G Major - Research on Harmony - Variation 3

The arch descends further. Variation 3 is also a bell — rising from G1 (the deep sub-bass, near-black) to B5 at the crest, then folding back. Six notes: G1, G2, D3, D4, D5, B5. Three versions of the fifth — D3, D4, D5 — stack through the middle register in ascending orange, each one a step higher than the last, before the phrase reaches the yellow-green brightness of B5 and turns.

Lent, mp, legato. The slow tempo and flowing connection give the étude a ruminative quality — the three D's progressing upward in unhurried sequence. Shadow and midtone share the painting's tonal weight, highlights are restrained. The palette is warm throughout: red-orange, orange in three versions, yellow-green at the peak.

Among the bell-shaped études, this one has an unusual internal structure — that three-note orange staircase in the middle, the phrase using the fifth repeatedly before reaching the third.