The Strikingly Beautiful Piano of Hollow Knight OST 

ONE WEEK LEFT to get all 3 of our improvisation-related courses for the price of one! It's the best way you can support the channel AND learn to improvise while you do! Thank you guys SO much for your support, you're all amazing. cornellmusicacademy.com/improvessentials

Honestly Charles, you've barely scratched the surface of this masterpiece of a soundtrack. I know you don't do multiple videos on the same OST often if at all but in my humble opinion this soundtrack should be the exception. Sealed Vessel (the best song), Greenpath, Hornet and SO many more, I would love to see more of this OST. Thanks for covering it Charles, I just finished and I miss it already

This needs to be a series. Too much left out, we need *more, please.*

It's a shame he didn't have enough time to go over the INCREDIBLE use of themes throughout the soundtrack. Absolutely genius work from Christopher Larkin and how he places themes throughout the various locations in the game to create a sense of continuity and setting.

Part 2 is absolutely a must. The hollow knight theme, eminating through the beatuiful Sealed Vessel, and the dramatic Broken vessel. The nail biting tension of Radiance, the haunting calm of White palace and of couse, the straigh up banger songs Mantis Lords and Hornet. All of these are incredible, and deserve a part 2.

Saw the title and immediately clicked on it. I love Hollow Knight so much.

I love Dirtmouth's descending chords. The first time you hear it, you've just fallen down into town and have to fall down farther to start your real journey

Christopher Larkin is the king of 2 on 3. Most of this soundtrack is done without drum lines yet the boss music remains driving and intense because of his use of meter. Truly genius.

We need a part 2! Theres too many good songs in this OST to not look at!

Would love to hear more Hollow Knight. Dung Defender theme, Hornet theme, Sisters of Battle, Soul Sanctum...there are so many good ones

12:29 I've never seen anyone more happy to hear an E flat major. 😄 Larkin's work is spectacular.

I love how Christopher Larkin (The Composer) uses leitmotifs in his score to convey theme/information on different locations and characters. One of my favorites is the underlying leitmotif in City of Tears, Soul Sanctum, and the Soul Master boss fight. In the city it starts of as an incredibly soothing melody but once you enter the sanctum it become dark and twisted until it crescendos in the boss battle and the hidden atrocities being conveyed becomes clear.

And these are just atmospheric world songs. Christopher Larkin REALLY shines in his use of leitmotif, and his dynamic songs often used for boss fights. Hornet Boss Theme and Mantis Lords are both UNREAL tracks. Thank you so much for looking at this incredible OST, but if you can please look further, there is SO MUCH MORE!

okay am I the only one who also kinda wants him to look at some of the more up tempo pieces like Nightmare King Grimm and also the Hollow Knight final boss fight music? (which gives me goosebumps every dang time still)

I never noticed until you pointed out that Resting Grounds lingers in that C minor spot but it makes so much sense because it’s Resting Grounds. In the game, the dead physically don’t go anywhere, but their spirits interact with you very animatedly. What a beautiful and brilliant way to capture that compositionally. (Please do look at more of it, it will not stop delivering haha)

Day one of requesting a Charles Cornell hollow knight playthrough

If you're interested, the University of Maryland Gamer Symphony Orchestra featured a philharmonic orchestral arrangement combining City of Tears and Soul Sanctum that we dubbed "City of Hollow Souls" in our spring concert from last semester. I think you'd enjoy it.

Charles talking about how the piano isn't just sitting on a pedal tone constantly because the melody is doing other things as if we're going somewhere but constantly rooted, he just unintentionally explained the entire plot of the game on a meta perspective while talking about the music. Christopher Larkin is a genius You'll definitely have to do Silksong when it comes out.

Christopher Larkin is a genius, and it was so cool to see you break down the Hollow Knight soundtrack!! Especially with Silksong just around the corner (hopefully, maybe)

Easily my favorite video game soundtrack just for how simple and gorgeous it is

One of my favorite video game OSTs ever. The fact that almost every song has its standard version and battle version is brilliant, the technical engineering behind making transitions seemless when combat begins and ends in the game is incredibly understated.

I WILL SIT THROUGH YOU TALKING THROUGH EVERY SONG OF THE SOUNDTRACK, THE DLC TOO, DO IT CHARLES. please.

