Metal Gear Solid Main Theme...
 

Is it just me, or does it sound too much like "Troika" by Georgy Sviridov (1915-1998), a Russian classical music composer?

That's interesting; could you post an excerpt of it for comparison purpose?

If that Troika's the resembling part you linked to...

They do have a few bars of similar melody progression, but that's about it.

It's not uncommon in the (movie) soundtrack world to "loan" something from classical music. Look at John Williams doing all that Mozart-y french horn stuff and he gets away with it.

Oh, there was already a link! I always miss them, the color is not different enough.

There's indeed a similitude, and in two segments. I guess Tappy might have taken inspiration from it, but I wouldn't find it that bad, as Kishin said, it happens. And at least, he would have taken it from something good, not copy from crap or making his work ultra monotonous and unoriginal (for the era).

I dunno, to me it seems worse than usual. Metal Gear Solid Main Theme as originally appears in the game has enough original electronica parts to not be considered a straight rip-off. However, in the fully orchestrated versions there's hardly anything different from Sviridov's composition. BTW, Sviridov's original themes can be heard more clearly in "Winter Road".

Thanks for the link, that's a beautiful piece of music :) Definately, there's very similar parts to both melodies. Might be coincidence, might not. Who knows :o

The beginning of FF8's Eyes on Me chorus appears to have been lifted straight from the multiple occurances of that motif in the Adagio of Rachmaninoff's 2nd Symphony, as well as the general orchestration that FF8 took. Is this coincidence or intentional?

No idea either, but as music has been around for hundreds and hundreds of years, eventually musical ideas tend to recycle themselves with or without the intention of the composer.

The MGS theme seems to be much more than coincidence though.

If you think that is bad... Has anyone ever heard Korngold's soundtrack for the 1942 film King's Row starring Ronald Reagan?

It was the theme that George Lucas had temped into Star Wars before John Williams took over.

Brace yourself!

http://www.buysoundtrax.com/sounds/k...in%20Title.mp3


John Williams is my personal favorite modern day composer... but it just goes to show you that most composers borrow ideas and themes from someone. I mean lets face it... there's only 12 notes to work with!

:)


Here's another one used a lot in Star Wars...
Ever heard the Mars theme from Holtz's Planets?



Tommy

Which is why I love toying with harmony ;)

And wow, that King's Row track does sound almost entirely similar!

Regarding Holst's Planets in general, I'd have to say it's probably the most commonly stolen-from set of pieces in Hollywood :D Could have a field day with it. And relating back to games, the Jupiter movement has a theme in it that's incredibly similar to Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time's Lost Woods.

I'll have to agree with lolman after hearing this, it does seem a little more than coincidence.

King's Row and the Star Wars main theme, that I can hear - but Mars? a lot of people say that, but I'd REALLY like someone to post a piece of music from Star Wars that sounds like Mars. and DON'T say "Imperial March" cause that's just a load of BS.

None of the examples here can compare to Michael Hoenig "borrowing" from Henry Mancini though. listen to this example:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/vcvyrt

the first 50 seconds or so is a cue from Baldur's Gate by Hoenig, after that you'll hear a cue from Mancini's Lifeforce.

This is an exciting thread! It's great to compare music styles between compositors =) Thanks mates.

Double Post:
And as you've said, there is a resemblance between Troika and MGS Main Theme, it's almost creepy, or incidental, I don't know =)

No problem, listen to this:
http://www.brokennotes.com/downloading/0001.mp3

The first is Mars, and Star Wars begins at 34 seconds.

Ok, granted, never really thought about that part. That does sound like more than a coincidence, perhaps even intentional.

It's fun to point out where a composer borrowed from another, but I think some people take it way too far by insulting the borrowing composer. Coincidences do happen, and sometimes it's an intentional homage (Williams's Can you Read My Mind? and Strauss's tone poem Death and Transfiguration being a clear example).

At any rate here's the Holst/Kondo comparison. I don't think they're very similar at all, really; just a coincidence of contour:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y229/eea76/holst.gif

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y229/eea76/kondo.gif

mp3 attached:

Never said that particularily was stolen, just happened to be in the wrong context from what I mentioned beforehand. But when I heard Jupiter performed live, that's all I could think of. But good of you to point out the differences :) Contour goes a long way towards intent, which is similar in both pieces but not exact.

And definately agreed that they're not extremely similar (as I falsely said in the original post..), but as the piece continues it launches into a section that is very Zelda-esque to my ears :) (Attached) Again I'm not talking about ripping anyone off, but just similarities in my personal vocabulary of music. I probably shouldn't have mentioned it in the same context as the rest of the melodies called out here.