ReMix:Super Mario Galaxy "Little Glockenspiel" 2:53

Guifrog had a pretty awesome 2012 as well, following up his debut mixpost from 2010 with four diverse, creative, energetic arrangements from DKR, The Sims 3, QuackShot, and Castlevania - ALL of which you should check out if you haven't already! He starts 2013 off on a more personal, intimate note with this lovely orchestral ReMix of Super Mario Galaxy that features the title instrument as well as some Italian flavors; the artist explains:

"So I thought I'd treat Mario in a delicate way: small Italian touch throughout, in a way I'd see romantic Venice during a full-moon night. Just so you know: right now, I'm in Recife - Brazil, below a barely visible starry night, but nearby the ocean and its smooth sounds. Funny thing that immediately came to mind is, this city's also known as the Brazilian Venice, due to its many crossing rivers. That said, I suppose it's plainly possible to feel poetry over the goodies and problems inside Recife's shell.

You may see this one's a small, simple piece, and carries part of my underneath. I tried to create its structure carefully, and here's how I can sum it up: I feel small before people and dreamy before reality. The song has breaks that represent my difficulty on following paths - I tend to hesitate a lot. Then, after each break, the song comes stronger - and so does my sense of conviction. An acoustic guitar follows the glock; that expresses my passionate dreams... The track's beginning n' ending can be interpreted as a scene of someone sleeping. Which means you can translate 'little glockenspiel' not only as me, but as someone else. Or, everyone else. And the whole story would be a single dream. Life's a dream. That's what I believe in."

I always love Guifrog's comments because they're so heartfelt; the purity & positivity of his relationship with music comes through. This mix may be on the short side, but it has a playful shuffle, blends classical and traditional instrumentation for a bit of Meditarranean vibe as described, and capitalizes on the honest, straightforward beauty of Koji Kondo's original melody. OA writes:

"This is really nice; I love the soundscape and arrangement choices, and though some of the string sequencing sounds a bit slow on the attacks, it adds a bit to the dream-like quality the mix has. The guitar was pretty nicely sequenced, and the flow of the different sections was nice. Samples got the job done, and it feels to me kindof like a DarkeSword track, which is something I really enjoy. Nice work, I love it."

halc adds:

"I'd really like to hear someone do a more liberal take on this theme, but this was very pretty, and the personalization added here was still great. really loved the way you treated the melody/harmony right there before the end."

I agree that this melody would lend itself to something explorative and more drastic, but I also love the humble, unassuming treatment that Guifrog's provided; as he mentions, there's a certain delicacy to it that has a lot of charm.