In all honesty City of Tears could full a whole hour-long video by itself. It's by far the most complex and intricate song in the ost.

Charles, you NEED to do a video on the music for the Ori games ("Ori and the Blind Forest" and "Ori and the Will of the Wisps"). Absolute MASTER-CLASS in thematic writing. 😊

Hollow Knight has no shortage of wonderful tracks, would love to hear you analyze more of it.

This soundtrack is what motivated me to buy a keyboard, buy your beginner class, and start learning to play piano. Watching you analyze this feels like everything is coming full circle (even though I’ve only been practicing for about 6 months lmao) and it makes that much more excited to keep learning. Anyway, thank you for all of your videos, and your class and can’t wait for you to analyze the Silksong soundtrack 🤡

Hollow Knight, next to being one of my favourite games, also has one of my favourite soundtracks. I cannot stress enough how much I'd love to see a part 2 to this video, there are such absolutely amazing tracks in this game! Larkin worked some voodoo with motifs too, genuinely baffling.

Absolutely loved the music and atmosphere of Hollow Knight. If you're looking for similar games in the same vein to analyze, I'd highly recommend Ori and the Blind Forest/Ori and the Will of the Wisps. It'd be neat to hear your analysis on the music of those games.

There is so much more to this masterpiece of a soundtrack that you’ve barely scratched the surface of. Would love to see a play through of the game, or just more in depth of the full tracks

Yes! I would love to see more from Hollow Knight, especially some of the most popular songs like Mantis Lord, Hornet or Sealed Vessel. Awesome video!

I'm pretty surprised you haven't talked about "Journey" soundtrack yet! It should definitely go on your list. Gentile polyrhythms in "Apotheosis" and "Nascence" never fails to give me chills.

I’d love for you to check out Omori’s soundtrack. It’s very diverse in emotion and tone. One of the most impressive parts of the soundtrack has many subtle leitmotifs and waltzes.

For Hollow Knight I would love to see you take a look at „Mantis Lords“ and „Hornet“ On a different note (no pun intended), I’d also like to see you react to the Ori Series (so „Ori and the Blind Forest“ and/or „Ori and the Will of the Wisps“). For the first one, „Light of Nibel“ or „Restoring the Light, Facing the Dark“ for example is beautiful to listen to and for the second one, „Escaping the Sandword“ or „Shriek and Ori“ would be my suggestions, but for that one, there are basically no wrong choices

I LOVE the Hollow Knight ost! It's gorgeous

Cannot believed you didn't cover sealed vessel. Most impactful song in the soundtrack, for sure.

I love what Christopher Larkin's work in Hollow Knight. The piano collections by Christopher Larkin and David Peacock is just as gorgeous, especially City of Tears. Christopher Larkin just loves using polyrhythms in this soundtrack. I definitely would love more coverage of it on the channel. I've only found you recently, but I completely love and enjoy the breakdown of the musical pieces as such a huge videogame and music nerd!

I love how deep into it you went for each track! And I wouldn't mind it at all to see more Hollow Knight around here sometime in the future 👀 there's certainly plenty more to bite into :)

hollow knight's Reflection theme is one of the only video game songs that consistently brings a tear to my eye. it features the Dorian mode with major-second chordioids that feel unresolved until landing on the brilliant 4 major chord. like a streak of light in the dark tunnels of hallownest. definitely worth a listen.

Hollow Knight was the game that got me interested in video game and film composition. Would love if you looked at more of this OST, I and seemingly everyone else thoroughly enjoyed hearing you play with HKOST :D

Would love to see your reaction to hearing Hornet - definite tone shift from the ones you covered here and very fun, musically.

YES I'm so glad you're going over this, my favorite game of all time. Music is so good

Please please please do this again. I would love to hear what you have to say about mantis lords or grimm troupe, there's so much good music and it all flows together while still being their own music pieces. Great video as always, looking forward to more!

the absolute entirety of Hollow Knight OST with expanded dlc is all of this and more! This videos shows the excitement of exploring such hauntingly pretty melodies woven into the game's lore. In particular, Sealed Vessel (Hollow Knight theme remixed into it) is a great track.

Hollow knight has my favorite game soundtrack of all time, and seeing this video where you analyze it and give your thoughts about it makes me really happy! Such a great video Charles.

