9792 / 18210 · Workshop 81 — Polychords and Bitonal Hearing: Two Harmonic Worlds at Once, Upper Structure vs. True Polychord, Controlled Clashes, and Making “Wrong” Chords Sound Intentional← prev⊞ allnext →
81.2Why this is not necessarily a true polychord
Because D major is functioning primarily as a convenient organization of:
C-chord extensions.
The ear may not hear:
“C chord plus an independent D-major chord.”
It may simply hear:
“rich C Lydian harmony.”
That distinction matters today.