ReMix:The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion "Beyond the Imperial Prison" 7:26

A gorgeous, frigid, & atmospheric orchestral/cinematic multi-theme arrangement of Oblivion, from HyperDuckChris (Chris Geehan) of HyperDuck SoundWorks? In a word....yessssssss:

"This was done as a favor to a friend, actually. Randy Yasenchak of Elder Geek does a series called Twenty-Five Games for My Son which he talks about 25 games he has carried with him through life, and wishes for one day, that his son play them, or at least know why he played them, and what they meant to him at those key moments in his life. Coincidentally, the 10-year anniversary of Oblivion was quite recent (March 20th, if I recall correctly), so it tied in with that.

This is a humble remix. More of a modest medley, really. ocmodestmedleys.org, anyone? And my own nod to Jeremy Soule and what he did for me as a young gamer, as a young human being, and as a composer as I grew into one. I have a signed copy of the Skyrim soundtrack tucked away in my storage for safekeeping. I will always be grateful for what Jeremy Soule has done for video game music, and what he did for me as a composer, by writing these incredible themes and creating these awesome atmospheres, so thanks, Jeremy!"

Chris really gets the type of textures & scale that characterize Soule's work; this has moments of cold & isolated stillness, epic radiance, inspired verve, and everything in between, with any medleyitis offset by smart transitions & related instrumentation. I love the subtle sound FX of weather & wind chimes, and the interplay between ensemble and solo part-writing is graceful & evocative. MindWanderer writes:

"Gario pretty much nailed it, I think. The connection to "Through the Valleys" is iffy, but it's a minuscule amount of the arrangement. Everything else plays out exactly as Gario said, including the sections of the main theme that appear in Skyrim but not Oblivion. The melodies chosen are clear throughout, which doesn't always happen when working when either the source or the arrangement contains this much other stuff going on. Even being borderline on the 50% stopwatch test, it's very clearly based on at least one of at least 3 sources throughout. And the return to the main theme at the end was a beautiful, effective touch... Great arrangement with some powerful inspiration behind it. I love it."

Sir_NutS adds:

"Beautiful. Top notch orchestration here. As mentioned, some stops, but they seem to fit the arrangement. A few "Grave" sections that felt a bit meandering, but when the "Watchman's Ease" melody hits at 4:00 I was brought right back home. The humanization overall was very natural-sounding, loved it. On the production side of things I have no qualms either, everything is clear and I didn't hear any issues.

Overall this is as solid as it gets. On my first listen I thought the track was meandering a bit too much, but on the second I could get a grip of the pace you were going for and I observed many details that I had missed, making the experience much more enjoyable. Great work here."

At 7+ minutes, it's a musical journey befitting the size of Oblivion and the TER series in general, and I think Chris really pays homage to Soule's compositional ethos with both orchestration and production; this isn't a reinvention, it's an exploration, and it's one you'll want to join, especially if you've spent a couple (hundred) hours in Tamriel. Excellent & highly recommended.