Topic: The Music Thread

@DrVenture69 That's the modular structure and the fact both use Latin. The language (Latin) is where the devotion elements come in, there's a dark but romantic undertone to both. There's also a similar layering of orchestral strings which create that same sonic wall and choral arrangement, with a similar number of choirs too. It's that density of the arrangement that probably appealed to your 'this sounds similar'. For me it's the dynamic range, which it has in spades. I don't just hear it I feel it. Speakers fill my room and so do the eight choirs, the spatial and dynamic contrast moves around those speakers and around the room. It's the closet thing to hearing it again live, in full-cadence it can be overwhelming to a lot of people. I use the proper arrangement to replicate that richer sound, that climax around the 40th bar, if I ever had neighbors they'd hear it too. I think even the grand pauses themselves would overwhelm a lot of people but that accentuated dynamic range feels to me like pure bliss.

Both pieces are in essence about God, Spem in Alium is about hope and elevation through that Divine force while Vide Cor Meum focuses on La Vite Nuova. That's a more softer form of adoration, but still adoration to God. I'm not Religious, my musical background is just very strict, my fingers literally bled to learn Vivaldi so 'but it's intimidating, there's so much going on I think it will take me a while to absorb' That's exactly how I was trained in classical and that's the kind of strict over-complicated arrangement I still enjoy today. Below is all Spem in Alium and that (for hours, all night) would probably drive most people deranged but to me it helps to reinforce order and structure, I hyper focus rather than get overwhelmed and lose focus.

You probably found Vide Cor Meum more approachable because of how it amplifies and relies on that core melodic range. Spem in Alium is more structured and direct, it's strict in it's delivery which I like. I was never a trained vocalist but I do play cello and had to learn violin for a time, I play piano too. I find it easy to translate that range into both instruments, you commented about sixty days worth of Vivaldi I think? I listen as I play, it helps me to focus and replicate what I hear better. I feel the dynamic range and then translate it through an instrument/cello or piano. I can't with Metal because I've never picked up a guitar, and then there is all the shouting, I'd blow my voice out. With a cello I can so something similar, just more controlled.

Pop quiz, what's the last piece of music that sent actual shivers down your spine?

• Most likely The Mourning Tree by Jennifer Curry (who you mentioned) most pieces from that soundtrack really. Especially the track that plays in the holiday park before the two boys talking and one says he has to get home to his child who is teething, the piece of music right before then.

@GirlVersusGame Yeah, Vide Cor Meum is a lot simpler. I just loved the way it fits into the film. I always seem to end up watching it late night on a summer Saturday with a couple of glasses of wine. Listening to it always gives me the same feeling

@DrVenture69 I just had my platinum ding on the game and went to Spotify to check something. I have heard that choir before and live too. They were part of the Skyrim 10th Anniversary show. Everybody's Gone to The Rapture along with Jessica Curry went through Sony Classical Records and James Morgan is the same conductor. Jessica is part of that same choir. There was something very familiar about that choir but I didn't want to look anything up until I was done with the game and sure enough she is part of their London Voices line-up.

The last time I heard them was before Christmas for a seasonal performance. That piece of music 'The Pattern Calls Out', I kept thinking 'why does this sound like Ben Parry?' It's because he's the other conductor she's worked with, it's uncanny when you know what to listen out for. Both conductors work with Renaissance polyphony and it's a kind of composition I'm naturally tuned to. I know Ben's work better, he's worked with many choirs for movies like Bond, Star Wars, The Hobbit etc, his conducting style can be felt right through the music. James works more with Philharmonics, that might have been his first game and even then I don't see a full credit but that's him with Jessica and their London Voices line-up. I know him more from his live performances, Spotify have so little of his work up there. I see Jessica did the soundtrack for Dear Esther, that might be my next game.

@GirlVersusGame I need to play Everybody's Gone to the Rapture again, I accidentally sequence broke it last time and missed three of the stories. The Mourning Tree is a gorgeous track, I love The Seventh Whistler and Aurora too.

@DrVenture69