A precious gem shines before your eyes and ears
Ah! the Mystical and rare spiritual stones. Forged and sculpted to resemble their respective race’s crests (or was it the other way around?). These sacred jewels are the objects to be acquired throughout the adventure in order to be worthy of opening the doors to the Triforce and to growing up. The format of collecting three jewels began with A Link to the Past, where each dungeon rewarded you with a pendant. Here the stones are tied to the symbols of each culture that you see all over their locations, making you connect with these shapes even before reaching them and their precious cue that achieves the special quality of a not so common reward. They are an emerald, a ruby and a sapphire, colors tied to the elements and environments of each race. You can feel their light shining on your face as they come down to the tune of this composition full of wonder. Like the adventure Link himself has, the music travels through different profiles.
Like many other triumphant moments, like getting treasure or successes, the piece has an ascending motion using major chords. However, it retains a sense of mystique due to the unconventional profiles used to convey the ancientness and power of these relics. Sad to see that this pretty piece only sounds three times since it is more unconventional than its successor, the Get Medallion cue. It is perhaps the least heard success cue in Ocarina of Time.
Musical Analysis
Structure: Section 1 / Section 2
Time Signature: 4/4
Tempo: 75 ( Ritardando to 60 )
Melodic and Harmonic Profiles: Bb Phrygian Major (section 1); E Phrygian Major, A Phrygian Major (Section 2)
Such an underrated piece from the game all due to how infrequently we hear it during the play-through (3 times). It is maybe the most musically satisfying and complex of the acquisition fanfares from the game.
There is a cool effect of rhythmic dislocation going on with the glockenspiel, where it seems like it is going at his own pace while the rest of the piece plays on the background; it is pretty much a sound effect of shine for the stones. It plays an A5 chord
In the short span of the piece Kondo somehow manages to include a mini intro and a theme; separated by the change of harmonic profile to higher registers. As said It follows the tradition of ascending melodies to denote success. They are all major chords in parallel fashion. The harmony would be
Bb – Db – B – Db – Bb – B – Db
E – G – Bb – A
The basis of the harmony is the Phrygian Major profile, also called the Flamenco mode since it is used a lot there. It is basically a Phrygian mode but you just always treat the tonic as major. It starts based around Bb but then the E chord transposes the profile and then it ends on an A. The descending part mimics the stone falling into the hands of the hero while the ascending part the excitement of the accomplishment. Still, the harmony makes the proceedings more mysterious. It asserts that getting these stones are very special recurrences.
Time to depart for Hyrule Castle. Link is about to get his first taste of the outside world. And with his old mentor gone a new one has to step in from the heavens. But there is a goodbye that needs to be said and the first taste of the main instrument of the game.
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