G Minor - Research on Harmony - Variations 13

Variation 2 reached Bb7 at its crest and held almost no light — three percent highlights against sixty-four percent midtones. Variation 13 also reaches Bb7 at its crest, and now the near-white silver registers fully: sixty-five percent highlights, the pale upper tones finally allowed to dominate. The same extreme destination, opposite tonal outcome. Between these two works, the series has traveled from darkness to brightness through the same structural point.

Six tones, with G2 at the base — slightly elevated from the G1 root of the opening studies. D4 and G4 build the middle body of the arc, D5 extends it upward, and Bb4 provides the violet tone before the long interval to Bb7. The gap between Bb4 and Bb7 spans three octaves of the violet family, the leap from mid-violet to near-white silver at the summit.

Eight percent shadows: the bass barely darkens the composition. Twenty-seven percent midtones: a slender intermediate zone. The work is nearly all upper register — its light is not borrowed but structural, a direct consequence of where the phrase chooses to linger.