G Major - Research on Harmony - Variations 11

Wide and soft. Variation 11 spans from G2 to B7 — five and a half octaves — in five sparse notes: G2, G3, D4, D5, B7. The étude reaches to B7, the silver extreme at the top of the keyboard's range, from the near-black bass. Lent, p: the softest dynamic in a very slow tempo, the huge span traversed quietly.

Five pitches occupy five and a half octaves. Each note stands far from its neighbor. The étude breathes with a great deal of space between the tones — the two G's in the bass, the two D's in the middle, and then the distant silver of B7 above. Midtones and highlights share the balance, with shadow very thin.

Within the Lent bell études that close the series, Variation 11 has the widest reach and the softest touch — a paradox of scale and restraint, the quiet étude claiming the full keyboard with almost no sound.