Michael freakin' Hoenig!!
dustbubsy
Member Posts: 249
I can't believe we haven't had a thread for this guy already. He's the genius behind the music in BG and SoA.
Here we can discuss the music and post our favourite tracks.
Romance I: used for the Aerie and Jaheira convos. Very sweet sounding, I remember where I was when I first it (in front of my computer obvs, but) in the Graveyard district, next to the Lathander priest and orphan girl, and the mood was just perfect.
Romance II: This darker track is for the Viconia romance, and uses the main theme of BGII very skilfully (something that Hoenig does a lot). This does make the individual tracks stand out less, but as a whole I think it ties the game together very nicely.
Exploring the Plains: This is so nostalgic for me. It encapsulates for me the feeling of well, exploring those plains, and also the medieval feel I got more from the first game than the second, playing as a child. It reminds me of meeting all those weird and wonderful NPCs you'd see in the wilderness.
Safe in Beregost: You're there, you've finally made it, past the wolves, gibberlings, or bandits if you're really unlucky, you've got your fragile level 1 self to Beregost, the newbie's Baldur's Gate, now chill with Golin Vend and dig this sweet tune.
Night Falls on Baldur's Gate: This one is just perfectly creepy - "the Gate'll get ya, soon enough". Whether you're robbing the Hall of Wonders, lugging a corpse back for a seedy necromancer, or just lurking round the underbelly of the city this track makes everything come together.
I think Michael Hoenig's work contributed massively to the feel of these games we love. His use of deep horns and dark tone really emphasised the danger of the world, and your slightly corrupt place within it, as a Bhaalspawn. At the same time things never got so grim that there weren't discernible melodies within the tracks that are beautiful in their own right. See the title track from BGII for a perfect example. And of course that's not to leave out Inon Zur's work in ToB, but that's a post for another day.
Here we can discuss the music and post our favourite tracks.
Romance I: used for the Aerie and Jaheira convos. Very sweet sounding, I remember where I was when I first it (in front of my computer obvs, but) in the Graveyard district, next to the Lathander priest and orphan girl, and the mood was just perfect.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxy_a1ZDsCMRomance II: This darker track is for the Viconia romance, and uses the main theme of BGII very skilfully (something that Hoenig does a lot). This does make the individual tracks stand out less, but as a whole I think it ties the game together very nicely.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3U3u-WYTuAExploring the Plains: This is so nostalgic for me. It encapsulates for me the feeling of well, exploring those plains, and also the medieval feel I got more from the first game than the second, playing as a child. It reminds me of meeting all those weird and wonderful NPCs you'd see in the wilderness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHFenZq2AN4Safe in Beregost: You're there, you've finally made it, past the wolves, gibberlings, or bandits if you're really unlucky, you've got your fragile level 1 self to Beregost, the newbie's Baldur's Gate, now chill with Golin Vend and dig this sweet tune.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWITPDka1gUNight Falls on Baldur's Gate: This one is just perfectly creepy - "the Gate'll get ya, soon enough". Whether you're robbing the Hall of Wonders, lugging a corpse back for a seedy necromancer, or just lurking round the underbelly of the city this track makes everything come together.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dw04LVWqEq4I think Michael Hoenig's work contributed massively to the feel of these games we love. His use of deep horns and dark tone really emphasised the danger of the world, and your slightly corrupt place within it, as a Bhaalspawn. At the same time things never got so grim that there weren't discernible melodies within the tracks that are beautiful in their own right. See the title track from BGII for a perfect example. And of course that's not to leave out Inon Zur's work in ToB, but that's a post for another day.
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Comments
Secondly, I love the music in the Temple (of Lathander?) at the Friendly Arm Inn. Sometimes I'd travel there from far-flung places just so I could hear it.
And finally, I really like the music in the Anomen romance. It's quite regal and dignified in the horns, but the strings are quiet and introverted, which illustrates the juxtaposition of the contrasting parts of his personality.
There's heaps more but I shall desist for now. Just, I really, really, really love the music
Anomen's romance music is yet another variation on the main theme, in the style of Aaron Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man" and "Lincoln Portrait". Because of the ubiquitous Anomen hate that goes around, a lot of people never hear his music, so it's worth a listen. If you hate Ano, just listen to it as a piece of music without associating it with him - it's a lovely brass chorale with string chord accompaniment, one of Aaron Copland's signature orchestrations, borrowed here by Hoenig:
Here is my favorite temple music, a beautiful a capella four voice chorale. I've spent hours listening to it over and over to figure out the four voices, and I've written it down before. The soprano, alto, and bass are easy to hear, but the tenor is really tricky to separate out without going into parallel octaves with the bass. It's even more complicated by the fact that there is a bass-baritone division into octaves going on as well. Actually, I think Hoenig may have made a couple of parallel octaves errors with his tenor part here, but I've managed to create my own tenor part that avoids the parallel octaves
Footnote:
Here's the Copland for reference if anyone's interested in the style comparison:
ALWAYS. EVERYTIME.
I've never taken the time to just. . . sit and listen to the music.
Having said that the one you posted was very good. And let's not forget the ambient tracks too having a charm of their own, such as the "The Ruins of Ulcaster"