B Minor - Research on Harmony - Variation 5

Four notes. B2, D3, B5, D6 — two roots and two minor thirds, nothing else. The B minor chord at its most reduced. And yet the balance is almost entirely light: more than seven-tenths of the canvas holds highlights, the palette bright yellow-green and warm orange toward the upper range.

Modéré — the only one in the series at this tempo — gives the descending waltz a measured, unhurried pace, neither as slow as Lent nor as propulsive as Animé. The melody opens at D6 (light-colored, nearly pale) and falls: to B5, then D3, then B2. The descent is simple, the spacing wide.

Two pairs, two registers, mirrored: the upper pair bright (B5 and D6), the lower pair darker (B2 and D3). The étude states the chord twice — once near the top of its range, once near the bottom — and then is done. Economy of means, maximum of light.