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Prologue to the Ancient Land - 0:00
Sign of the Colossus - 3:45
Battle Theme - Grotesque Figures / The Opened Way - 5:47 / 7:50
The End of the Battle (short) - 9:40
Prayer - 10:36
Silence - 12:35
Battle Theme - A Violent Encounter / Revived Power - 14:20 / 16:08
The End of the Battle (full) - 18:15
The Sunlit Earth - 20:03
Memories - 21:45
It's taken a while to write and practice this and then set up a recording date around my job, but it's finally here! A concert of solo piano transcriptions featuring selected tracks from Shadow of the Colossus. I've tried to include contrasting pieces and have them work as a convincing set from start to finish. Hope you enjoy. Watch all of it if you have the time and inclination - I practiced a lot to be able to get it all in one take!
The tracks are:
1. Prologue to the Ancient Land - accompanying the opening cinematic, this music captures the lonely, timeless quality of the landscape in which the story is set. It involves some very nice part-writing.
2. Sign of the Colossus - Sinister and ambiguous, this music is explained by the title. Maybe it's some recently-disturbed foliage. Maybe it's an impossibly large footprint in the hard ground. Who knows!
3. Grotesque Figures / The Opened Way - The first pair of battle themes, going straight from the first track (struggling) into the second, more lyrical (winning). These two tracks feature steady war-rhythms and lots of drums and brass in the original instrumentation. The piano can't really match the depth or volume of an orchestra but I've tried.
4. The End of the Battle (excerpt) - The moment when the lights in the colossus' eyes are extinguished following its defeat. Sad music for a morally ambiguous victory.
5. Prayer - Reflective, ambient music for the quieter points between battles. The hero has a lot on his mind, not least his dead girlfriend lying on the altar.
6. Silence - Technically a battle theme, but here I've given it the same function as 'Sign of the Colossus'; a sort of calm before the storm. A shadow moves deep beneath the surface of a lake.
7. A Violent Encounter / Revived Power - The second battle pair. These are both in triple time with a one-in-a-bar feel, giving the music a lot of rhythmic propulsion. The dissonant and sometimes rhythmically complex 'struggle' track precedes a triumphant 'winning' theme; one of my favourites in the soundtrack. Spot the memory lapse.
8. The End of the Battle (complete) - Another colossus is slain. Maybe the last one.
9. The Sunlit Earth - I like to think that this piece evokes the galloping hooves of the main character's horse. A difficult piano to play this one smoothly and evenly on - the accompaniment figures must be heard but not intrude upon the larger phrases. I might do a separate version of this on a gentler piano.
10. Memories - An afterthought. Simple and singing. Hope you liked it.
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For enquiries, please email me at: theslowpianist@gmail.com
I'm starting to look into doing custom arrangements for people, so if that interests you then get in touch!
28 июн 2024
