Uploaded December 2019 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
🎵 Sheet Music & Parts ➤ [Removed by Nintendo JP]
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A rather tricky one, but here is an orchestral arrangement of the unsettling "Gloomy Caves", also known as "Mysterious Caves" from Golden Sun.
--------------------
➤ Analysis:
To accompany the explorations of a mysterious cave, or unsettling dungeon, Sakuraba presents us with this unnerving track that juxtaposes functional harmony with uncomfortable atonality.
The track begins predominantly in E minor through the outline of an E minor triad (E-G-B), followed immediately by the dominant of B major in the 2nd measure (0:05; B-D#-F#). But then, we begin to slip away from functionality with a chromatic step downwards to E#-G# (0:10), suggesting C# major (C#-E#-G#) - quite the distant key from the tonic of E minor.
This 4-bar harmonic progression continues again at 0:12, now with an additional string passage soaring high above, further outlining the E minor to B major progression. Then, once again, this snippet of functional harmony is warped into wandering chromaticisms at 0:17. Where previously this short passage suggested C# major, now the tonality is almost fully obscured, highlighting an extreme diminished chord of E#-G#-B (more easily read as F-Ab-B), which descends chromatically before returning once more to the brief respite of functional harmony (0:23).
This juxtaposition of functional and dysfunctional seemingly mirrors the player's exploration of an unknown cave; keeping to familiar territory, before wandering off to some place new, then back to the familiar, followed closely by discovering something else new.
A stark change occurs at 0:32 with a sudden shift to a 5/8 meter, decimating the previously functional 3/4 meter. Here, the tonic of E minor is withheld somewhat, but we are treated to some unsettlingly dissonant stabs built on "major 7th + sharp 11th" chords (e.g. "F-B-E" seen in the trumpets of measure 13; 0:33), which are such uncommon chords that their name could easily be called any number of things.
After these chords jump out and scare us, we return to the more functional 3/4 meter (0:41), but now almost entirely atonal with no discernible tonic center: the woodwinds flurry around and chase each other in a darkly chromatic sense; the violins and vibraphone repeat an ostinato that could debatably be tethered to B major; and the lower strings fall slowly downwards in a chromatic spiral unrelated to the other material. We are most certainly in alien territory here.
With the entry of the panpipes (0:51), we get a small addition of melodic material that attempts to solve this atonal harmonic puzzle; the first measure potentially swims around C minor/major (C-Eb-G / C-E-G; 0:51), but this is thwarted by the G# appearing in the violins and vibraphone. Thus atonality remains the likely contender here.
By 1:01, we return to the 5/8 material heard previously at 0:32, again outlining a tonic pedal on E, and with our good friend the "F-B-E" chord. However, where the previous appearance of this material (0:32) retained its functioanl 4-bar phrasing, here this is reduced to an unnatural 3-bar phrase, further adding to the uncomfortable aesthetic.
After this persistent juxtaposition of functionality and dysfunctionality, we finally get some closure with a more traditional modulation into the subdominant - A minor (A-C-E; 1:06). But, keeping with the unsettling theme, this respite does not last for long as Sakuraba introduces the tritonal augmented 4th interval (D#), found in the violas of m.29 (1:11), constructing a diminished chord (A-C-D#) suggesting that something is still out of place.
This creeps down chromatically at 1:17, before returning once more to A minor, now also with a dominant 7th chord being suggested at 1:24 with the appearance of D# and F# over a pedal of A. This dominant 7th is completed at 1:30, now with the B in the bass, preparing for a perfect cadential return to the opening in E minor.
--------------------
★Game: Golden Sun
★Developer: Camelot Software Planning
★Publisher: Nintendo
★Composer(s): Motoi Sakuraba
★Software: Sibelius 7.5, Cubase Elements 7, Cubase 10, Adobe Premiere Elements 15, EastWest Sample Libraries, Vienna Symphonic Library
★Tags: Golden Sun, Golden, Sun, The Lost Age, Golden Sun The Lost Age, TLA, GS, Golden Sun Orchestra, Golden Sun Cover, Golden Sun Remix, Golden Sun Arrangement, Gloomy Caves, Mysterious Caves
#GoldenSun
#Orchestra
#GloomyCaves
🎵 Sheet Music & Parts ➤ [Removed by Nintendo JP]
💗 MIDI / XML / Sibelius ➤ bit.ly/TandABundle
🎹 Commissions ➤ jshaw.co.uk/commissions
🎮 More Arrangements ➤ jshaw.co.uk/TandA
👍 Facebook ➤ bit.ly/TandAFacebook
🐦 Twitter ➤ bit.ly/TandATwitter
🎵 Bandcamp ➤ bit.ly/TandABandcamp
🎵 Spotify ➤ bit.ly/TandASpotify
🎵 Deezer ➤ bit.ly/TandADeezer
🎵 YouTube Music ➤ bit.ly/TandAYouTube
🎵 Apple Music / iTunes ➤ bit.ly/TandAApple
A rather tricky one, but here is an orchestral arrangement of the unsettling "Gloomy Caves", also known as "Mysterious Caves" from Golden Sun.
