Under the Stars - Final Fantasy Tactics (solo piano arrangement, v.2)

Описание: EDIT 4/14/24: SHEETS ARE UP! https://www.musicnotes.com/l/VNhKJ

"My...my sword. Where is...my sword? I must stop him. My father....nay, that was no longer...my father. Transformed by the auracite. One of the Lucavi. Where is my sword? My arm does not heed me..."

HELLO YAY FOR RANDOM UPLOAD TIMES LOL but ever since school and distance learning started for my kids this week I now only have a small window of time on random Saturday afternoons to record so expect random Saturday night uploads for the indefinite time being ahahahaaha.

Anyways I know I recorded this two years ago, but I have been wanting to completely reimagine this one, especially since I separated Delita's Theme from my original version, because let's be honest, it did not fit AT ALL and Delita is such a great character he deserves his own arrangement not hastily tacked onto something else lol.

I wanted to retool Under the Stars mainly because this theme is unofficially Izlude's theme and I wanted to tell his story through my arrangement much like I did with Delita's Theme. VERY LONG SPIEL AND SPOILERS FOR FINAL FANTASY TACTICS INCOMING YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED LOL

Under the Stars is a boss theme and very different from the other boss and battle themes in that instead of writing complex rhythmic and instrumental textures to create tension and adrenaline, Sakimoto wrote a strong melody-driven motif with simpler accompaniments. This is very much in keeping with Izlude's personality, noble and loyal to his corrupted father to a fault. The melody is dark and foreboding, moving between an E minor and a climactic G minor section, lending a sense of tragedy as we reluctantly do battle with a man who should be our ally.

When I wrote the repeat of the main sections again I wanted to recognize the somber, quiet solo piano rendition of Under the Stars that plays in the War of the Lions cutscene with Ramza and Delita ("A heretic at prayer in a church? Passing bold, Ramza"). However, I decided this time to escalate the G minor section substantially to depict the scene at Riovanes: Izlude is captured and humiliated before his father by Duke Barrington, Vormav subsequently transforms into a Lucavi before his eyes and violently massacres all those present, including his own son.

However, for the ending I decided to exercise a little more artistic liberty than I usually do lol and instead of resolving the G minor section back to the E minor section, I modulated to slightly happier and more serene F major, with a small quotation of Hero's Theme, to depict the scene of Alma's discovery of the dying Izlude in the hallway, exchanging his final words with her as he finally realizes the truth, too late, and at peace, believing Ramza killed his father.

Another reason for bringing in a bit of a positive note to this overwhelmingly tragic theme is that we must remember the whole of FFT is essentially the true history of the War of the Lions as revealed by Alazlam Durai. Alazlam is, to all intents and purposes, our narrator, and the way Izlude's arc is told implies that he views Izlude as an ally after all in death, as one of the few Knights Templar to realize the truth. Because of this I decided to pull in Brave Story to end the arrangement, as Sakimoto revealed a very cool fact in the hidden FFT sound test interview that his true working title for Brave Story is Alazlam's Room.

Even for that brief moment of peace in F major, Izlude's death was still a tragedy and the war was far from over. So I concluded with an unsettling, unresolved C-sharp dim7, with a clashing G and C naturals in the highest treble register to represent the twinkle of the Pisces stone as he hands it to Alma with his last ounce of strength.

ANYWAYS enough of my rambling haha, I am very happy with my new version of Under the Stars and I hope you all do too, and if you prefer my original version from 2018 or whatever, that's great too!!! There are things I liked about that one was well and tried to carry over to my new version. It's just much more meaningful to me to try to highlight these really memorable scenes from this amazing game through arranging my favorite themes. As always, thank you all for listening and sticking around!

My Final Fantasy Tactics Piano Collections:    • Final Fantasy Tactics (Piano Collections)