Vogel im Käfig -籠の中の鳥--進撃の巨人 OST Season 1 Ep1（澤野弘之）

"On That Day, Humanity Received a Grim Reminder".

The moment, when Eren’s mother was eaten. The moment, when Eren transformed the first time into a titan, roaring of anger. The moment when Armin was desperately convincing the garrison to not attack Titan-Eren, fearing for his life. All these emotionally heavy scenes were accompanied by「Vogel im Käfig」in the anime.

Personally, this is one of my favorite Soundtracks from Hiroyuki Sawano and it could be regarded as the closest thing to a “symphonic poem” in the Attack on Titan soundtrack. The hauntingly beautiful beginning, the combination of different “chapters” in the music, and the incredible dramatic climax at the end – 「Vogel im Käfig」has it all.

Because this piece is such a cinematic masterpiece, it was the ultimate challenge for me to create a piano arrangement with a similar emotional intensity as the original soundtrack. There are many moments of “silence” in this arrangement such as in 0:35, 1:41 or 2:39 and they all serve a vital role in the music as a "breather" between each musical chapter.

In my opinion,「Vogel im Käfig」could be divided in the following 6 musical chapters:

(I also referenced the German lyrics a little bit)

With other words, the 6 minutes and half of this arrangement is serving mainly one purpose: Building up the music until the world (literally) crashes down in 4:56. For this purpose I thought of every possible way to maximize the tension in the piano arrangement such as three hand technique in 4:56 or super fast left hand arpeggios in 5:44.

Last but not least, it is also interesting to note that 「Vogel im Käfig」 is being played in the second half of 「YouSeeBIGGIRL」and having a similar role as the musical climax at the end. I guess the finale of 「Vogel im Käfig」is just too good, haha.

Animenz

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🎹Piano arrangement by Animenz

Original Song: Vogel im Käfig

Anime: Attack on Titan / 進撃の巨人S2

Published by: PONY CANYON (2013)

Composed by: Hiroyuki Sawano / 澤野 弘之