So, I grew up in marching band, dabbled in a jazz outfit, and have attended many an orchestral concert. But I've never seen anything put together quite like this. This is a full performance of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's original soundtrack. It also contains music from the Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine expansions.
And it's super scary. Listen to the sample below. Tell me you don't have immediate and disturbing visions of the Sisters of the Wood or, at the very least, an overly chatty noonwraith. The inclusion of a black metal singer (is singer the right word?) just turned this lovely ensemble of stringed and folk instruments into nightmare fuel. I'd love to make fun of black metal as the Christian music of Hell, but nah, this sampling just keeps getting scarier and scarier the more I listen to it. Geralt would be unfazed but, you know, that's only because he's Geralt the Unfazed.
The Witcher 3 soundtrack has been available in many shapes and forms since its launch. Here it is on Spotify. Here it is on YouTube. In-store copies came with the CD, and don't even think about buying The Witcher 3 on GOG unless you want all the soundtracks plus a billion other goodies. So it's saying something to charge $9.99 for a two-hour concert of The Witcher 3 music on YouTube Red. I'd love to see it. It was performed live during the Film Music Festival 2016 in Krakow, Poland.
If you're still wondering why The Witcher 3 is still beloved, then read our reviews of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt [GN score 9.8 out of 10], Hearts of Stone [9 out of 10], and Blood and Wine [9.8 out of 10]. The Witcher 3 replaced Half-Life 2 as Editor-in-Chief Chuck Husemann's favorite game of all time.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Video Game Show concert now available in digital
CD PROJEKT RED, creators of The Witcher series of games, announce the digital release of the Video Game Show — The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt concert from the 9th Film Music Festival in Kraków. The video is now available for purchase on YouTube.
The finale of the 9th edition of the Film Music Festival took place at Kraków’s TAURON Arena. The audience had a rare chance to hear orchestral arrangements of music from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, as well as both its expansions — Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine. In total, the concert is over 2 hours of award-winning music from the final adventure of witcher Geralt of Rivia.
The full concert can be bought here. A free preview of the concert is also available.
“Seeing 12,000 people listening live to something we worked so many years on with Mikolai Stroinski and Piotr Musial — it’s magical; a beautiful culmination of the time we spent on scoring Geralt’s adventures,” says The Witcher 3 Music Director, Marcin Przybylowicz. “With the concert now available through YouTube, gamers, fantasy fans, and music lovers can join us then and there, feel the emotions and excitement of those moments,” Przybylowicz adds.
Performing on the scene is the AUKSO Chamber Orchestra of the City of Tychy, the Pro Musica Mundi choir, folkmetal band Percival Schuttenbach and soloists — Wioletta Chodowicz (soprano), Rafal Grzaka (accordion), Robert Jaworski (hurdy-gurdy, lute, gusle) and Amir Yaghamai (master of Persian folk instruments). The concert was conducted by AUKSO founder and artistic director, Marek Mos. It also features a special arrangement of Lullaby of Woe, known from the trailer A night to remember, sung by alternative artist and winner of several Fryderyk awards — BRODKA.
The Video Game Show — The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt concert was held during the 9th edition of Film Music Festival in Kraków and organized by CD PROJEKT RED in cooperation with Kraków Festival Office.
