Listen to the full symphony played during The Dark Below

By Brenna Hillier

Destiny: The Dark Below includes a memorable battle during which the game’s score takes a back seat to a piece of classical music.

During the mission Siege of the Warmind, Destiny players battle it out against some particularly nasty foes (I turned the difficulty up and oh my god), but instead of the usual adrenalin-pumping score, they approach the fight listening to the eerie echoes of a piece of classical music.

It’s a memorable moment, especially if you go in alone, and maybe, like me, you’ll be interested in hearing more after you play through it.

The piece in question is Symphony No. 6, the last symphony completed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky before his death, just nine days later, in 1893.

Here’s a performance of the full symphony by the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra:

What makes this choice particularly interesting is its air of deep melancholy or depression; Symphony No. 6 is often titled Pathétique. It’s also a patriotic choice from the Russian Warmind Rasputin.

This isn’t Tchaikovsky’s first video game appearance, by the way; his work has featured in titles spanning decades, from 1985’s City Connection to this year’s Fantasia: Music Evolved.

I love it when video games make other kinds of art more accessible to those who have had little exposure to them to date. I know a guy who kicked off an obsession with Chopin after falling in love with Eternal Sonata, for example.