Posted 2024-05-02, evaluated by the judges panel
I could sit in a lobby and eat donuts on endless repeat; it sounds like a great day off! :-) But we can't rest quite yet, as we just wrapped up a six-pack of arranged Final Fantasy mashups, and now we have ANOTHER one. But this time, it's NOT from the Game Set Mash!! compo, and it's NOT exclusively Final Fantasy. As you can see, it's time for Octopath Traveler to pull us in 3/4 different directions (if not eight directions ;-D), as the sisterhood of Warp Whistles Music weave that waltz with Final Fantasy XV!
- donut (Warp Whistles Music): clarinet, arrangement, mixing
- lobby (Warp Whistles Music): flute
- endlessrepeat: piano
The more Russian-sounding source tune is Octopath, got it! :-) Flanked by endlessrepeat's keys, Warp Whistles' arranger, donut, detailed precisely why this piece, in this combination, was inevitable:
"I've come up with a new recipe!
Two great tastes that taste great together!
"Cyrus, The Scholar"
From Octopath Traveler
Composed by Yasunori Nishiki
meets
"Valse di Fantastica"
From Final Fantasy 15
Composed by Yoko ShimomuraThese two songs really work so well together, it was really fun to arrange! It's wild how well they mesh for being different series/composers/uses! I'm actually surprised I couldn't find anyone else who mashed these up prior.
I actually had the idea for combining these two tracks from these two amazing composers for years but never got around to until now! Luckily, they really were pretty similar structurally and an easy transposition away to having the components for a really nifty mashup. It is bonkers how close these songs were and it was super smooth to arrange for that reason as well.
It was easier to play in the end than I thought and super idiomatic for woodwinds despite both pieces being originally for strings, which was a pleasant surprise. :) I wanted to really lean in on the waltz feel, which is why it was an intentional choice to keep the piano steady and allow the woodwinds to bounce between the two themes. The piano part is really the glue and I'm so glad I've got piano buddies to call upon to join me in my silly ideas. :D I wanted to make sure the flute and clarinet parts both got equal chances with the melody from each game, with the constant of the piano part to hold down the fort as they danced between the two motifs.
Of course, the downside to actually doing this is that these two pieces are now completely intermingled in my brain. I will probably forever have these two stuck in my head mashed up now, LMAO.
"Valse di Fantastica" is one of my favorite VGM tracks (I have a duet of the overworld version on my computer that I could expand one day....) so it was great to finally tackle it, if in a slightly unorthodox way!"
We're certainly glad donut & co. brought her conceptual earworm to life in order to unleash it on an unsuspecting world.
And it was *us* caught unawares as donut submitted with an Office meme, which popped prophetik music:
"we need more submission memes! and this meme is very correct, they're super similar enough that i'm having trouble keeping track of which is which. the little section in the middle of the initial presentation of cyrus that switches to the V is just delightful. what great originals. [...]
the performances are great and the arrangement is a perfectly serviceable reduction of the orchestral parts. i certainly wish there was more but the flute especially carries the day here."
There's undoubtedly room for more given the relative brevity, but I'll kindly take the hint from endlessrepeat's handle and spin this up again and again. :-) As fellow judge Emunator said, "The lead performances here are fabulous", so you'll undoubtedly bask in the lovely & delicate intertwining of these quasi-twin themes!
