New Arrangement: "Lunpa" from Golden Sun (2001)
Another pleasant request brings us another track from the classic JRPG, "Golden Sun" (2001) - "Lunpa" or "Lunpa Fortress" - now orchestrated with high quality samples. 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:
"For a happy little town theme, it is peculiarly scored in a 5/4 time signature to begin with. This little oddity for a town theme suggests something is wrong with the underlying foundation, which is perhaps quite suitable with its first appearance being with the corrupt town of Lunpa.
However, even with an asymmetrical meter, it still flows seamlessly, largely in part to its 3-3-2-2 metric grouping, but also because of a large history of classical music being scored in 5/4 over the past century which has normalized its irregularities.
Throughout, the string ensemble perform plucky pizzicatos, enhancing the upbeat aesthetic of a town theme. On top of this, an echoing oboe performs in A major (0:07), slotting its melody into the irregular 5/4 grouping with ease. This is followed quickly by flutes (0:18), which similarly deliver an unobtrusive 5/4 melody.
When the two join together (0:23), I added a wood block and contrabass to emphasize this joining, as the lower strings begin a gradual harmonic descent downwards. This continues through to 0:33, where the time signature cheekily shifts from 5/4 into a more stable 3/4. Although, it is not obvious at first due to the descending string passage of 0:33 which has a lack of metric emphasis as it steadily floats downward.
At 0:37, we have a modulation to G Mixolydian (G-A-B-C-D-E-F-G), with a strong emphasis on the tonic (I) and leading note (vii). This to me felt like an important section, so I emphasized it with a rural tambourine rhythm and additional appoggiaturas. To start, the flute also follows the oboe canonically, before going off on its own melody.
At 0:49, we have another descending harmonic passage, this time with flutes taking on the melody, and now modulated bluntly back into the tonic of A major. By 1:01, the strings mirror their descending passage of 0:33, but now ascending and far more rapidly into G major.
Here, akin to 0:37, we have another climactic section, now in G Lydian (G-A-B-C#-D-E-F#-G), characterized by the alternation of G and A major over a pedal G (in the lower strings). To emphasize this section, the tambourine returns, but now also with an additional glockenspiel to reinforce the brightness of that sharp Lydian 4th (C#)."
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