Super Mario RPG "Beware the Forest's Mushrooms" Brass Ensemble

“Beware the Forest's Mushrooms” from Super Mario RPG, composed by Yoko Shimomura (下村陽子) and arranged for brass and percussion by Thomas Kresge.

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Featuring...
The Game Brass:
🎵 John Robert Matz: Trumpet
[http://www.johnrobertmatz.com]
🎵 Avery Yonehiro: Trumpet
[‪@jazzthatbrass3484‬]
🎵 Robby Duguay: Trumpet
[http://www.robbyduguay.com]
🎵 JohnStacy: French Horn
‪@TheJohnStacy‬]
🎵 Alana Yee: French Horn
[‪@AlanaYee‬ ]
🎵 Jordan Moore: French Horn
[‪@JordanMooreMusic‬ ]
🎵 Jackie Fazekas: French Horn
[http://jackiefazekas.com/]
🎵 Daniel Romberger (DannyMusic): Trombone, Video
[‪@dannymusic‬]
🎵 Eric L.: Trombone
[‪@EricLadish‬
🎵 Allison Martin: Trombone
[‪@AllisonMartin‬]
🎵 Alex Hill (WarTubaFox): Tuba
[   / @wartubafox  ]
🎵 Rahul Vanamali: Marimba
[‪@RahulVanamali‬]
🎵 Yusuf Rashid: Tambourine, Triangle
[‪@YusufRoshd‬]
🎵 Thomas Kresge: Arrangement, Mix, Video
[https://www.kresgemusic.com/]

🎵 Henry Faber: Logo Design
[  / henryfaber  ]

Watch more game soundtrack covers performed on brass here:    • Game Music on Brass Instruments  

Notes from Thomas about the arrangement:

Much like our heroes entering the Forest Maze, it is with great trepidation and anxiety that I approached the arrangement of one of the most iconic standards in the VGM canon. “Beware the Forest’s Mushrooms” ranks up there alongside “The Moon” from DuckTales or “Wily Fortress” from Mega Man 2 as a staple of VGM covers — a piece perhaps so well-known as to potentially be overdone. So I felt going in that our cover needed to possess a certain gravitas and originality in order to justify its existence.

To accomplish this, I’ve resorted to a reliable formula to squeeze some theme and variation out of this track while still remaining true to the spirit of the original. This formula involves a slow, relaxed opening with fragmented statements of the main theme; a relatively direct orchestration of the original track as a complete statement; a softer, mysterious middle section; and then a build to a big climactic version of the music that introduces new textures and develops the piece into something bold and brassy. (Side note: the original tune starts out in C#, a rather annoying key even for the most accomplished brass musician, so I’ve taken the liberty of transposing our version down a step.)

The original composition has a relatively “classical” or even “stodgy” feel with its straight, scalar melodies and typical bass-offbeat background textures. I decided to fully embrace these Holstian stylings in the second half, going for an overall more stately feel, which we get into with the stateliest of musical forms: the fugue. The initial idea for this fugue segment had just four players repeating the B melody as a basic canon with little variation, but after it was suggested I develop this concept more, I expanded the music out by several more bars and allowed the entire band to contribute to the counterpoint, ultimately resulting in a more creative and interesting rendition. (Incidentally, this is now The Game Brass’s 3rd fugue, after “Spirit of Hospitality” and “It’s Pizza Time.” It’s possible I’ve missed another fugue in some other track… arrangers like to write these a lot for some reason.)

The attempt at stateliness continues with a heavy 1-2 pattern that emphasizes the downbeats, and melody on the stateliest of instruments: the piccolo trumpet. (This latter statement of the melody actually takes inspiration from Shiro Hamaguchi’s orchestration of Ronfaure from Final Fantasy XI, with very similar textures and percussion writing.) This all builds to a climactic statement of the piece’s B section, as we fade towards an ending that extends the original piece’s Picardy-style cadence. Very stately.

I don’t want to spoil anything (though it shouldn’t be a spoiler to say The Game Brass is always working on new projects), but this track was arranged all the way back in March of 2023 and planned for a certain something we haven’t announced for next year. It was fast tracked to you today in honor of the release of the Super Mario RPG remake!