One of my first Xbox 360 games was Eternal Sonata, Trusty Bell for Japan, and I remember liking the game. I looked past the very linear structure and overwhelming mediocre music and found that I really liked this game. The graphics and the very few tracks I did like were the selling point of me. I’m not too crazy about the idea of it being centered around Chopin, my favorite pianist but definitely not my first choice to base a story from, but it entertained me enough to keep me playing to the end.
The tracks I did like in this game ended up being the battle/boss themes and a few miscellaneous tracks here and there. My favorite boss theme is “Flickering is divided into light and darkness”, which I found the string section to be very exhilarating to listen to while battling bosses.
Eternal Sonata- Flickering is divided into light and darkness
As much as I want to say I found this soundtrack to be amazing and spectacular…it was far from it. The symphonic medium was the best choice here, but I felt that Sakuraba didn’t achieve that charm he normally has on his previous works on this game score. Oh! I applaud the pianist they asked to perform Chopin’s music for the game. His name is Stanislav Bunin and he is Russian born, Moscow 1966, and has one of the most coolest mustache/hair doos that complements each other perfectly.
Chopin – Etudes for piano, Op. 10- No. 12 in C minor, ‘Revolutionary’ – ‘Fall of Warsaw’
I should make note that there is an orchestral arrangement of one of Chopin’s Etudes that came out to be pretty ridiculous (good way). The track is “Scrap and build ourselves -from Revolutionary-” built off of Etudes #12 for piano, Op. 10- No. 12 in C minor. The added title for this Etude that was given was ‘Revolutionary’ – ‘Fall of Warsaw’, which I can understand being a subtitle to this piece. I’m not sure if this title was written by Chopin himself or just an addition to the name given by his fans, but then again Chopin was a very nationalistic person towards his country of Poland. He was a very frail man, so fighting was out of the question, but one way he could deliver his support towards his country was through his compositions.
Eternal Sonata – Scrap and build ourselves -From Revolution-
Would I reccomend purchasing this soundtrack? Unless you’re a die hard fan and loved every track and willing to drop ~$30+, I would suggest moving on from this purchase. Here’s the link in case you want to buy it anyways, which I would like for you to do instead of downloading it…
Thank you. Really informative post.
I’ve linked your topic in my blog