C.60 - "Winter Theme #1"

Composed: ~July to August 2014

The next video game theme I wrote was a "Winter Theme" to accompany a snowy landscape in an RPG. Without a doubt, this is my favourite video game theme I have written due to its eerie harmonies that were simple, but effective. Also the fact that it starts in A minor, but that isn't the tonic! Since I usually always started my compositions in the tonic, this was deeply refreshing. The cello bassline with the melody playing around with so many different harmonies is quite beautiful, and the instrumentation truly encapsulates a wintry setting with its twinkling glockenspiel and higher pitch focus.

I loved this theme so much that I started thinking of an actual RPG that I could create to make use of this theme. This first led on to my experiments with the "RPG Maker VX Ace" software for a little RPG entitled "Winter Sanctuary", and this eventually lead to another video game concept that I won't be sharing here in case I do ever pursue it (sorry!).

The recording I have given below was created using the EastWest sample libraries, of which several of my recordings from this piece onward were to be created by. The particular recording below is not the original EastWest recording I created, but rather an updated, higher quality version I created in 2016 (which I suppose could use another update with my newfound experience since then). These sample libraries truly helped me to realize my compositions as I imagined them, as opposed to relying on Sibelius playback.

In 2019, I re-purposed this composition into a video track for my music library, "RPG Orchestral Essentials", giving it a proper title - "Cold Sanctuary".

Reminiscence written on 19th July 2016

Last updated: 20th October 2018