--------------------
➤ Analysis:
To accompany the explorations of a mysterious cave, or unsettling dungeon, Sakuraba presents us with this unnerving track that juxtaposes functional harmony with uncomfortable atonality.
The track begins predominantly in E minor through the outline of an E minor triad (E-G-B), followed immediately by the dominant of B major in the 2nd measure (0:05; B-D#-F#). But then, we begin to slip away from functionality with a chromatic step downwards to E#-G# (0:10), suggesting C# major (C#-E#-G#) - quite the distant key from the tonic of E minor.
This 4-bar harmonic progression continues again at 0:12, now with an additional string passage soaring high above, further outlining the E minor to B major progression. Then, once again, this snippet of functional harmony is warped into wandering chromaticisms at 0:17. Where previously this short passage suggested C# major, now the tonality is almost fully obscured, highlighting an extreme diminished chord of E#-G#-B (more easily read as F-Ab-B), which descends chromatically before returning once more to the brief respite of functional harmony (0:23).
This juxtaposition of functional and dysfunctional seemingly mirrors the player's exploration of an unknown cave; keeping to familiar territory, before wandering off to some place new, then back to the familiar, followed closely by discovering something else new.
A stark change occurs at 0:32 with a sudden shift to a 5/8 meter, decimating the previously functional 3/4 meter. Here, the tonic of E minor is withheld somewhat, but we are treated to some unsettlingly dissonant stabs built on "major 7th + sharp 11th" chords (e.g. "F-B-E" seen in the trumpets of measure 13; 0:33), which are such uncommon chords that their name could easily be called any number of things.
After these chords jump out and scare us, we return to the more functional 3/4 meter (0:41), but now almost entirely atonal with no discernible tonic center: the woodwinds flurry around and chase each other in a darkly chromatic sense; the violins and vibraphone repeat an ostinato that could debatably be tethered to B major; and the lower strings fall slowly downwards in a chromatic spiral unrelated to the other material. We are most certainly in alien territory here.
With the entry of the panpipes (0:51), we get a small addition of melodic material that attempts to solve this atonal harmonic puzzle; the first measure potentially swims around C minor/major (C-Eb-G / C-E-G; 0:51), but this is thwarted by the G# appearing in the violins and vibraphone. Thus atonality remains the likely contender here.
By 1:01, we return to the 5/8 material heard previously at 0:32, again outlining a tonic pedal on E, and with our good friend the "F-B-E" chord. However, where the previous appearance of this material (0:32) retained its functioanl 4-bar phrasing, here this is reduced to an unnatural 3-bar phrase, further adding to the uncomfortable aesthetic.
After this persistent juxtaposition of functionality and dysfunctionality, we finally get some closure with a more traditional modulation into the subdominant - A minor (A-C-E; 1:06). But, keeping with the unsettling theme, this respite does not last for long as Sakuraba introduces the tritonal augmented 4th interval (D#), found in the violas of m.29 (1:11), constructing a diminished chord (A-C-D#) suggesting that something is still out of place.
This creeps down chromatically at 1:17, before returning once more to A minor, now also with a dominant 7th chord being suggested at 1:24 with the appearance of D# and F# over a pedal of A. This dominant 7th is completed at 1:30, now with the B in the bass, preparing for a perfect cadential return to the opening in E minor.
--------------------
★Game: Golden Sun
★Developer: Camelot Software Planning
★Publisher: Nintendo
★Composer(s): Motoi Sakuraba
★Software: Sibelius 7.5, Cubase Elements 7, Cubase 10, Adobe Premiere Elements 15, EastWest Sample Libraries, Vienna Symphonic Library
★Tags: Golden Sun, Golden, Sun, The Lost Age, Golden Sun The Lost Age, TLA, GS, Golden Sun Orchestra, Golden Sun Cover, Golden Sun Remix, Golden Sun Arrangement, Gloomy Caves, Mysterious Caves
#GoldenSun
#Orchestra
#GloomyCaves
