Drax
Pro Adventurer
- AKA
- Benoist; Captain Highwind
Source
Interview here
If this is their last Final Fantasy symphony album, I really need to hear Cid's theme (FFVII), Searching For Friends and Locke's theme (both VI's).
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Final Symphony to cover FFVI, VII and X's stories in depth
- Thread starter Drax
- Start date
Source
Interview here
If this is their last Final Fantasy symphony album, I really need to hear Cid's theme (FFVII), Searching For Friends and Locke's theme (both VI's).
Flintlock
Pro Adventurer
I'd be interested in going to this, but I can't commit to buying tickets for a concert in another country so far in advance. That time will be very near the end of my academic year, so I could have unmissable exams.
Shame. It would probably be a great event and location for a TLS meet-up
Shame. It would probably be a great event and location for a TLS meet-up
Tetsujin
he/they
- AKA
- Tets
That's because these orchestras and shows are partially financed by Germany's public broadcasting fees (which everyone who owns a tv/radio/internet has to pay).
That's why the concerts here have been pretty cheap compared to others such as DW.
Anyway, I'll attend this one as well, needless to say.
I´ve been at the concert and I thought it was brilliant.At first, a little intro piece was played by the orchestra which had nothing to do with the Final Fantasy music, at least I could not say if something in it.´´Circle within a circle within a circle´´ was the name and as it suggests, one theme was played over and over but with some little variations in it to keep the piece interesting.I liked it and it teasered a bit with what kind of experimental arrangements the evening program would continue.The first FF section covered FF VI with ´´Terra´s Theme´´ as its core while some themes of the villains like ´´The Gestahl Empire´´ and even more present ´´Kefkas Theme´´ in many different variations were played to emphasize the situation Terra had to go through and to cover her part of the story.The intro was the famous opening of the FF VI opera and from time to time other parts of the opera were played in the arrangement but I didn´t understand why they actually choose those parts which I link more with Celes than with Terra, when it was said that the whole focus of this arrangement is on Terra´s story but I guess, fanservice is fanservice...Other themes played were ´´Battle Theme´´ , ´´Esper World´´ and ´´Catastrophe´´ and the second got an interesting but fitting orchestration to give the audience the mysterious feeling of the original piece.All in all, this ´´Symponic Poem´´expended the effort, to show the audience the more darker side of FF VI musically and did a great job.Many good ideas with the use of the orchestra were shown as it always created tension before a certain theme would be played in full magnificence and it wasn´t just a pure presentation of the famous pieces like in Distant Worlds.The only things I could critise are that the few themes on which the whole piece was built around could´ve been less repetitive.There were a lot of variations which all sounded quite great but after a while I thought that I had enough goosebumps at one theme and then it had been repeated again in another variation.This criticism goes for the whole evening as I thought in every score at some point that I had enough and I would´ve wished for more other themes as well because I adore the Uematsu FF soundtracks very much and VI and VII got a huge place in my heart ^^
This leads me to the second FF score of the evening as now FF X music had been covered in a Piano Concerto with Benyamin Nuss obviously as the pianist.I gotta admit, I haven´t even played FF X yet as my whole PS2 time had been barren in contrast to my PSOne and PS3 times and I think ten years earlier I might not have been very interested in such huge JRPGs as I´m nowadays and I promise, I will play it as soon as the HD version is coming out.I know just a few FF X themes so I can´t really say exactly which themes had been covered but I recognised the ´´Zanarkand´´ motif which was the core of the first of the three arrangements.The inclusion of the piano was good as both sides, orchestra and piano, had enough play time on their own but still supported the other one when it was needed.The second part of the Piano Concerto called ´´Inori´´ featured another beautiful theme which had been interrupted a few times by I guess other themes and a few experiments of the orchestra as it was already heard in the FF VI part.Sorry for the lack of information here...the third part then had the focus on the final battle and now the whole tone of the Piano Concert switched from beautiful to more dramatic and more fighting music as the orchestra again created tension before one theme had been played in all its blossom.Even though I might not know the FF X OST very well, I liked what I heard but I have to admit that I´m still more a fan of the Uematsu melodies.I´ve only heard the FF X OST once complete before and my first thoughts then were that many themes sound like they had been put more into the background (because of the voice acting?) and maybe because of this, they couldn´t shine as much as the whole FF music before which was mostly the only sounds some have heard while playing but eventually when I play the game one day, I might change my mind about it when I also see all the scenes the music takes place in
The third FF section then covers the soundtrack and story bits of FF VII which I have to say had been my favorite part as it was also my favorite soundtrack before the concert ^^ The ´´Symphony in Three Movements´´ consisted of 1.´´The Nibelheim Incident´´, 2. ´´Words Drowned By Fireworks´´ and 3.´´The Planet´s Crisis´´. The deliberate structure of this symphony is shown in the names of the three arrangements as the first one covers the rise of Sephiroth as the main antagonist in the game by the happenings in Nibelheim.The famous three note motif of ´´Those Chosen By The Planet´´ was the primary focus and played around it as another theme was ´´J-E-N-O-V-A´´ .At the end of the arrangement, an orchestrated version of One Winged Angel marked the final point in which Sephiroth´s madness had been stressed to the max as the orchestra played many notes which sounded wrong and chaotic but as the whole concept of this arrangement was to show Sephiroth turning from a probably good guy to a mad psycho, it fit perfectly.Interesting to hear the final boss theme 1) without anyone clapping and destroying the famous intro of the theme as usual on those concerts and 2) without a choir but I didn´t miss it as the orchestra did a great job to play the theme on its own way with a few experiments on the original melody to give the whole theme more freshness it needed after all those performances in the past ten years or so..
