Author Archives: sara-garrard

King of Figaro Castle

What if FFVI’s Edgar and Sabin’s Figaro Castle/Coin Song in the style of Lord of the Rings, particularly The King of the Golden Hall?

Bit of a self-indulgent film orchestration exercise 😀  With a little of Terra’s Theme in there too.  The instrument is a Hardanger fiddle (hardingfele), though I’m afraid I haven’t worried about writing particularly idiomatically for it.

Where

The angstiest song/section of the piece….

Alas! my
heart, where is thy absent God?

Arise and
search, nor languish hopeless here,
His sacred
word invites me to his feet.
The voice
of mercy, O be the heavenly accents spoke to me! 

God of my
life,
O speak and
give me comfort

(O let my
soul recall her comforts past)

–words from Anne Steele: ‘Desiring
the gracious presence of God’

…after this, after a Period Of Silence, it goes into the Psalm (below).

Psalm

Live recording from the concert in November that I just got back!!  This is only the very last section of a longer piece and to some extent the audience is supposed to hear it in context because it is very pretty and full of relief and consummation buuuut on the other hand.  it is very pretty 🙂  you might like it.  

The words are adapted from Psalm 5.  Every other section in the full piece was from a poem by a woman, and while this psalm may not have been… It can still be ours.

I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy
Harken unto the voice of my cry, my King and my God
My voice shalt thou hear in the morning.

Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness.
For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness
But thou wilt bless the righteous
With favour wilt thou compass her as with a shield.

Dear everyone,

This little 30-track-album (they’re short pieces though!) is now available on bandcamp – the fruit of my PIANOWRIMO efforts.  

The styles vary from Baroque to Romantic flavoured with nods to favourite vgm soundtracks and more recent composers. In another sense they are all very ‘me’ in one way or another; by writing a lot this quickly it really had to be my own natural style, and that was very nice for me to work on!  Anyway, some people have asked me about bandcamping this up and I’m glad to have finally done so.  Happy early Christmas!  (Hey, maybe this could be a gift for a piano-friendly friend? xD)

The price is pay what you want, so you can download the whole set for anything from free!

ETA: LINK to the Bandcamp page (you can click on the player buuut possibly not on mobile!)