Hollywood-Style Orchestral Recording Session | Book of Knightmares: Suite for Orchestra and Choir

This piece was composed and conducted by Landon Zientara and recorded by the UWRF Cinema Symphony Orchestra. Copyright © Landon Zientara, 2025. All rights reserved.

For information about my stories and music, check out the Guild of Keepers website: https://tinyurl.com/mr2y7jyu

The Book of Knightmares weaves the fantastic tales of great Celestial Wizards, modest folk, and the darkness of the Underworld that crept upon mortal worlds during the rise of infernal proselytism. This book is a part of a much greater universe of fantastic stories that I have spent my entire life creating! Knightmares comprises three main parts that begin from a place of joy and magic and gradually descend into darkness and despair.

This orchestral suite, and the themes throughout it, bear more meaning to me than any of my creations, because each note is imbued with the magic of all my life and the lives of some very special people who have created these tales with me. Some of these dear friends, like their own characters in these stories, have been met by grim circumstances along the way, and I am deeply moved by the opportunity to memorialize them and our experiences together this way.

The first theme in this suite is for Darwyn Indelyn, the great Celestial Wizard from the world of Akurann who spent his life accumulating great power and fighting wickedness in the mortal plane. This character was created long ago by my friend and brother Allen MacArthur.

The second theme is for the Zandaval School of Sorcery, which was visited by Darwyn and his friends as they sought refuge during their quest to destroy the great empire of the Infernal Wizard Seth Marsen, Darwyn’s father. Marcus Zandaval, once a student of Darwyn’s, warned him that the consequences of fighting evil were perhaps more dire than evil itself.

Following this music are Songs of Time Past, which feature music for the elder wizard, Fa’zahn Sohlonihr, created by Lorelei Miller, voices that solace ‘Vos, lûn ka skol, fadeth vom,’ (‘ye before darkness, never fear,’ in the Saesian language), the arrival of the Saesian Knight, Gornith, at the cursed tower of Dr. Fegdol, just before a mysterious member of Darwyn’s company, Ash (personified by my sister, Allyson Stevens) is revealed to be Raven; Elxéthril, the infernal son of the Underworld, preceding other musical premonitions.

The final section in this piece is the ritualistic Infernal Dance, diegetic to the fantastic worlds and performed by acolytes of the Underworld to conjure terrible devices of evil into the mortal plane. This melody embodies the grotesquely misunderstood way of the infernal disciples and the liberty of divergence from celestial devotion. The piece ends with a final warning in the divine Saesian tongue: ‘Relín deth empros,’ or, "go not onward..."

Check out my music on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/4um23b3t
Listen on Apple Music: https://tinyurl.com/cbn54fte

Thank you to everyone who made a live recording of this piece possible!

Dr. Casey Palbicki (UWRF composition professor), Ash Gardner (music PA), Kyle Gettelman (music recording engineer).

WOODWINDS: Cassidy Boeckermann (flute I), Paige Turner (flute II), Carrie Vecchione (oboe and English horn), Jacob Murphy (clarinet I) Eric Possehl (clarinet II), Alli Erdmann (bass clarinet), Josie Matti (bassoon).

BRASS: Brynn Hutmacher (french horn I), Patrick Livingston (french horn II), Ryan Clatt (french horn III), Jacob Myer (trumpet I), Sean Conway (trumpet II), Nathan Tefft (trumpet III), Ben Helmrick (trombone I), Ben Bussey (trombone II), Jamison Gallmeier (euphonium), Paul Budde (tuba I), Drew Olson (tuba II).

PERCUSSION: Gustavo Ibarra (piano, harpsichord dubbing), Emma Petersen (percussion I), Meg Rein (percussion II), Gavin Banick (percussion III), Landon Zientara (celesta, crotales, and harp layering).

CANTENA STRING QUARTET: Sam Schoenwald (violin I), Lauren Ecklund (violin II), John Rose (viola), Avery Johnson (cello).

STRING BASSES: Rolf Erdahl (contrabass I), Tade Popoola (contrabass II).

CHOIR: Cera Babb (soprano I, soprano dubbing), Jaimie Palbicki (alto I), Amanda Arnold (alto II), Brady O'Brien (tenor I, tenor dubbing), Shawn Gudmunsen (tenor II), Justin Staebell (bass I), Rex Unzicker (bass II), Kayla Huerta (soprano layering).

Sections of this piece were recorded in separately and pieced together in post production. Some instruments and recordings were also added in post-production (special thanks to Gustavo Ibarra, Dr. Cera Babb, Brady O'Brien, and Kayla Huerta). I also used the Spitfire Audio Albion Uist IV library and Logic samples for orchestral textures and percussion dubbing.

0:00 Darwyn's Theme
1:00 Zandaval School of Sorcery
2:09 Fa'zahn's Theme
2:42 Songs of Time Past
3:48 Arrival of Gornith (from Legacy of the Fallen)
5:50 Infernal Dance (Glade of Darkness)