Reimagining Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries for Hell Let Loose: Vietnam
For the Hell Let Loose: Vietnam launch trailer, Team17 asked Clear Music to create a musical statement with the scale of its 50v50 warfare. Our starting point was Richard Wagner’s public domain composition Ride of the Valkyries, one of the most recognisable pieces of orchestral music associated with helicopters and the Vietnam War in popular culture.
That cultural association gave us something powerful to work with, but simply using the classical piece would have felt too familiar. We reimagined Wagner for a contemporary game trailer, creating a custom arrangement built around the edit, combat and escalating tension of Hell Let Loose: Vietnam. The composition was trailerized from the ground up, with new pacing, dynamics, structure and orchestration designed specifically for the film.
We recorded the arrangement with a 50-piece orchestra in Skopje, North Macedonia, giving the music the physical scale and detail that a fully live orchestral performance brings. Every musical transition was shaped against picture, from controlled tension to full orchestral impact, while keeping Wagner’s iconic motif recognisable at the heart of the score.
Clear Music also created the cinematic sound design and final mix. Aircraft, weapons, vehicles and battlefield movement were built around the score so music and sound could drive the trailer together. The project brought our work in custom trailer music, orchestral recording, music adaptation, trailerization and game audio into one production.
For us, music innovation often starts with understanding why a piece already carries meaning, then finding a new musical form for that meaning. Ride of the Valkyries has a long cultural history on screen. For Hell Let Loose: Vietnam, we used that recognition as raw material and rebuilt it for the pace, scale and intensity of a modern launch trailer.
Credits
Client: Team17
Game: Hell Let Loose: Vietnam
Track: Ride of the Valkyries
Composer: Richard Wagner
Our role: Music Supervision, Custom Composition, Trailer Scores & Re-records, Sound Design & Final Delivery
