Or, try the
metal version if you prefer the heavier stuff.
I know I'm getting a little off topic - one could almost do a mini feature article going over the range of covers of music from RPG series popular on this site. Sorry about that.
Yeah considering the Northern European influences on the design of "Nord" culture in the game a somewhat metal inspired arrangement does kind of seem like a natural idea. There's also a somewhat different (guess maybe call it operatic power ballad style?) metal style rendition done of the Oblivion main theme:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0YGXhAcXc4
How about the accordian cover though:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK9qjFt17gg&feature=related
Or the 8-bit old-school version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLdtHsBfImo
Only complaint about that is that he should have been more liberal in adapting the arrangement for the accordion. Easy to drown the melody out with your fundamental chords.
A more unusual choice for re-arranging game music is for ocarina:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSnKYLNbDY8&feature=related
While not without flaws (he's out of tune with his clones for example) a one man cello quartet interpretation of the Morrowind theme was an interesting way to go:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YydPV_zVIY
A more ambitous one-man quartet version is this (3 different instruments) but I kind of wish he used bass drum and flute instead of bongos and two recorder parts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXHkG5G5qH8
Aslo a pretty straight-forward electric guitar adaptation of the Morrowind theme:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFlEntmMOcA
One of my favorites as far as unusual instrument choices go, because its one of the ones that actually would have worked in some areas of the original game, is the Appalachian mountain dulcimer rendition of the Morrowind theme:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6kif1NK_Lk&feature=related
If anyone has a music background, I imagine they'll appreciate some of the more stylized versions as good examples of how variations on a base musical theme can be used to create rather diverse compositions. I mean Elgar managed to get his excellent 14 movement symphony, Enigma Variations, basing each movement on the same 6 bar basic theme.
I wish some more of these artists (particularly the ones who already give out free mp3s of their music) would post their songs on Nexus as modder resources. Some of them would actually work quite well as additional music for use in mods without sounding as out of place as some of the alternatives people sometimes turn to do.