An impressive arrangement of musical prowess sits patiently in line. My music list quivers in anticipation, with the occasional odd fidget and flutter as it proudly becomes the next to reach my ears. With a total of 45 tracks, lasting one hour and one minute, I take up my Kokiri sword as Young Link and begin my journey through Trend Orchestra’s Ocarina of Time Symphony.
Transported back in time, I can feel the beautiful Ocarina in my hands as I listen to the game’s soundtrack created by Oxfordshire-based musician Marcus Hedges. Not only is it nostalgic, the symphony pulls memories from deep within and brings them to the surface, allowing listeners to experience the goose bumps alongside the magic of Nintendo’s most famed games; The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
Forming the Trend Orchestra in 2014, Marcus Hedges is the sole musician in his orchestra. Though he works with vocalists from time to time, he mainly works from his studio with many instruments and a computer. Marcus isn’t just your run-of-the-mill musician either, he’s been playing the piano since he was seven years old and in 2012 completed his degree in Commercial Composition and Music Technology, earning a first class honours.
Since then, his music has featured in various successful short films and is currently working as a composer on a Dragon Ball Z tribute film, alongside a talented team of animators and artists, many of whom have previous experience with Disney, ILM and Ubisoft. When it comes to music, Marcus is certainly in tune.
But his main passion for music evolved through video games. Growing up with titles from the SNES, N64 and Sega platforms, Marcus developed an ear for the classics. And wanting to evoke that same nostalgia once again, he turned to arranging multiple video game soundtracks from Ratchet and Clank, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro and Super Mario to name but a few. Yet it wasn’t enough to create the odd track from scratch any longer, Marcus wanted a bigger project.
“It got to the point where I wanted to challenge myself, I wanted a big project, something to demonstrate all that I’ve learnt over the past few years,” Marcus says. “So I decided to arrange the Ocarina of Time Soundtrack. I didn’t once get bored or frustrated with it, it was an enjoyable process, like stepping into a musical time machine.”
While the soundtrack stays true to its original creation, there are many nuances of Marcus’s style embedded within. The Kokiri Forest still feels as light and fluid but with an injection of fairy footsteps through percussion instruments, while the glorious Hyrule Field is brought to life with lighter tonal shifts in the background. A personal favourite of mine has always been Zelda’s Lullaby. Perhaps it’s the deep gorgeous grandeur combined with softer notes that evoke such emotion, but the track has always held a beautiful memory for me.
For Marcus, though, his pride and joy came from composing Sheik’s Theme, having been a fan of the Zelda franchise since he was a child.
“I love how beautiful the melody is, and I really tried to highlight the delicate nature of the piece with the instrumentation,” says Marcus. “I remember being 10 years old, sat on the carpet in the middle of the living room with my little brother, playing Ocarina of Time. We were so wowed by this open world there was to explore. We had no internet then, and we were so excited by the prospect that anything could happen. That’s stuck with me ever since.”
Although the dream is to one day become a full-time video game composer, Marcus has started looking to score other soundtracks from the Zelda franchise as well. A six-track taster of Majora’s Mask is available to listen to currently, but the musician has stated a revisit to Termina could be on the cards. Yet perhaps that’s best saved for a real-time performance when he forms his own live orchestra.
Designed for those who love adventure in the Zelda franchise, Trend Orchestra’s Ocarina of Time soundtrack is pure bliss. Wrapped up in its own nostalgia box, those 45 tracks are a love letter to the original. It touches upon old sword wounds and bathes them in a luxuriously rich polish, ready for both display and battle.
Trend Orchestra’s Ocarina of Time Symphony is available to purchase now for $10 on Loudr and iTunes for £10.99 or $11.99. If you’d like to learn more about Trend Orchestra, please visit the official website or subscribe to the YouTube channel.
A copy of the Ocarina of Time Symphony was provided to My Nintendo News for the purpose of this article. A note to readers: The album has been officially and legally licensed, so all the royalties will be distributed to the appropriate recipients.
Can they sell it without getting a cease and desist from nintendo?
I’d be refreshing, considering how many projects get shut down through cease and desist
I believe so. The musician created this from scratch based off the original material, with his own instruments. It’s similar to how fan art works; if you’ve physically created it, you own the copyright to it. It’s been a while since I studied Media Law, so I’m relying on memory alone here.
-||But you are still basing all your work on someone else’s||-
Could be classed as fair use, no?
-||Yes but isn’t fair use only limited to a part of some work? Not all of it||-
I’ve updated the article in italics at the bottom, but a note to readers:
The album has been officially and legally licensed, so all the royalties will be distributed to the appropriate recipients.
-||Nice investigation Ambassador Colette, problem solved||-
-||Unless he got permission from the Empire, they will bring it down sooner or later||-
i’m Not a classical music person but i would listen to Gaming music and movie musicals.
Beautifully written :) You deliver as usual ^^ Want that soundtrack v_v
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