Post by SteveT on Nov 12, 2016 16:42:49 GMT
IN THE UNSPECIFIED PAST, I was lucky enough to catch a showing of Symphony of the Goddess. I've had the 2011 CD in rotation since the Skyward Sword release, and it's arguably the second-best thing that came in my Skyward Sword special edition box (#1 was, of course, the Wiimote). So when my brother called me asking me if I wanted to go with him, of course I got on board.
As far as I can tell, the norm is for the director and production team to travel around and tap local orchestras to put on the show. It's great exposure for the local art scene, and the theater was packed. I'm pretty sure that the show was at least sold out--my seat ended up double-booked, but fortunately I didn't have to move. The crowd was really enthusiastic and friendly, and there was a mix of Zelda fans and people who regularly go to symphonies because they like symphonies. It was nerd city in the best possible of ways.
The arrangements were almost all fantastic. Some were straight medleys. Others tried to musically tell the story of the games through the tracks chosen. The Wind Waker movement was on the CD and remains my favorite. The only ones I didn't really care for were the Gerudo Valley arrangement, just because I don't think the song is well suited for symphonies and it lost the Latino flair that made me feel like Zorro, and the creation of Hyrule song just because it's so weird.
There was a ton of new content compared to the disc. They added a Link Between Worlds medley (Hyrule Castle and Lorule), Majora's Mask (including Deku Palace!!!), Ocarina of Time, Tri Force Heroes (which was really cool because it was such a different style for Zelda and translated perfectly)... It was awesome.
One down side is that because so much music gets recycled across games, certain motifs kept coming back. Zelda's Lullaby, the main theme, the fanfare from LttP's title screen. You have to have them there because each movement needs to be good on its own and represent the series, but it made me wish they managed to find time for some other songs. Dungeon themes in particular were missing. Poor, poor Light World Dungeon.
To go with the music, there was a giant screen showing gameplay footage. At first I was skeptical, but it helped jog my memory on which scene each song came from. In the bigger movements, you could see the major plot points of the game as the music hit them.
The whole experience was awesome. If it comes to your town and you have the cash, don't miss out.
zelda-symphony.com/pages/schedulehttp://zelda-symphony.com/pages/schedule
As far as I can tell, the norm is for the director and production team to travel around and tap local orchestras to put on the show. It's great exposure for the local art scene, and the theater was packed. I'm pretty sure that the show was at least sold out--my seat ended up double-booked, but fortunately I didn't have to move. The crowd was really enthusiastic and friendly, and there was a mix of Zelda fans and people who regularly go to symphonies because they like symphonies. It was nerd city in the best possible of ways.
The arrangements were almost all fantastic. Some were straight medleys. Others tried to musically tell the story of the games through the tracks chosen. The Wind Waker movement was on the CD and remains my favorite. The only ones I didn't really care for were the Gerudo Valley arrangement, just because I don't think the song is well suited for symphonies and it lost the Latino flair that made me feel like Zorro, and the creation of Hyrule song just because it's so weird.
There was a ton of new content compared to the disc. They added a Link Between Worlds medley (Hyrule Castle and Lorule), Majora's Mask (including Deku Palace!!!), Ocarina of Time, Tri Force Heroes (which was really cool because it was such a different style for Zelda and translated perfectly)... It was awesome.
One down side is that because so much music gets recycled across games, certain motifs kept coming back. Zelda's Lullaby, the main theme, the fanfare from LttP's title screen. You have to have them there because each movement needs to be good on its own and represent the series, but it made me wish they managed to find time for some other songs. Dungeon themes in particular were missing. Poor, poor Light World Dungeon.
To go with the music, there was a giant screen showing gameplay footage. At first I was skeptical, but it helped jog my memory on which scene each song came from. In the bigger movements, you could see the major plot points of the game as the music hit them.
The whole experience was awesome. If it comes to your town and you have the cash, don't miss out.
zelda-symphony.com/pages/schedulehttp://zelda-symphony.com/pages/schedule