Memorable Choral Chords: Solutions

 [D]: A prominent tone cluster appearing early in Tarik O’Regan’s Threshold of Night [2009]; a 4-note cluster on “threshold” becomes a 5-note cluster on “night.”  Later, the same notes are repeated on the words “empty night.”  This cluster is most simply described as the union of 4 consecutive rising whole-steps, beginning on D♭.  Alternatively, in chord notation, it could be approximately described as the second inversion of an augmented seventh chord with added note G, as: F+7^add2/C#.  However, this is not quite right because C# is named (rather than the notated D♭) and because the chord notation does not convey that the seventh (E♭) is lowered and voiced below the F.  An alternate description could be D♭+^add2add#4, but this would be seriously ambiguous because D♭ is an accidental, and one would have to explain that the added second is natural (and the added fourth is sharp) relative to a temporary implied key of D♭.