ReMix: Chrono Trigger 'Song of the Mountain'
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- Game: Chrono Trigger (Square, 1995, SNES)
- ReMixer(s): Urza
- Composer(s): Nobuo Uematsu, Noriko Matsueda, Yasunori Mitsuda
- Song(s): 'Singing Mountian'
- Posted: 2003-10-02, evaluated by the judges
Normally you wouldn't hear this kind of variety in a mix under three minutes, and depending on your attitude towards the full expression of musical ideas, you might think there's good reason for that. In his first ReMix, newcomer Urza takes on the Singing Mountain theme from several different angles in a well-produced piece. I for one am fine by the length of the component sections, though many of the judges - who were positive in most other regards - indicated they would have liked more development of each and a longer overall piece. Perhaps because I'm a fan of punk and more concise rock like The Strokes and Sleater-Kinney, I'm used to an economy of time being allotted in which to get musical ideas across. I also think it's much easier to stray to the other extreme, resulting in the musical equivalent of run-on sentences or "Grapes of Wrath"-size descriptive passages, than to be too brief. Introing with a cinematic flare, a solo pipe (sounds like alto flute), string stabs, and harpsichord all give the feeling of some baroque tragedy being played out before the listener's eyes. At 0'50" the groove changes as the introduction of a very melodic and unboring bassline, along with some drums and a harp arpeggio, breaks things up and out, into a less formal and more groovy state. There's then a segue into an ensemble string bit, and the piece concludes with forte piano and the reintroduction of the harpsichord. In some instances, so many musical changeups in such short intervals could be considered compensation, i.e. "I don' think any of this stuff is really that interesting, but maybe if I switch between it real quick no one will notice", but in this instance each of the thematic iterations is mature enough to be taken out of context and developed further, but also works well with its siblings and creates a brief but rich arrangement that runs zero risk of being repetitious or gratuitous. Like the judges, you might like it or love it and concur with the all-too-common "should have been longer" refrain, but I personally respect decisions to curtail length and refrain from the temptation of over-development, at least when it results in works like this. Good stuff.
Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the I think the transitions between orchestral styles and instruments were well handled. The mix was short, so I'm not sure if it required the diversity it was given, but I'd rather that than risk it be boring and monotonous.
I prefer tracks that stick to a recognisable melodious core and build their creativity around that core. With this, I got the feeling the melody was played with too much and bent in a way that it doesn't trigger the same response as the original. That's why I'm not fully behind this one, but I still see it as a mild and pleasant adjustment to an enjoyable CT theme.
- Marmiduke on May 28, 2009
It's more typical to see so many changeups done haphazardly. But this sounds as if a lot of thought and deliberation went into the arrangement, which is why it works so well. KF
- Kizyr on December 3, 2008
- nintendofanboy22 on May 22, 2008
I did enjoy the tempo slowdown at 1:29; it was a solid lead-in to the more straightforward orchestral sections of the arrangement that closed things out. The finish ended up pretty strong and made up for some of the weaknesses from earlier on; always preferable to leave a good last impression.
- Liontamer on May 22, 2008
The understated percussion added some nice texture to the mix, and the bass part was suitably interesting. Nice groove overall, and the variation and expansion is excellent.
The flute sample was pretty good, but i've gotten very picky about modulation in synth woodwinds. The sample is very nice, but some additional dynamics would have been great.
Overall a beautiful piece with some great elements.
Recommended.
- OA on February 8, 2008
- DragonFireKai on March 19, 2007
The beginning was great, I worried it would walkover to a trancemix any second, but it didn´t, phew. But it did got a little more somethin´, some sort of harp I think, very beautiful. And at the end, it all finishes softly and great with a violin-like instrument(...or is it a bagpipe?) with a heavenly piano that puts that finishing touch to the mix, and then...fin.
Very well done Urza, you got a shorty, but you did not waste a second of it,...like life.
- Bummerdude on September 26, 2005
- Lulanie on November 5, 2003
Could have been longer, yes. Could have been 4 or 5 minutes long easily and still not lost anything. But neither does it lose anything by being short! 3 minutes still allows plenty of time for the remix to do wonderful things. Especially given the short attention span of our generation... ;-)
- fisherman on October 17, 2003
- SithProbe on October 13, 2003
- Cessna on October 5, 2003
- Isk on October 3, 2003
Something sounded a little... low-fi... but that's just nit-picking. Composition is very pretty and well done. (Had trouble picking out the original, but that's okay :P)
- Psycrow on October 2, 2003
- Samurai Jin on October 2, 2003
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