Gb Major - Research on Harmony - Variations 8

The enharmonic twin. Spelled as Gb Major — flats instead of sharps, but the same six black keys under the fingers. Eleven notes, the most of any étude in the series, ascending in waltz time with a normal articulation that replaces the legato of every other variation. Animé, mp: the phrase climbs from Gb1 through the full keyboard to Bb7.

Gb1 and Gb2 lay the heaviest bass foundation in the series, near-black upon near-black. The root reappears as dark green at Gb4, then brightens to blue-green at Gb5 — the most aquatic version of the root's color. Bb3, Bb4, Bb5, Bb6, Bb7: five instances of the third ascending through violet toward blue-violet, the color shifting cooler than in sharp-spelled variations. A3 contributes a yellow-orange accent, a lone warm intruder.

This closing study mirrors the series in flat-side spelling, the densest and most populated canvas of the eleven. The normal articulation — neither legato nor detached — gives it a quality distinct from everything that came before: the same key, heard through a different notation, with a subtly different touch.