Composer: Yuka Kitamura
Arranged by: Moonlapse
Sheet music: [ Ссылка ]
Discord: [ Ссылка ]
For my next cover I went with Fire Giant - I think this is a very underrated track from the game and that opening solo cello really stuck in my mind long after I left this boss behind. Probably my 4th favorite track. This fight was very memorable and gorgeous overall, and I was surprised to find no covers/arrangements of this song yet. It's really quite melancholy and epic at the same time since this giant is the last of his kind; Yuka Kitamura is an absolute legend as always.
Thanks for watching!
--Music Theory Comments--
Phase 1 is basically just a wash of C Aeolean, sad and dark. The bass stays on C pretty much the time, and we get all sorts of colorful tones over the top, creating tension by sitting on the 9th and 11th, and to some degree the minor 6th, for longer periods of time. By specifically avoiding the major 7th so often seen in minor, phase 1 remains moody and lonely and doesn't become medieval and imposing (avoids classical/harmonic minor vibes). The timing is variable, slowing down and speeding up, and so is hard to fit into a fixed meter. I had to take some liberties with the tempo to make it work for my style of piano.
In Phase 2 the whole piece modulates up a minor third to Eb minor, and begins to incorporate the dominant V as we so often see in soulsborne music. We also see the maj VI chord, one of the most poignant diatonic chords for epic music, and even some of the minor iv, both diatonic to the Eb minor key. Lots of sitting on our 9th, F, to create tension and angst.
2:09 is the climax of the piece in my opinion, syncing up with the fire giant acting much more panicked and angry than in phase 1, just spewing fire everywhere. We see what is a essentially a i - V7 - iv - VI move, followed by i - V - iv - V7. In this case the D diminished chord functions essentially as the V7b9, especially because during the second half of the measure the melody note goes to from B to A#, which basically turns the harmony into a first inversion A# / D. Fun to stuff to mess with on the keys on your own.
I think an essential learning to take from this style of music is how fundamentally close each diminished seventh chord is from a variety of dominant chords - just 1 note off, but you're often getting a much more sinister sound and different movement in the bass by going with the dim chord, and Kitamura definitely is aware of this.
