I have been eagerly awaiting this event for the past couple of months when I heard news of a Zelda concert coming to Calgary early September. I haven't been to a symphony in a while and this gave me the perfect opportunity to go listen to one! Plus, it had Zelda music, which has a multitude of well composed music. I'm not a huge Zelda fan since I only completed Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword, but I was a fan of the music.
Lo and behold, today was the day! We got to the Jubilee with about 45 minutes to spare. The lobby was filled with people ranging from as young as elementary students to as old as people with a head full of grey hair. I could tell that Zelda, and particularly the music, was appreciated by a wide range of people. There was a lot of Link cosplays and a few Zelda ones. I also saw a Majora's mask skull kid and a Saria cosplay.
My brother bought the tickets and he treated me to nearly front row seats (Row E). As we sat down, we eagerly (or at least I was eagerly) waiting for the overture. The lights dimmed and the overture had started. I was already feeling goosebumps as they took us through the different games in the Zelda universe. There was a little bit of a shriek from the flutes, but it was nevertheless extremely well played to my ears. I was really touched by the orchestral ensemble's rendition of selected Zelda themes. After they finished playing, I was in shock, since I never could have imagined how beautiful, or how moved I was from a piece of music.
Right after the overture was a couple of small pieces, such as the Dungeon Theme, Kakariko Village Theme and the Songs of Hero. These pieces were accompanied by a video that was played on a huge white screen (I forgot to mention that the overture had a video as well). It was neat how they managed to synchronize the mood of the songs to the video on the screen. From my experiences, that is no easy task!
Right after the small pieces, we moved onto the symphony itself. The prelude was the Origin of Hyrule, which didn't seem to special to me. Afterwards, the first movement was an Ocarina of Time medley. I never played Ocarina of Time, but I recognized certain scenes since my brother finished the game. The second movement was a Wind Waker medley. For this movement, the conductor took out a baton that was fashioned to be like Link's baton in the game. =)
The Wind Waker medley started off with the intro when you first start the game (once again I never played the game, but I watched my brother play through it). I really liked the arrangement for the medley since it really felt like it captured the essence of Wind Waker: a fun, light-hearted cell-shaded Link. (I believe that's what the technique was called when they were designing the game).
After a 15 minute intermission, we moved onto the third movement (with a brief Great Fairy Theme Song/ Great Fairy Fountain intermezzo), which was a Twilight Princess medley. Since I did play Twilight, I recognized all the songs that were used in the medley. It was absolutely wonderful! It was definitely quite the change from the light hearted wind waker. Once that was done, we moved onto the final movement: a Link to the Past medley. I never played or seen anyone play that game before so it was very foreign. They had Zelda's Lullaby with this movement (or it could have been in a finale, where they had the finale connected to the last movement). I really liked the rendition of Zelda's Lullaby. It started off with the oboe playing the line, then moved onto the clarinet, then the flute and finally the entire ensemble. It was a very beautiful piece of work in my ears, even though it only lasted for about a minute and a half.
Finally, we had three encores... which were all planned of course. The first was Ballad of the Windfish, then Gerudo Village Theme and a Majora's Mask Medley. Well done to all three!
Overall, the concert was a very enjoyable experience. I didn't recognize all the songs, but they were all played quite artistically. I had three quirps about the concert though...
The first one being that Skyward Sword had no featured music in the symphony. I don't consider the small section on the Ballad of the Goddess as one! If I read things correctly, Miyamoto Shigeru stated that Skyward Sword will be the first Zelda game with orchestral music. Shouldn't they have honoured this by playing a Skyward Sword medley? In my opinion, I believe so!
Second was the amount of whistling and heckling from the fans. I understand that this isn't classical music, but a symphony isn't a rock or pop concert. Or maybe I'm just bitter because the girl sitting behind me was whistling/yelling/heckling so loudly that my ears were ringing....
Third was the couple in front of me who liked to uh... Yeah... Every couple of minutes or so...
Despite those negatives, the entire experience itself was a wonderful experience! I hope that they'll bring a Final Fantasy concert to Calgary soon! =)
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