Orchestral Metroid - Ridley's Lair

Step right up to the 5th episode in this season of Orchestral Metroid! Another one of Hirokazu Tanaka's 8-bit brainchildren has fallen prey to the symphonic ambitions of yours truly. The original NES Metroid soundtrack for Ridley's Lair is treated here to an arrangement for strings, woodwinds and percussion; no brass this time.

The game music, which I have once seen being described as 'the sound of an burglary alarm' [ouch!], consists of a single bass line melody accompanied by an undulating figure in parallel major thirds. Melody and accompaniment alternate between the two possible whole note sets, shifting back and forth by a minor third. I have used this material throughout this rather impressionistic arrangement. At some points the music rather resembles the original (e.g. after the climax at 1:44 or at 2:55). However, in order to provide some contrast I also treated the material to melodic minor note sets in f# and a (e.g. the passage that starts with the rising harp line 0:51-1:04). Because the accompaniment figure fits neatly into both whole tone and melody minor sets, transformation from one to the other set only requires changes to the bass melody. The accompaniment figure can stay put and thereby provides for effortless, kaleidoscopic transitions: same thing, different angle.

NEXT STOP: Tourian Area

Website: https://ronaldvanderham.bandcamp.com/