A Wish

February 28, 2021

A Wish is the active view theme of the Ice Country.  The palette on the SNES is a simple chorus of piccolos on a canvas of cold silence. This was likely chosen to reflect the chill of the frozen landscape.  The first four bar phrase is an intro which alternates between A minor and F major 7th chords. It’s succeeded by another four bar phrase (:10) with added counterpoint.  Measures 9 and 10 (:20) condense the chords heard so far into a smaller space.  The final ten bars (:25) start with a similar passage in F which descends from there.

It’s a very simple piece, but I always thought the melody was beautiful, and had the potential for a deep longing quality with the right execution.

I got my wish with the remake. The first few bars are played with an atmospheric piano sound that establishes a sorrowful quality.  The cold silence in the background has been obliterated by a strong hall reverb.  For the final ten bars, an electric bass augments the descending line and then halfway through, an orchestra joins to escalate the chord sonorities. There’s an added section after this in the remake. Before the next playthrough, the opening chords are presented with slowly rising strings hauntingly fading in and out with the piano playing a single note every second beat.  This eventually gives way to a drone note that brings the intro back. 

From the name, I assume the piece is reflecting the lack of belief that Santa speaks of after we give him a thrashing.  The remake makes someone’s hypothetical wish an aching one.