Variations on Theme of Aeris (Aerith)
(from Nobuo Uematsu's Theme)


Listen Here ► (https://soundcloud.com/piotr_katzpersky/variations-on-theme-of-aeris)
Duration: 13:22


SHORT STORY: The idea was simple - write something that you know, but you've never heard before. Unfortunately there is a long way between idea and reality. And that road was (to make it easier) full of first times: for the first time I worked on theme by someone else (I though that I'm ready for that...), it's my first big piece made with VSL samples (except for piano), it's first time I actually had to do mixing, balancing and failing hard doing that etc. Anyways, a piece that was meant to be something between a stroll and a walk in a park, a little homeage to a man who made me want write music, became a huge adventure (as it should be!) full of ebbs and flows, explosions, cutting, adding, trimming, reverbing, dereverbing, getting angry and calming down. During that process I acquired a lot of knowledge which will be mine forever but I also had to fight with lots of misinformation which made my trip much bumpier. What you can hear here is the end of that road... Be aware though, it is more of a "Lost Highway" rather than "Straight story" ;)

Thanks a lot!

Why on earth is this in here? It should be in the music section. Well, to be honest, it should be in the concert hall. I've had a uneasy relationship with your music in the past, finding your harmonic language irresistible but remaining a little unconvinced by the structure. This, though... this is a truly fine piece of work.

No mere arrangement, this really is a Variations On An Original Theme in the finest classical tradition - and you don't just vary the theme, you use the theme as a launching pad for other themes, but you never lose sight of the original. It's always there, sometimes it's playing in a fairly straightforward way, sometimes the melody is hiding in the counterpoint, sometimes you're making vague references to the harmonies or progressions or rhythm.

I really, really like this.

I have one question; what's going on at the end? I don't think I quite understand it. You build up to what seems like it's going to be a tonal, harmonically satisfying finale... and then right when the mind is crying out for a definitive, concluding statement... it just stops, and on a dissonance! Aaaaaaaargh, why???!! ;)

Why on earth is this in here? It should be in the music section.
Not entirely correct. I've put it here because of keywords/search-related matters: Aerith is, well, related (to put it mildly) to FINAL FANTASY Ⅶ; since I assume OP is looking for feedback on his work, I have taken into account what would help his [thread] visibility, hence the move. This thread is far more likely to show up in external searches if put in a subforum related to its subject, not to mention that it would have gotten buried pretty fast in Video Game Music Download Links (where it was originally located), like I said to the creator of the thread.

EDIT:
Oh, right. Technically, there are multiple subforums which could "host" this thread on the Shrine, its current location is one of multiple correct ones at present. At any rate, if you disagree with my decision, please, feel free to speak to the higher-ups and hope they have a different mindset.

I don' want to argue about place where the post should be. I posted it somewhere else, you moved it because of things you said and I understand it. Maybe moving it will actually give it longer, but less violent life ;)

Tango, huge thanks for your opinion. It means a lot to me. Reading it was like... what? No, I must be wrong. So I had to read it again. Twice. And after that again :D Thank you and I'm glad that you liked it.

As for ending, actually it was a bit more creepy few versions ago. And that "false note" at the very end (because that's what you are referring to, right?) gives a bit of that unresolved matter feel. And I like it.

I do disagree with your decision - I do see where you're coming from, particularly around the subject of it getting quickly buried in a sea of noise if it remained in the subforum in which it was originally posted, but on reflection I do believe that by putting the thread here in this subforum, which by its own definition is for "general discussion of final fantasy" and not for music downloads, and which receives just half a dozen posts per year, you've heavily restricted its potential audience. Herbaciak had to resort to posting in a subforum where this thread would've been very popular (a thread of some eight years heritage that has bucked the FFshrine trend and NOT turned into a flame pit, explicltly due to the calibre and kind nature of its resident posters) and asking those same posters - 100% of whom would never have seen the thread otherwise - to come here to listen to it.

That is my opinion; and now I have made my comment I will happily leave it there. Herbaciak - for what it's worth, I think you should try to get this thread moved back to where you put it to begin with. It's a splendid piece of work, perhaps unlike anything the fan community has ever attempted.


As for ending, actually it was a bit more creepy few versions ago. And that "false note" at the very end (because that's what you are referring to, right?) gives a bit of that unresolved matter feel. And I like it.

I thought that you were probably going for something like that - I was just having trouble understanding the meaning behind that musical statement. Usually, when a composer allows his music to build to something to a point where that something seems almost inevitable, and then goes off in a completely different direction, he is making a very definite point about something; like Mahler's "failed gestures" - big moments that never quite happen or don't feel like they were entirely earned. Music that is carefully written and structured so as to have inherently unsatisfying moments, which contribute to the final satisfaction of the conclusion.

I just don't quite know where you were going with that gorgeous, tonal passage at the end that just grinds to a halt - it's like you're in the middle of a grand speech and you just say "Bah, fuck this." and walk off the stage. ;)

Such audience would have been likely to post just a bunch of "thank you(s)", tango, we both know that, come on. I trust that he's looking for some actual opinion on this piece of his.

Point taken, but I still can't understand how burying the thread here where almost nobody will see it could have a positive impact on the gentleman getting some actual opinion.

In the other place, yes, I'm sure there would've been a load of crap responses - all "THNAKS DOWNLAOD!" and "OMFG zelda!!!!!!!" and all the rest of it... but crucially, people would be actually hearing it and the more people who would be actually hearing it, the greater the chance that somebody will contribute "actual opinion".

Isn't it notable that 100% of the responses in this thread except mine fit into the exact category of "just a bunch of thank yous" - and the only reason I knew this thread was here AT ALL is because Herbaciak alerted a thread in the download forum that it was here?

LSK, respect and kindness as always. :)

Quantity over quality for you, heh? Whatever.

[Edit: Whatever, indeed.]

Leon, I cannot send you PM so I'll say it here.

Quantity over quality argument that you used is solid, but it's Internet and this is one of those rare places where quality emerges out of quantity. So is there an actual way to move the post back into Music part of the forum? If yes, would you be so kind to do it? If no... well, I gues I have to live with that. Or, if it's mostly about Google robots, then maybe I will make another post, with a bit different content to avoid duplication? ;)

Tango, once again thanks for your input. And for that little sentence in your second post, just above the quote :)

You can contact Jessie and request for the thread to be moved.

I see tango is being his usual self.

To be really honest, I have no idea where else this thread could belong - Video Game Music Downloads usually does not include fan arrangements, so I fully agree with Leon's decision (there's been plenty of similar fan arranged music posted here in the FF section in the past and no one complained.) So I'm going to leave it here (unless of course Jessie or Asa or another admin decides otherwise).

Either way, great job Herbaciak! :D

To be really honest, I have no idea where else this thread could belong - Video Game Music Downloads usually does not include fan arrangements, so I fully agree with Leon's decision (there's been plenty of similar fan arranged music posted here in the FF section in the past and no one complained.) So I'm going to leave it here (unless of course Jessie or Asa or another admin decides otherwise).

Either way, great job Herbaciak! :D
Thanks. Also, something I forgot to correct you about, tango: this is not the General Final Fantasy forum, it's the Final Fantasy VII forum, which could techincally be the "home" for anything related to it, discussion about its music (or fan-made takes/arrangements of it) included. General Final Fantasy is used to host discussion about general stuff which might be related to the saga as a whole, or what does concern multiple games of the franchise; Aerith is "VII-specific" (in the sense that, as a character, she made her main debut in the 1997 game).
I could have moved the thread to Anime, Film and Video Game Music Discussion, but that's indeed a general topic.