New Arrangement: "Gaia Rock" from Golden Sun: The Lost Age (2002)

And the last of the "Rock Themes" - "Gaia Rock", from the classic JRPG, "Golden Sun: The Lost Age" (2002). Feel free to check it out!

Feel free to download the score and recording here!

If you are one of my Patrons, you can now find the MIDI, XML and SIB files I created for this arrangement now available to download from your Patreon Google Drive folder!

Arranger's Note:

"As "Magma Rock" was dark and muddy with brass, and "Aqua Rock" was bright and twinkling, and "Air's Rock" was breathy with woodwinds, I decided "Gaia Rock" should be ancient and oriental, as if a relic from some old civilization since "Gaia" ("Earth") encompasses our entire planet with all of its history.

As such, there is a large use of exotic instruments outside of the Western orchestra, such as the Javanese "Gong Ageng" (0:02), the Japanese "Koto Zither/Guzheng" (0:35), the Chinese "Sho" mouth organ (1:03), the Chinese "Suona" (1:20), the Australian "Didgeridoo" (0:34), and so on. Of course, there is the option of substituting these for more common Western instruments.

As for the work itself, Sakuraba uses another Phrygian Mode (on E), similar to "Lemuria", characterized by the E - F - E progression, occurring throughout the entire work. This clash of Phrygian chords (E minor + F major) creates quite a wonderful dissonance that suggest an oriental otherness (another reason I made use of exotic instruments), which is fitting since the nearby village ("Izumo") is celebrating a sacrificial ritual to appease an ancient serpent. Sounds very much like an ancient practice to me!"