Well, now I´m coming to the second part and this part obviously takes on the love triangle with ´´Tifa´s Theme´´ ,´´Aerith´s Theme´´ ,´´FF VII Main Theme (or Cloud´s Theme as some would call it)´´ and of course the piece of the same name as the arrangement´s called ´´Words Drowned By Fireworks´´.With the last one, the whole piece starts and the melody was played in a very beautiful way by the orchestra and this time, not too much experimental ideas were used before the whole theme is giving everyone in the room goosebumps Afterwards we could hear interplays between ´´Tifas Theme´´ and ´´Aerith´s Theme´´ to strengthen the (LTD) feeling that both sides might have an interest in Cloud before ´´The FF VII Main Theme´´ is played in a sheer magnificent way and I think, this was the moment where I nearly cried because I thought, the whole structure of the piece had been so well done and now they let it end like this in such a perfect manner.But the orchestra does not stop to surpise and so Aerith´s death had been featured in a very interesting way as while her theme played you could hear some weird sounds and bit of the ´´Those Chosen By Planet´´ which indicates the arrival of Sephiroth at the scene and the end of the piece is just a collection of a few threatening sound effects made by the orchestra to give the audience the exact feeling of the scene which takes place now.It does not end pompous but very subtle with a few musical hints which from what I´ve heard could have been imitated sword sounds by the orchestra.Oh, and I´m not sure if it was already in part one or part two of this symphony but the orchestra even imitated the infamous sound when Cloud has a flashback in his head or loses his consciousness.When I heard it, I smiled and just thought ´´you brilliant bastards´´ in the most positive way you could think of ^^ Another thing I´m not sure of is, if ´´Who Am I´´ had been played in the first or the second part of the symphony but it could´ve fit in both parts I guess.With all the beauty of the character themes and the great ending of this arrangement, I have to say, it was my favorite of the whole concert.
The third part started with ´´Countdown´´ before it went over to ´´Cid´s Theme´´ and continued with ´´Great Warrior´´ which I have to say, disappointed me a bit.I don´t know but I thought they should have used less orchestra for this piece as the minimalistic tone of the original piece by Uematsu really fits the scene in the best way it could imho.And again, they repeated the theme a bit too often for my taste and it lost its effect time after time.But after all those themes and a few dramatic sections in which ´´Those Chosen By The Planet´´ had been teasered again, if I rememeber it correctly, I finally get to hear what I´ve wanted to hear.The ending of ´´World Crisis´´ and with that also ´´Lifestream´´ for the the first time played by a great orchestra and I got goosebumps instantly.But even on this part they experimented a bit and they stretched the fade-out of the piece with the small motif heard at the beginning and the end of the game to a bigger length to give the whole ending an even more atmospheric feeling than it already has.I liked it quite a lot and thought it was a nice idea to conclude the whole concert without the encore to which I come now.
Encore No. 1 was ´´Requiem´´ of the FF VII OST with the known Prelude at the end and afterwards ´´Anxious Heart´´ followed with again a few variations in it but there was still enough of the original melody and instrumentation in it so I could live with that.I liked it, even though I thought this time, it was too short, but oh well^^
Encore No. 2 then started with the famous FF VI ´´Fierce Battle´´ intro but then continued with ´´Moogle´s Theme´´ of FF VI which was nice trolling considering what came before that
Again, many variations on the little funny theme and this was the last encore.No time for the poor FF X OST anymore
Well, I´ve heard many people who were disappointed of the whole concert for a few reasons.Some argued, they missed a choir for OWA for example, some said they wanted to hear rather an interpretation of the original music than an experimental take on the whole soundtrack and sometimes they couldn´t even recognise the themes which were played at this concert.I have to say to those, buy Distant Worlds and enjoy the purism on those CDs but I wouldn´t want to miss the more experimental and storytelling experience they offered me with this concert and I still think, even if they said no to produce one, I would totally buy a CD with music from the probably most popular FF games in it, come on, how much easier could a cashcow be, eh?
