New Transcription: "Mabe Village" from Zelda: Link's Awakening HD (2019)
Might be the last full sheet music transcription I create for "Link's Awakening HD", but one that should be familiar to all that played it - the peaceful little village of Mabe.
If you're after the sheet music for the "Mabe Village" theme for the 2019 remake of "Link's Awakening", you can find it here!
This includes individual part scores for:
Soprano Recorder
Clarinet in Bb
Bassoon
Horn in F
Toy Piano
Kalimba
Solo Viola
Solo Violoncello
Solo Contrabass
If you are one of my Patrons, you can now find the MIDI, XML and SIB files I created for this transcription now available to download from your Patreon Google Drive folder!
Arranger's Note:
"The original 1993 version of this track was a mere 22 seconds long, giving us only the charming little phrase heard here between 0:03 - 0:26. From this little phrase, Nagamatsu has expanded it into a more colourful and complete track over 2 minutes long, repeating this very phrase several times but with a different orchestration on each repeat.
Continuing the remake's general aesthetic of childishness, innocence, cuteness and dream-like atmospheres, Nagamatsu cleverly places the opening material in the toy piano and kalimba (thumb piano) - what could be considered children's toys. This creates a playful little childish sound that complements the overall cutesy aesthetic.
This phrase itself is quite simple; a brief ascending and descending sequence from G major (0:03), to A minor over a pedal of G (0:04), to G major 7th (0:05), and back to A minor over G (0:06). The next segment gives us a subtle hint of C minor through the presence of an E-flat (0:08), but this quickly shifts to C major/A minor with a 9-8 suspension in the melody (0:10), bringing us to the dominant of D major (0:11), ready for a return to the tonic of G major.
However, we get an interrupted cadence as we modulate to C major instead of returning to the tonic of G (0:13). This climbs up slightly to D major, still with the C as a pedal (giving us a dominant 7th chord), readying for a return to the tonic of G (or B minor), which it then does so but in 1st inversion (with the mediant 3rd note in the bass - B; 0:15). This follows through via a circle of 5ths progression from G/B minor to E minor to A minor/A diminished to D major - ending on a dominant pedal to prepare us aurally for repeat back into the tonic - G major.
This material repeats several times, each with slightly different orchestral colour: the 2nd instance (0:24), the toy piano and kalimba are accompanied by a small trio of solo strings, fleshing out the harmonies noted above but with additional chromatic excursions on the final dominant pedal (0:44) to solidify the dominant key of D major.
The 3rd instance (0:51) couples a solo clarinet with the kalimaba undertow. The 4th instance (1:14) brings back the solo string accompaniment, still with the kalimba, but now also with a delicately childish soprano recorder melody, which is then passed to the clarinet and bassoon playing in near-unison (1:24). The 5th instance (1:39) interestingly is given to solo kalimba, without the melody above. This is one of the only instances in the entire remake's soundtrack which has less material than the original 1993 soundtrack.
The 6th and final instance (2:03) returns us to the solo string and kalimba accompaniment, while a solo horn sits on top with the melody, which then exchanges with the soprano recorder."
