The Merchant's Judgement

[VHapponen]

Happy new year!

Here's a piece from a few years back, composed for an animation based on a stage play I took part in as an arranger/pianist. The piece is based on a scene where a main character and a crooked merchant finally arrive at a mysterious mountain to meet the spirit of the mountain, who is said to have the answer to any question. The merchant wishes to know how he can become endlessly rich, but the spirit sees through the merchant's past dishonesty and instead of giving him the answer to his question, dooms him to imprisonment in the mountain forever (or, in the end, until he changes his ways).

The first 25 seconds are pre-existing material from the play - an extended version of the merchant's theme that is played repeatedly throughout the play - arranged for a larger ensemble. The material thereafter is original.

Composed using several EW libraries, with the orchestral samples being EWQLSO played directly from the score using Sibelius and sound sets. This doesn't give ideal balance, creates some problems with timing (the final choir part) and so on, but these'll be fixed for the final version.

Anyways - less talk, more music; here's The Merchant's Judgement.