The Sith Liszt?

One comes across interesting things while studying music history late at night…

Listen to the first three notes (after the two introductory pizzicato chords) of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDEem_aEttE
Symphonic poem Les Préludes by Franz Liszt

Now listen to this next track at 1:45 (turn your volume down–it is louder than the first example):

Excerpt from the soundtrack to the video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, composed by Mark Griskey

The rhythm is slightly different, but it is the same three notes, C-B-E, in that lovely, low, brooding, ominous register!

This makes me very happy.

If you get tired of analyzing Bach…

I ran across this gentleman on YouTube several months ago. In addition to writing his own compositions, he transcribes and analyzes music from several video games, including Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Skyrim. Wonderful analyses, beautiful scores, and of course the music is lovely to begin with.

Musical nerdiness meets one of the greatest video games ever made! What’s not to like?