The pedal tone in resting grounds theme fits very well for me, it's almost like a deep dark bell tolls over the silent sorrowful graveyard.

Thank you Charles for covering this game!! I love your channel and this game so much! It would be awesome if you went over more of the music because it is all so amazing

YES HK IS SOO GOOD AND IM HAPPY HE FINALLY REACTED TO IT

Hollow Knight is both my favorite game of all time, and has my favorite game OST of all time. Love to see the coverage!

I am so happy you are doing this video. Hollow knight is one of THE BEST video games, including its soundtrack. Absolutely the king of making the most of very little

I wish Greenpath was included in this, would love to hear your thoughts! So much good stuff in the Hollow Knight OST.

Great video Charles, I know you don’t usually do a part 2 to anything like this but this soundtrack is probably the best video game soundtrack ever and deserves a follow up video

LETS GO I have a feeling he adores the whole thing

Charles, you barely covered anything. This game means so much to me. The emotions roll through you, and the soundtrack amplifies it. You need to make so many more videos on this OST. In my humble opinion, it is the best video game soundtrack ever. This game has made me cry so much. It’s music makes you feel something indescribable, something deep down, some primordial feeling that has no name resonates with you when you listen to it. I beg of you, please do more of this.

I love Christopher Larkins’ work!!!!!

This OST honestly deserves and entire series for just the use of leitmotifs and the way Larkin blends them together as the story progresses -- it's truly stunning writing, and I would definitely watch a whole series of you looking at every track

I am so, SO Glad you are covering Hollow Knight, also you need to do more than one video on this soundtrack. I suggest Troupe Master, Nightmare King, Soul Sanctum, and Broken Vessel.

i can't believe i haven't suggested this topic from you considering this is my favorite game of all time. i got SO excited when i saw this in my feed. keep it up!

Would love to see a part 2 to this! Especially covering the Greenpath and Fungal Wastes themes from Hollow Knight. Another suggestion that I don't think you've done is the Celeste soundtrack! It's got so many cool things going on in it.

You should make a part 2 video, great work!

My favorite part of these types of videos isn't necessarily the teaching and education part though that's awesome. It's watching the fellow musicians truly enjoy the music they hear

Thank you so much for doing this! I've been hoping to see this for a while now! Love the whole thing, got goosebumps several times from your improvs. And I'll echo the rest of the comment section: this entire soundtrack is phenomenal, and has more than enough content for a series! I recommend Mantis Lords, Soul Sanctum, Sealed Vessel, and White Palace for starters!

Part 2 has to happen, the way he uses motifs throughout the soundtrack is incredible. Also you missed the best song in the soundtrack(Sealed Vessel).

I was so hoping you'd do Mantis Lords or Greenpath... or maybe that lovely call and response at the very end of Sealed Vessel when the conflict is resolved. Still, the fact that you can extract so much appreciation from so short of clips from this marvelous album just speaks to the skill and art of it.

PLEASE DO A PART 2 theres so much more to this OST!!!!

There are some videos on RU-vid about the leitmotifs used in the Hollow Knight soundtrack. You should check them out, it’s really interesting. Maybe even do a second video on this amazing OST. I know you never do two videos about the same soundtrack, but there’s always a first time isn’t it.

Not a lot of channels that have looked at the HK ost have focused solely on the area themes. Glad to see such an in-depth look at the glorious beauty of the game’s calmer themes. Thanks so much for looking it. I would love to see your thoughts on the boss themes. 🥰

Been waiting for this, awesome! We definitely need more of the OST!

i’m currently taking AP Theory at my high school, and al the stuff you discuss in these videos really helps me comprehend some stuff we’re talking about in class. keep it up!

In reference to your analysis/breakdown of "Resting Grounds" I want to add a little bit to it, based on the lore/story of the game. In the world of Hollowknight, the area Resting Grounds was where a tribe once lived, but has since passed on or been killed aside from one. It is also the only graveyard in the game, and is overall influenced by death in every single one of its subareas. The movement within, but no change in, key indicates the change within the area, moving with time but not developing or growing and almost existing separate from the rest of the world.

