ReMix:Castlevania: Symphony of the Night "Marble Bombast" 3:23

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! No tricks, but we've got a special treat for you today in the form of a stellar, virtuosic SOTN solo piano arrangement from newcomer Farkle (Mike Worth), who's a friend of zircon & worked with him on the Return All Robots! soundtrack. This debut ReMix was performed by Annette DiMedio, and I mean it was performed... this is some seriously mind-blowing stuff that reminded me what the piano was capable of; unless you listen to a ton of classical, I'm guessing you might have a similar reaction. Check out the music video of the performance, lest you think it was sequenced ;) Mike writes:

"I'm submitting an original arrangement from Castlevania's Symphony of the Night. It's a remix of "Marble Gallery" (with a small prelude taken from "Lost Painting"). Last year, I put together a video game jazz/rock concert, where composer friends and I from the University of the Arts took melodies from amazing video game scores, and arranged them for jazz and fusion ensembles. I'm consistently amazed at the melodic grace and propulsiveness of Michiru Yamane's scores to Castlevania. While going through the tracks, my friend and collaborator, Annette DiMedio, heard the prog rock fusion driving tune of "Marble Gallery." She immediately asked me to take that piece, and create an arrangement from it. How could I say no?

This arrangement was a case of being influenced by the performer. Annette is a world-renowned piano virtuoso, having toured multiple countries, specializing in bombastic, virtuosic piano concertos by Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, and Tchaikovsky. I took those aesthetics, and combined them with one of my favorite classical pieces, the "Creole Dance Suite," composed by Ginastera. I wanted to take that muscular theme from "Marble Gallery" and add thick, pounding chordal strikes, virtuosic runs up and down the piano, and chord progressions that move in 3rds and tritones, for a more cinematic feel. This piece definitely was influenced by my childhood prog rock roots, combined with my classical studies at school. I'm super pleased with the final composition, and amazed at Annette's killer performance! I had a ton of fun arranging this for Annette, and she CRUSHES it. :) She truly is a virtuoso. I hope that you enjoy this remix!"

Reading the above before listening to the actual mix would certainly set one's expectations rather high, but I don't personally see how the experience could fail to live up, since it's a pianistic tour de force; fans of Castlevania and classical solo piano arrangements more generally should stop reading & grab it posthaste :) Larry writes:

"Mike and zircon worked together in the past on the Return All Robots! soundtrack, and they're back at it crafting 16-bit era RPG music for Hunt Game Studios' Gheldia, so hopefully we'll see that drop in 2015. As for the Symphony of the Night arrangement here, awesome job, Mike and Annette! This was a wonderful collab, and the video's excellent as well; it's just amazing piano playing to witness live and the costuming & decorations were both fun nods to Castlevania.

It's really rewarding to have you both on board as OC ReMixers, as this piece is a unique collaboration for our community between a composer with diverse pro media credits and a pianist armed with a music doctorate & extensive classical performance credentials. I loved the dynamics here both arrangement- and performance-wise, as this started off beautiful & delicate with "Lost Painting" while gradually escalating into something more ornate & forceful with "Marble Gallery."

I just mentioned wanting to hear "Marble Gallery" tackled on OCR after I heard Palpable's recent SotN tribute, and this fits the bill nicely with great energy and a very spirited performance! I'd have to bet Michiru Yamane herself would enjoy this. When two UArts professors tag-team an idea, great things happen. :-)"

Sometimes credentials can just be credentials; this was not one of those times, as the proof was in the pudding, and the pudding was a brilliant, flamboyant solo piano arrangement paired with a musician that could take it where it needed to go, and beyond... Did I just Buzz Lightyear? I think I did. Truly great stuff from Mike & Annette; would love to see the two of them pair up for more!