KVR Audio

neueliteratur · Post by **neueliteratur** » Thu Oct 06, 2011 9:18 pm

Hi forum,

Take a look at this excerpt form Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exposition.

Three questions arose:

1) According to books, the English horn is written 5th higher than heard. Since we are in the key of G# minor, isn't it supposed to be written in D# minor?

2) The clarinet is written in B minor, which is a minor third higher than G# minor. So I guess the clarinets are Eb clarinets. But the bass clarinets are also written in B minor. How come the books don't talk about Eb bass clarinets? On Finale, you have Eb clarinets but no Eb bass clarinets.

3) What the hell is that chord??

I appreciate your help.

Ogg Vorbis · Post by **Ogg Vorbis** » Thu Oct 06, 2011 10:16 pm

1) English horn is usually written in F, but here for some reason it appears in Bb! Not sure why.

2) Your clarinet parts are written in A (that's why they appear with two sharps). I think bass clar is usually written in Bb. Not sure why they are written in A here (ask Ravel during your next seance).

3) Chord is D# minor triad over a G# pedal point in the bass and yes, there is an accented dissonance of C double sharp resolving to D# in the next bar. Next harmony appears to be an enharmonically re-written D# major chord (E# instead of Fnatural) over the same G# pedal.

Interesting that Ravel wrote a D natural in the oboe whereas there is a Cx in the flutes. Perhaps this enharmonic equiv. was used because the fingering for a Cx on the oboe produces a poor sound (Ravel WOULD have known that!).

Also, your violas as playing an F# whereas you analyzed it as G#. (Probably just read it accidently in Bass Clef. )

It's tough to pull a single vertical harmony out of context like this and analyze it. This is part of a moving passage with G# as a pedal point and it's going somewhere. I might suggest that you analyze more horizontally in addition to vertical. It will help make sense of weird chords like this.

Good luck, bro!

tapper mike · Post by **tapper mike** » Thu Oct 06, 2011 11:21 pm

Wouldn't parts be separated with there own unique clef to differentiate them dependent on range?

The more I look at them the more I am confused

neueliteratur · Post by **neueliteratur** » Fri Oct 07, 2011 12:37 pm

Hey thanks Ogg Vorbis! Thanks for being patient also, because you could've gone "geez this guy never listenes to my advice, why bother!"

jancivil · Post by **jancivil** » Sun Oct 09, 2011 11:12 am

G# 9 #11. What's weird about it? It's pretty sonorous as it resembles your 7th, 9th and 11th partials.

jancivil · Post by **jancivil** » Sun Oct 09, 2011 11:41 am

there is bass clarinet in A

Weird chord in Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exposition