Fontaine OST Piano Arrangement - Fontaine Research Institute Themes

My arrangements of some of my favorite themes from the Fontaine Research Institute region in Genshin Impact.
Timestamps:
0:00 Un Nouvel Espoir
2:43 The Fading Idyll
4:29 The Drifting Beauty
One thing my piano teacher constantly stresses is the importance of playing with intent. While the quality of an interpretation may be debatable, the lack of intent is always wrong. I've been getting better at this over my past few uploads, but it was a particular focus here because these pieces are quite minimal and a more metronomic performance (or "playing like a student" as my teacher sometimes puts it) would be boring. While there is still much to improve on, especially with creating longer phrases and playing more evenly, I think I succeeded.
Some examples:
- To me, Un Nouvel Espoir evokes the image of a still lake, with the right hand ostinato representing the surface. Despite the many emotions contained within the melody, it's critical that nothing breaks this underlying tranquility, so many practice sessions were spent making it as effortless as possible. While certainly not perfect, it paid off.
- With the entrance of melody at 0:11, I place slightly more emphasis on the first note in the left hand before easing into the rest of the phrase. This applies each time that phrase (or a variant) appears.
- I'm very proud of the section from 1:51 - 2:06. In my arrangement, this is almost a repetition of when the theme appears at 1:16, with the one difference being that the last note is changed from a F# to a E. Whereas the first time, the melody successfully reaches that note and continues to be developed, this time it fails and lowers itself to the ending. In the original, this is done almost matter-of-factly, but in my performance I try call it out as a turning point by adding a hint of tension.
- At 3:27 and the subsequent phrases, the rising thirds are slightly drawn out. These are dissonant compared to the surrounding notes, which means playing them the same way can cause it to sound muddled. I do something similar at 5:02 with more intensity.
- The phrase at 5:05 is clearly emphasized. It naturally follows the ramp up at 5:02 before descending.
- In general, I think I handled transitions between phrases much better than in my previous video. They're given the time needed for the listener to process it.
Many of these are necessary due to the change in instrumentation. For example, the beginning flute melody in Un Nouvel Espoir must be taken more carefully, as the front-loaded sound of the piano would cause it to sound sudden and rushed otherwise. But as a whole, my interpretation is a bit more personal - a description that popped into my head is that the original depicts a landscape, whereas my performance depicts that landscape with someone surveying it. Going back to my first point, I don't think this is necessarily bad as I have the details to justify it, but it was interesting enough to call out.
Sheet music: drive.google.com/drive/folder...
Thanks for watching!

[@ilnd6476]

very nice 👍

[@americ4nt4co87]

Thank you for posting!❤️👏🏼

[@readingchameleon]

So cool! And your explanation in the video description is a really interesting insight into how you arranged it. Great job!

[@kontodrugie5182]

More beautiful arrangements! Thank you! You are always choosing the songs that are not covered by anyone, and that is what makes your channel so good!

[@k0tseventysix461]

Amazing work!