ReMix:Chrono Trigger "As Blew the Winds, So Forward Marched Time" 4:48

Enjoy the rich, sonorous tones of eight French horns as John Stacy delivers a modern classical octet take on the iconic "Yearnings of the Wind" aka "600AD," injecting new harmonies & feels into a timeless theme:

"I've never played Chrono Trigger. Last December, I participated in a secret Santa kind of thing in another community. This track was what I did for that, going off the list of likes saying SNES RPGs. I do know that Chrono Trigger is one of those. I asked her if she would mind submitting it to OCR, and she liked the idea.

As for the track itself, I have never played the game but am familiar with the music. I just don't know about context of the music at all. This is an arrangement of the 600AD Overworld theme. I arranged it in a dark, Grainger/Wagner kind of style, with lots of chromatic harmonic movement and various textures from lush to sparse. It is arranged for 8 French horns."

So French. So very, very French. And horn. And yet perhaps more German/American in its harmonic approach, walking the line between classical and what comes off to me as jazz at parts; mellow, lustrous, contemporary, and by all means an enjoyable new vision for where this melody can be taken. Liontamer writes:

"To me, this is a solid, smart, transformative arrangement concept and an easy pass, but you should at least give this a few listens to get used to the style and better recognize how the original song is used, since there's some slowing down along with some long-held notes within the melodic phrases. It gets more musical with repeated listens; again, not a slight against this, just acknowledging that it's a challenging, cerebral piece."

It's a slow, gradual burn, but if you transport Crono & crew to a fall day in Central Park, sit everyone down on a bench with a cup of joe, & have them stare meaningfully into the distance, I think you're there. Sir_NutS opines:

"Definitely getting some Wagner vibes here and there while listening to this. It's a solid and very original take on this song, and I think not being familiar with the context helped a ton with this aspect. On the performance side of things, everything is very well done."

As fan of Wagner's music, independent of his unfortunate views on Semitic peoples, this actually *didn't* strike me as all that Wagnerian. I mean, obviously it's brass and it has some of the harmonies, but the general vibe hit me more as early 20th century contemporary, w/ jazz influences, and less as 19th century Romanticism, without. Your mileage may vary, but either way listeners should keep an open mind, and ear, for the way John has recontextualized & woven in the melodic lines - they're still very much there, but serving different roles. Judges seemed a little pessimistic on anticipated reception, but we've heard Chrono Trigger done a variety of superb-but-intuitive ways, and I think something a bit more challenging, and unique, is absolutely engaging. I also think that for an octet of the same instrument, this shows off the timbral variety & emotional diversity the horn is capable of; very cool!