#fi's theme

I do not own the Symphony of the Goddesses, or any arrangements therein. I am not affiliated in anyway with Nintendo or Jason Michael Paul Productions, Inc. Symphony of the Goddesses is the property of Jason Michael Paul Productions, Inc.

Doing this track was a real toughie for myriad reasons. The biggest and most prominent being... I actually don't like this track very much. It's definitely the weakest of the whole symphony and has a lot of problems. The biggest issue is it's complete lack of risk-taking and using only 4 themes from a game with a host of gorgeous new melodies. As a result it entirely lacks an arc either emotionally or narratively, making it more of a medley than a movement. Because of this it sticks out from the other four movements which have more cohesive structures and ideas.

The other major issue is that the orchestration is VERY muddy. There's so much sound and counterpoint taking place that mixing it becomes almost impossible, and it's very difficult to pick out the melody sometimes. Not to mention the fact there's very little dynamic range in the piece adding to the issues as a whole.

Overall it was a frustrating process that often left me demotivated. That isn't to say there aren't some positive moments. Some of the orchestration is shimmering--especially the transition out of Ghiarhim Battle, and if nothing else it does convey some soaring moments through the bombastic sections.

At the end of the day, it's still part of the symphony and I'm dedicated to performing it all! Hopefully you'll enjoy it more than I do, and get some joy out of hearing this very new piece from the Symphony!

I do not own the Symphony of the Goddesses, or any arrangements therein. I am not affiliated in anyway with Nintendo or Jason Michael Paul Productions, Inc. Symphony of the Goddesses is the property of Jason Michael Paul Productions, Inc.

When I first performed this song (almost a year ago) I was still getting my sea legs with these pieces, as it were, and hadn’t quite figured out the necessary ingredients for a quality mix, and it really showed in this piece. Muddy loud sections, overly quiet parts not blending, etc. Not to mention a lot of the woodwind samples I was using were... sub-par to say the least.

My goal in reworking this song was to correct all these issues and give this wonderful song a fitting rendition. It was easier said than done. The dynamics in the latter half of the song made mixing a real challenge, and balancing the legato for the woodwinds was a feat unto itself, but at the end of it all, I’m super pleased with the final result.

I chose this piece as the finale to the collection as it was regularly played as the final encore in the concert, and it gave a nice synchronicity to the whole setlist. The overture ends with Ballad of the Goddess, and the first piece we hear after is Skyward Ascent, so closing out with a Skyward Sword piece seems fitting. Plus the overall composition just feels very FINALE, in an emotional sense.

As always, enjoy! And thank you for listening!