This leads me to the second FF score of the evening as now FF X music had been covered in a Piano Concerto with Benyamin Nuss obviously as the pianist.I gotta admit, I haven´t even played FF X yet as my whole PS2 time had been barren in contrast to my PSOne and PS3 times and I think ten years earlier I might not have been very interested in such huge JRPGs as I´m nowadays and I promise, I will play it as soon as the HD version is coming out.I know just a few FF X themes so I can´t really say exactly which themes had been covered but I recognised the ´´Zanarkand´´ motif which was the core of the first of the three arrangements.The inclusion of the piano was good as both sides, orchestra and piano, had enough play time on their own but still supported the other one when it was needed.The second part of the Piano Concerto called ´´Inori´´ featured another beautiful theme which had been interrupted a few times by I guess other themes and a few experiments of the orchestra as it was already heard in the FF VI part.Sorry for the lack of information here...the third part then had the focus on the final battle and now the whole tone of the Piano Concert switched from beautiful to more dramatic and more fighting music as the orchestra again created tension before one theme had been played in all its blossom.Even though I might not know the FF X OST very well, I liked what I heard but I have to admit that I´m still more a fan of the Uematsu melodies.I´ve only heard the FF X OST once complete before and my first thoughts then were that many themes sound like they had been put more into the background (because of the voice acting?) and maybe because of this, they couldn´t shine as much as the whole FF music before which was mostly the only sounds some have heard while playing but eventually when I play the game one day, I might change my mind about it when I also see all the scenes the music takes place in
The third FF section then covers the soundtrack and story bits of FF VII which I have to say had been my favorite part as it was also my favorite soundtrack before the concert ^^ The ´´Symphony in Three Movements´´ consisted of 1.´´The Nibelheim Incident´´, 2. ´´Words Drowned By Fireworks´´ and 3.´´The Planet´s Crisis´´. The deliberate structure of this symphony is shown in the names of the three arrangements as the first one covers the rise of Sephiroth as the main antagonist in the game by the happenings in Nibelheim.The famous three note motif of ´´Those Chosen By The Planet´´ was the primary focus and played around it as another theme was ´´J-E-N-O-V-A´´ .At the end of the arrangement, an orchestrated version of One Winged Angel marked the final point in which Sephiroth´s madness had been stressed to the max as the orchestra played many notes which sounded wrong and chaotic but as the whole concept of this arrangement was to show Sephiroth turning from a probably good guy to a mad psycho, it fit perfectly.Interesting to hear the final boss theme 1) without anyone clapping and destroying the famous intro of the theme as usual on those concerts and 2) without a choir but I didn´t miss it as the orchestra did a great job to play the theme on its own way with a few experiments on the original melody to give the whole theme more freshness it needed after all those performances in the past ten years or so..
Well, now I´m coming to the second part and this part obviously takes on the love triangle with ´´Tifa´s Theme´´ ,´´Aerith´s Theme´´ ,´´FF VII Main Theme (or Cloud´s Theme as some would call it)´´ and of course the piece of the same name as the arrangement´s called ´´Words Drowned By Fireworks´´.With the last one, the whole piece starts and the melody was played in a very beautiful way by the orchestra and this time, not too much experimental ideas were used before the whole theme is giving everyone in the room goosebumps
Afterwards we could hear interplays between ´´Tifas Theme´´ and ´´Aerith´s Theme´´ to strengthen the (LTD) feeling that both sides might have an interest in Cloud before ´´The FF VII Main Theme´´ is played in a sheer magnificent way and I think, this was the moment where I nearly cried because I thought, the whole structure of the piece had been so well done and now they let it end like this in such a perfect manner.But the orchestra does not stop to surpise and so Aerith´s death had been featured in a very interesting way as while her theme played you could hear some weird sounds and bit of the ´´Those Chosen By Planet´´ which indicates the arrival of Sephiroth at the scene and the end of the piece is just a collection of a few threatening sound effects made by the orchestra to give the audience the exact feeling of the scene which takes place now.It does not end pompous but very subtle with a few musical hints which from what I´ve heard could have been imitated sword sounds by the orchestra.Oh, and I´m not sure if it was already in part one or part two of this symphony but the orchestra even imitated the infamous sound when Cloud has a flashback in his head or loses his consciousness.When I heard it, I smiled and just thought ´´you brilliant bastards´´ in the most positive way you could think of ^^ Another thing I´m not sure of is, if ´´Who Am I´´ had been played in the first or the second part of the symphony but it could´ve fit in both parts I guess.With all the beauty of the character themes and the great ending of this arrangement, I have to say, it was my favorite of the whole concert.The third part started with ´´Countdown´´ before it went over to ´´Cid´s Theme´´ and continued with ´´Great Warrior´´ which I have to say, disappointed me a bit.I don´t know but I thought they should have used less orchestra for this piece as the minimalistic tone of the original piece by Uematsu really fits the scene in the best way it could imho.And again, they repeated the theme a bit too often for my taste and it lost its effect time after time.But after all those themes and a few dramatic sections in which ´´Those Chosen By The Planet´´ had been teasered again, if I rememeber it correctly, I finally get to hear what I´ve wanted to hear.The ending of ´´World Crisis´´ and with that also ´´Lifestream´´ for the the first time played by a great orchestra and I got goosebumps instantly.But even on this part they experimented a bit and they stretched the fade-out of the piece with the small motif heard at the beginning and the end of the game to a bigger length to give the whole ending an even more atmospheric feeling than it already has.I liked it quite a lot and thought it was a nice idea to conclude the whole concert without the encore to which I come now.
