emilysavage@sfbg.com
MUSIC If the triumphant theme to 1986-released video game The Legend of Zelda sends a knowing shiver down your spine; if you’ve ever spent hours obsessively clicking homemade remixes and covers of the soundtrack on Youtube (oh hey Deadmau5); there’s finally a highbrow spot for you among the upper crust: “The Legend of Zelda™: Symphony of the Goddesses Tour” is making its exultant, geeked out way to Davies Symphony Hall this week.
It features two hours of the theme from that first game — originally created by legendary Nintendo composer Koji Kondo — and themes from subsequent games in the Zelda franchise, up through 2011’s Skyward Sword for Wii, in a complete four-movement symphony, orchestrated and arranged by Chad Seiter.
Back to lowbrow YouTube for a moment. This comment on Zelda perfectly sums it up: “There is only ONE tune,? ONE game that unites all other gamers together and defines who we are. Here we have the pinnacle version of that tune.” Hyperbolic? Certainly, but you get the point. People freak out about the music of Zelda.
The inspiration for this momentous high-low culture mashup sprang from the 25th anniversary of the Zelda franchise and a longtime gamer/producer. Jason Michael Paul had been producing video game-inspired concerts since the early Aughts, including “Dear Friends — Music from Final Fantasy” in 2004, and “Play! A Video Game Symphony” in 2006.
Nintendo, for its part, was planning some unique releases to coincide with both the anniversary and the Skyward Sword release — anniversary concerts and a symphonic CD.
Music director Seiter took the short motifs and expanded the themes for the orchestra. Throughout the symphony, video projections of Princess Zelda and Link flash behind the classical musicians, matching up with key orchestral moments and providing the full live Zelda experience. Fans should be jumping in their seats.
“THE LEGEND OF ZELDA™: SYMPHONY OF THE GODDESSES TOUR”
Weds/28, 8 p.m., $45–$125
Davies Symphony Hall
201 Van Ness , SF