Ab Octaves - Reflexions 32

Nine notes — the densest étude in the Octaves series. Ab1 to Eb6, ascending waltz, Animé, mp, legato, in three. Ab appears at Ab1, Ab3, Ab4, Ab5 — four octaves of blue. Five accents fill the spaces: violet at Bb4, red at C5, orange at D5, yellow-orange at A5, blue-violet at Eb6.

Blue anchors the canvas at four depths — near-black at Ab1, gray at Ab3, characteristic blue at Ab4, pale at Ab5. Between and above them: violet, red, orange, yellow-orange, blue-violet — the middle and upper registers dense with color from every part of the harmonic-chromatic spectrum. The canvas reads as a cool blue foundation overlaid with a warm center.

The fullest octave study — nine notes, four Ab tones, five accents, the phrase a dense ascending waltz where every harmonic-chromatic family makes an appearance. Blue persists through it all, but the visitors are louder.