My apologies to the followers of Sound Test, as my hospital duties caused me to miss posting a column last week. To make up for it, I have featured two tracks in this update.

The Sage's Question is nearly identical to its mother piece, and Daryl makes no efforts to claim otherwise. Funnily enough, the simple act of transposing the music to another instrument was enough for Daryl to achieve his intended bard-near-a-campfire feel. The opening strums are just perfect and reminiscent of a minstrel prepping to begin his tale. I have to admit, I felt that there was just a tad too many squeaks for my taste, but I appreciate their presence. I've always thought that they add charm to a piece; but add too many, and they give the impression that the guitarist had poor technique.

Now we go to perhaps one of the most recognizable (and perhaps one of the most remixed) theme in all of video game music—The Legend of Zelda's Overworld. The trouble with using such a famous theme is that with all of the remixes already floating around, a composer has to make a conscious effort to make his own track unique and memorable, and Daryl covers this quite well. The opening is a variation of the first eight or so measures of the original theme. Of course, I could be wrong, but the ascending passage at 0:28-0:31 reminds me too much of a similar fragment from the original. After this, a recognizable form of the theme appears, with ocarina counterpoint from 1:19-1:37 in the form of undulating dotted-quaver-to-semiquaver passages. The mix, then, meanders about. The familiar motif does not appear again until 3:02, and even then, it is in the form of a fragment that ends in a fermata, leading into another of Daryl's abovementioned "departures." The piece ends boldly on a C after a final iteration of the original theme.

Well, that's about it. Have an awesome weekend, folks!

Fermat's Last Theorem, M.D.

Sound Test Curator