Professor Layton Main Theme Trilogy

	Album Title: Professor Layton Main Theme Trilogy
	Record Label: Level 5
	Catalog No.: N/A
	Release Date: November 27, 2008
	Purchase: Buy Used Copy

Overview

The Professor Layton Main Theme Trilogy disc was available in Japan as a pre-order bonus for the third and last installment of the DS series, Professor Layton and the Last Time Travel. It contains the three main themes from the games including a live performance. Anyone who is familiar with Tomohito Nishiura’s work in previous Level 5 games such as Dark Cloud, Dark Chronicle, or Rogue Galaxy should immediately recognise the similarities of these themes.

Body

“Theme of Professor Layton” features a swinging arrangement of piano, violin ,and accordion together with soft percussion in the background. It fits the game quite well as the atmosphere combines a touch of adventure and frivolity with a spark of mystery. It’s just a little sad that the theme fades out when the development gets really good. There are only three tracks on this disc and this one should have got a loop for more enjoyment.

“Theme of Pandora’s Box” is more dark and serious than the previous track. It begins with some mysterious piano chords whereafter a deep and mournful violin with accordion sets in. Towards the middle of the track, the accordion takes the lead accompanied by percussion until the violin appears again to perform the melody. The piece ends with some brisk piano chords and fades out rather abrupt. It’s just the same as the previous track.

The highlight from this disc, however, is clearly the final track. It features a live arrangement of the “Theme of the Last Time Travel” by Norihito Sumitomo with performance by the Layton Grand Caravan Orchestra and accordionist Tetsuya Kuwayama. Here I must say that name name “orchestra” is a little bit exaggerated as the performance is done by an small quintet. Neverless, after the slow and emotional opening by an solo violin and soft synth in the background, more violins set in to perform a beautiful interlude until a piano with percussion appears and the piece slowly builds up into a more groovy and swinging nature. The overall performance of the violins is excellent done and easily the best part of this theme. Some interludes of accordion and piano, such as around 2:30, are also very nicely done. The piece ends with an dramatic conclusion of the instruments.

Summary

The Professor Layton Main Theme Trilogy CD is a nice give-away for the pre-ordering service and listeners get an foretaste of what will come on Christmas, when the first two full soundtracks will be released. The last game’s soundtrack, however, will be released in January next year. Tomohito Nishiura has done a nice job by painting the image of this detective adventure with fitting musical themes. However, as I said, it’s just a sample of the soundtrack. A little complaint from my side is that the first two themes sould have been looped so that the atmosphere could have developed a little further, but that’s just a matter of taste; thanks to the rich and expanded development, this doesn’t hurt the music that much.

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