This relates to my post in the Interesting and Informative Links thread.
I love the Zelda series soundtracks. Three of them deserve a special mention:
The Ocarina of Time soundtrack is both very complementary of its dramatic subject matter and, moreover, very well ordered. With the preponderance of the Kokiri theme early in the game, it wasn't until much later that I realized just how heavy and portentous the overall soundtrack is. It's a thick and immersive soundtrack, which, rather than being diminished by the lighter pieces, achieves a depth and breadth that eluded my typification for years. It continues to improve with age for me.
The Majora's Mask soundtrack disappointed me for a long time. It didn't live up to Ocarina's epic grandeur, and it sounded deficient in melody. I fell for a few specific pieces in the score, like the Deku Palace theme, but overall I was dismissive of the soundtrack as a masterpiece--and I drew this conclusion even knowing that Majora's Mask is essentially a Japanese acid trip. It wasn't until I heard
ZREO's arrangements over the past few days that I finally came to appreciate that, in its own way, the Majora's Mask soundtrack is nearly as brilliant as Ocarina's. The disjointedness of entries like the Milk Bar--itself a disjointed place in a story whose primacy is the non-sequitur (deliciously ironic when juxtaposed with the endlessly repeating plot)--makes for a surreal experience, which is bolstered by the overdramatic quality of pieces like the Mayor's Theme. But those themes had always sat well with me. Rather, it is the main musical themes of Majora's Mask which have achieved redemption in my ears of late. Cheers, ZREO.
Lastly, the A Link to the Past soundtrack can't go without mention; it is the quintessential Zelda soundtrack. Koji Kondo has had increasingly less (hrm!) to do with the Zelda soundtracks over the years, but this one was all his. We owe to this game the Dark World theme, the Hyrule Castle theme, the Kakariko Village theme, the Turtle Rock theme, the Triforce theme, the Ending Theme and Ending Credits themes, and several others which not only went on to enrich the series and enshrine these games in our minds, but stand alone as instances of music as fine art.
(Speaking of which, did you know you can hear the call of the
first movement of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony in the Deku Palace theme from Majora's Mask? Almost certainly that's not intentional, but it is a sign of robust structure in the music any time your song invokes Beethoven.)
Edit: Made linky.
