to the ear — a rumbling, almost tactile tone. The étude places this extreme as its resolution point, the descent finding its resting place in the deepest possible territory.

Shadow, midtone, and highlight are distributed nearly evenly despite the extreme bass. The waltz meter gives the descent a lilting, three-beat quality that softens the fall toward the depths. Among the A Minor études, Variation 4 reaches the furthest down — A0, the bass as absolute foundation.