Encore No. 1 was ´´Requiem´´ of the FF VII OST with the known Prelude at the end and afterwards ´´Anxious Heart´´ followed with again a few variations in it but there was still enough of the original melody and instrumentation in it so I could live with that.I liked it, even though I thought this time, it was too short, but oh well^^
Encore No. 2 then started with the famous FF VI ´´Fierce Battle´´ intro but then continued with ´´Moogle´s Theme´´ of FF VI which was nice trolling considering what came before that
Again, many variations on the little funny theme and this was the last encore.No time for the poor FF X OST anymore Well, I´ve heard many people who were disappointed of the whole concert for a few reasons.Some argued, they missed a choir for OWA for example, some said they wanted to hear rather an interpretation of the original music than an experimental take on the whole soundtrack and sometimes they couldn´t even recognise the themes which were played at this concert.I have to say to those, buy Distant Worlds and enjoy the purism on those CDs but I wouldn´t want to miss the more experimental and storytelling experience they offered me with this concert and I still think, even if they said no to produce one, I would totally buy a CD with music from the probably most popular FF games in it, come on, how much easier could a cashcow be, eh?
Danseru-kun
Pro Adventurer
I badly want to hear an orchestrated Tifa's theme... T_T
BloodyCloud
Lurker
Not my recording of the FFVII part of the event, here's a link, 41 minutes and 24 seconds of greatness:
Haven't listened to all of it yet but...all I have say is...
...well I'm speechless.
Haven't listened to all of it yet but...all I have say is...
...well I'm speechless.
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ForceStealer
Double Growth
Holding My Thoughts in My Heart, The Great Warrior, and JENOVA Absolute orchestrated?
This is absolutely amazing. When can I buy this?
This is absolutely amazing. When can I buy this?
Tetsujin
he/they
- AKA
- Tets
No official recording was made, so...never, as of now.
Also, I think I'm finished?
It probably reads like shit because I fail etc etc but if you wanna put it on the front page maybe I could send it to someone to go over it, proofread it and so on?
My crappy photos:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/...073741825.100000221730196&type=1&l=13be075522
Also, I guess I could scan the programme and translate it?
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Lex
Administrator
If you want to send it to me in a PM I can go over it and with your permission add some of the images you linked. If you want to scan and translate the program that would be a neat addition
Also, it's in London at the end of this month so they might make an official recording there, who knows.
Also, it's in London at the end of this month so they might make an official recording there, who knows.
Tetsujin
he/they
- AKA
- Tets
If you want to send it to me in a PM I can go over it and with your permission add some of the images you linked. If you want to scan and translate the program that would be a neat addition
Alright.
According to their facebook page, there doesn't seem to be a recording planned for London either. =/
I'm hoping for Square-Enix having it recorded in a studio or maybe during an additional performance in Japan someday. They fuckin HAVE to.
Tetsujin
he/they
- AKA
- Tets
There are official photos too:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151409961081449.529674.374335466448&type=1
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151409961081449.529674.374335466448&type=1
Maybe we get a recording of the concert if it´s considered to be played in Japan someday. I´d never imagined that we would get Symphonic Fantasies Tokyo either and besides the producer said at the FB page they wouldn´t preclude a recording in the future even if this statement is only a small light of hope ^^