I cannot stress this enough. You need to PLAY this game. Team Cherry made something truly special and Christopher Larkin wrote a masterpiece OST to keep you company the whole time. I love this game so much

honestly I would LOVE to see you continue this as a series, or do a full play through of the game - it’s easily the most interesting, beautiful, and kind of terrifying work of art I’ve ever played. Thanks for all your hard work!!

Aaaa I really wanna hear you cover more of the Hollow Knight soundtrack, there's so much good music in it and your analysis is really fun to watch!

I want Charles to make a 45 minute improve noir piano album

This music truly made this game as good as it is, I dont think you have barely scratched the surface of this soundtrack! Love your videos would be nice to see Ori and the blind forest as well if you have not already done one. That in my opinion is one of the best soundtracks to any game!

I haven't played Hollow Knight myself, but I watched someone play a little bit on a Livestream a while back and was immediately drawn to the music. So much of it is just so haunting and beautiful. Such a good OST. I think Resting Grounds, Greenpath, and Crossroads are some of my favorites from it

You've got all this, and then you have the fun tracks like grimm. Amazing soundtrack. This game is so satisfying visually, audibly, and the gameplay itself is fluid.

Would love a part 2! There's so many amazing pieces in this game!

As a certified Hollow Knight fan; I'm kinda bummed that you didn't review any of my favorite songs from the game (or any of the boss music at that). I'm still happy you made a video over the game though!

Joining the motion for a part 2. So glad you touched this soundtrack, this is one of my favorite games and the music's amazing!

holy heeeelll finally you did this one I was waiting eagerly

hollow knight is a great game, and its music is really good too. thanks for covering the game's ost, charles.

Yessss the Hollow Knight OST is one of my favourite videogame soundtracks along with Octopath Traveler, Celeste, Cuphead, and Mario Galaxy. Literally so good. Loved the video❤ You NEED to react to Sealed Vessel (I personally have a preference for the piano arrangement)

One of my favorite games. You really connect with the characters, the story is very well written, and of course, the music is brilliant!

Bc I follow you and saw this vid when you first posted it I decided to give this unknown game a whirl. EVERYTHING about the game is gorgeous, and the music is the solid gold icing on the cake. Great vid Charles, but we’d love a longer version. Keep it up

Gotta be my favourite video game OST. Love nearly every song.

been waiting for a video on hollow knight's soundtrack, i genuinely think its amazing

Completely unrelated topic (just a video idea/request), but I would love to see Charles reaction and breakdown of “It’s Not a Moon” by the guys at Bad Lip Reading. If you love Bill Wurtz, then you’ll love BLR. Their songs are stupid but hilarious, and super catchy, the harmony is insane! Plus it won’t hurt if you’re a Star Wars fan ;)

One of my favorite videogame soundtrack. I want to replay this game just for the music. I mean, the game itself is also a masterpiece of course, but the music alone is enough to bring me back. Dirtmouth and city of tears are two of my favorites. Very fun seeing you going trough a few of the pieces.

It actually surprises my that Charles hadn’t reacted even once to a Kirby song. The OST of Kirby games are just so amazing, The 8-Bit Band cover of Metaknight’s Revanche even won a Grammy half a year ago! So I would be really exited for a Kirby reaction!

at last we have victory he’s covering this amazing soundtrack!

Reflection is a really cool track. It’s a great example of how Larkin often builds his tracks around 9-chords without thirds for a super atmospheric sound.

so happy you’re doing this game. I was told I had to play this game based on the soundtrack alone and this game is such an insane experience. in my top 3 of all time

Who else is insanely hyped for Silk Song?

Okay so Imma need a piano cover album of this soundtrack

Dude Charles this was amazing! You should definitely do a part 2!

you absolutely have to make a part 2, or even a series for hollow knight, it has one of the best soundtracks in recent years, and some of the emotions it conveys are incredible

You'd probably love Ori and the Blind Forest's soundtrack as well. Just gorgeous writing.

Another beautiful soundtrack is one from the Ori video games. Ori And The Blind Forest and Ori And The Will Of The Wisps. The scores in both video games nearly brings me to tears every time.

I think you’d absolutely love the development in Soul Sanctum (my personal favorite from this OST). It starts with a Cm6 arpeggio and the rest of the track uses that idea to develop further and further.

That is surely a lovely sight, one of my favourite music youtubers analyzing one of my favourite soundtrack, I´m really happy to see that.