Overview
Key: A minor
Time: 4/4,88 bpm
Length: 33 measures (1 minutes, 38 seconds)
General Description:
Breath of Fire ~ Opening Animation ~ is a stunning blend of ethnic influences, melding East Indian rhythms, Bulgarian choral vocals, and Western orchestral/rock instrumentation. Composed by Taro Iwashiro, the piece roughly features an A-B-A’ form. It can be heard along side – you guessed it – Breath of Fire IV’s opening animation cutscene.
Despite its’ limited length, the piece touches on a wide range of emotions, from the ritualistic and the sacred, to wonderment and shock; as if to experience Ryu/Fou-lu’s journey first-hand as they discover the beauty/cruelty that is humanity.
Analysis:
The piece starts with a sitar played against a minimalistic backdrop of steady maracas shakes, heady synth drones, and twinkling piano fills. The highlight of this section would have to be the polymetric interaction between the sitar figure and the maracas. While both plays with an eight note feel, the former outlines a 7/8 and 9/8 mixed meter (count 1-2-3-4-5-6-7, 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9) reminiscent of East Indian Konnakol phrasing, whereas the maracas’ figure is simple and clearly identifies each beat in a 4/4 meter. To further ground the audience in the 4/4 meter, the sitar was arranged with accents on beats 1,2 and 3. As a result, Iwashiro-sensei was able evoke a sense of exoticism through the polymetric interaction without while maintaining a clearly outlined 4/4 pulse. Further, there is little activity in the bass range, which combines with the shimmering sitar timbre to give the section a tranquil, pristine quality.
Before the feeling can solidify though, a chime sweeps in to cut into a completely new vibe (Section B): featuring a nasally female choir and dry, deliberate drumbeats. The section thrums with a sense of sacred ritualism, thanks to its’ dense rising vocal harmonies and the rustic timbre of the snare elevating the 4th beat.
Four measures in, Iwashiro-sensei removes the vocals, brining in a violin section to carry the melody forward. Said melody is presented as two 4-bar refrains in this section; specifically, two shared 2-bar ‘call’ lines and two unique 2-bar ‘response’ lines. The former ‘response’ line ends in a descend, whereas the second ‘response’ rises into the next section. The contour of these lines provides the piece with a gentle forward pace, but also shows a hint of reluctance in their syncopated starts (the ‘call’ lines start on the 2nd beat). This is also joined by an electric guitar coated in plate reverb to highlight the mid range harmonies, and an electric bass whole notes of the root.
As the melody reaches a crescendo in Section D, the drumbeats perk up with kicks on the 1 and 3, and snare hits on the 2 and 4; each beat is clearly felt, intensifying the section without modifying the tempo. The electric guitar also adapts to full chords (while remaining at low volume) to enlarge the music, lending it a sense of freedom. Most importantly though, the female choir returns with a new timbre, enunciating A’s and O’s instead of the E’s in Section B. This seemingly minor modification drastically changes the feeling of the vocals from a divine chant to a tender expression of innocence and discovery.
As if to reinvigorate the ritual, the music returns to Section A, playing through to Section B again until – suddenly - before the last measure could even complete, the piece erupts into a sudden stop. The violins trail off while playing a variation on refrain in Section C, not unlike a wisp of smoke. Likewise, the polymetric sitar riff returns for one last cycle, fading out in rubato. Only the synth pad is left, lingering on the 11th until it too disappears. The ending feels incomplete (in all the best ways), bringing to mind the summoning of the Yorae Dragon.
Thank you for checking out my analysis on Breath of Fire IV ~ Opening Animation~. I hope it was informative and enjoyable!
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