Obscure Find of the Week – VGL @ Yale

I had planned on doing a segment on this a while ago, but never got around to it. Back in April, the touring video game orchestral event known as Video Games Live visited Yale University for one of the performances on their list. Usually the tour brings it’s own large orchestra and choir to perform massive feats of gaming music awesomeness all over the USA and Europe, and often accompany it with video segments from games shown behind the orchestra/choir on a huge theatre-like screen. Kind of like a living game music video.

This time around, however, things were a bit different and more special.

At Yale, there’s a national monument in the form of a 3-story high pipe organ from 1903. What better score of music to perform on a huge pipe organ in a gothic-style than Castlevania!

The first few minutes of the video show VG pianist Martin Leung having a bit of difficulty with getting the organ up and running, and harility ensues. I particularly liked the “Blow in the Cartridge!” suggestion yelled from an audience member. However, once the volume was good to go, the sound produced was enough to make any Castlevaniac proud.

Other performances from this stop in the tour that stood out were a choir-injected rendition of the Advent Children version of “One Winged Angel“, as well as a musical medley and video tribute to the “Sonic the Hedgehog” franchise. How they opened that one up was nothing short of sheer beauty.

So if anyone ever has the opportunity to catch one of these performances by VGL in their area, I suggest going. You never know what special little extras they’re going to throw into the shows.