An Evening at the Symphony
2013-Nov-23, Saturday 17:57
Specifically, at this symphony:
About two months ago,![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
schoolpsychnerd and I were listening to the Top Score podcast when they had an episode about something called the Symphony of the Goddesses where they interviewed Jason Michael Paul (the guy behind the Dear Friends concerts) and Jeron Moore about the original four-movement symphony they had written based on the Legend of Zelda. "Huh," I said, "that sounds neat, but this was a back episode of the podcast and so we missed the concert they had in Chicago. I wonder if it's coming around again?" So I jumped on the internet, did a search for it, and found that they were holding a new concert series this year! In a couple months, in fact, and starting in Chicago!
Obviously, I got on that.
After an initial problem buying tickets ("$150!?! Oh, wait, what happens if I unclick 'best available..."), I securedschoolpsychnerd and my place up in one of the balconies and waited, and the concert occurred last night.
The program is here, but it's not super informative. Each movement of the symphony was essentially a medly of each of four games--in order, Ocarina of Time, Windwaker, Twilight Princess and A Link to the Past, and while the concert was going on, footage from the game was broadcast on a screen behind the performers. There were also individual songs that encapsulated other games. After the overture at the beginning, for example, there was a song dedicated to Link's Awakening, and just after the intermission they played the Gerudo Valley theme. The actual music was provided by the Chicago Philharmonic and Bella Voce, with all the quality that implies. It was exactly as great as I was hoping it would be.
Oh hey, here we go. See for yourself!:
It's not the same musicians, but it's the same songs.
My favorite part was definitely the A Link to the Past section, both because it's my favorite Zelda game by far and because they did a good job of sticking to the 16-bit feel of the original music while still making it obvious that this was bing performed by a full orchestra (jump forward to around 1:17 in that video for the ALttP section), but the Gerudo Valley theme was also a hit because it's objectively the best Ocarina of Time song. I actually don't even remember what the songs they performed for their encore were because the ones I already mentioned are the ones that stuck in my memory.
It was also the first concert I've been to that had cosplayers, which wasn't surprising considering the subject matter. On the other hand, we were at a formal symphony held in the Chicago Theatre, so it was a bit jarring seeing people dressed up like Zelda or Link climbing up and down those stairs.
Finally, I'll end with this: The Zelda Project. Not related to the music in any way, but it's people trying to photographically recreate scenes from Ocarina of Time and doing a really good job of it.
About two months ago,
schoolpsychnerd and I were listening to the Top Score podcast when they had an episode about something called the Symphony of the Goddesses where they interviewed Jason Michael Paul (the guy behind the Dear Friends concerts) and Jeron Moore about the original four-movement symphony they had written based on the Legend of Zelda. "Huh," I said, "that sounds neat, but this was a back episode of the podcast and so we missed the concert they had in Chicago. I wonder if it's coming around again?" So I jumped on the internet, did a search for it, and found that they were holding a new concert series this year! In a couple months, in fact, and starting in Chicago!Obviously, I got on that.
After an initial problem buying tickets ("$150!?! Oh, wait, what happens if I unclick 'best available..."), I secured
schoolpsychnerd and my place up in one of the balconies and waited, and the concert occurred last night.The program is here, but it's not super informative. Each movement of the symphony was essentially a medly of each of four games--in order, Ocarina of Time, Windwaker, Twilight Princess and A Link to the Past, and while the concert was going on, footage from the game was broadcast on a screen behind the performers. There were also individual songs that encapsulated other games. After the overture at the beginning, for example, there was a song dedicated to Link's Awakening, and just after the intermission they played the Gerudo Valley theme. The actual music was provided by the Chicago Philharmonic and Bella Voce, with all the quality that implies. It was exactly as great as I was hoping it would be.
Oh hey, here we go. See for yourself!:
It's not the same musicians, but it's the same songs.
My favorite part was definitely the A Link to the Past section, both because it's my favorite Zelda game by far and because they did a good job of sticking to the 16-bit feel of the original music while still making it obvious that this was bing performed by a full orchestra (jump forward to around 1:17 in that video for the ALttP section), but the Gerudo Valley theme was also a hit because it's objectively the best Ocarina of Time song. I actually don't even remember what the songs they performed for their encore were because the ones I already mentioned are the ones that stuck in my memory.
It was also the first concert I've been to that had cosplayers, which wasn't surprising considering the subject matter. On the other hand, we were at a formal symphony held in the Chicago Theatre, so it was a bit jarring seeing people dressed up like Zelda or Link climbing up and down those stairs.
Finally, I'll end with this: The Zelda Project. Not related to the music in any way, but it's people trying to photographically recreate scenes from Ocarina of Time and doing a really good job of it.
