Vinphonic
10-03-2017, 07:13 PM
The Legacy of Japanese Composers
Hiroshi Takaki
Here we have another very classical inspired composer that composed excellent music for various anime but is not living up to his fullest potential yet.
With TYTANIA he set an insane high benchmark, a score worthy of space opera and the core of it written in Sahashi's Gundam Symphonies style.
For Samurai Sentai Shinkenger he wrote a score that does not need to hide behind Yamashita and is a more than worthy entry into the franchise, delivering at its core classical inspired film score.
AKB0048 is one of those Japanese miracles... a show about a pop idol group (albeit in space!!!!) gets some really good orchestral pop arrangements and a decent chunk of delicious SciFi score. Such oddities could happen a lot more for my tastes :D
Kaidan Restaurant is another classical inspired score that is straight out of Elfman territory but with a very distinct voice Takaki established early on.
Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu is a very nice afternoon score with some stellar moments of film score.
Beet The Vandel Buster is a nice adventure score in tradition of Tokusatsu scores.
Denkigai is more Demo reel than score to be honest, but a pretty stellar one ;)
(He also has pretty good taste in pop: http://picosong.com/72is)
Saint October shows Takaki's Jazz and Big Band background and is one of those charming quirky scores the anime medium is filled to the brim with.
But a huge chunk of his work and effort went into Precure which did continue Sato's legacy more than Takanashi's intermezzo (but some trademarks sneaked into Takaki's scores). His Precure scores are great fun, filled with everything I love about the medium, from 60s Disco to Tchaikovsky, he continiously evolved with each new entry and hours upon hours of classical inspired gravitas and 60s/70s inspired wacky adventures.
All the more tragic that he leaves it after delivering his latests and most mature efforts for Maho Girls and Minna de Utau.
After checking KiraKira and the "to put it mildly" soulless imitation I just had to return to the proper version. It's a shame but here we have two composers who wrote music in the exact same style for the exact same franchise and yet one of those two can only be called competent enough. But as usual, Takaki gets quickly forgotten and Hayashi praised, I wonder why... But just compare the first tracks of KiraKira with DokiDoki... worlds apart in skill. When I think about what Ruka Kawada or Yukari Hashimoto would have done... Hayashi has his strengths and I don't dislike his work but here they are wasted and miscast, which is sad to hear.
Oh well, at least I can sing the song of praise for Takaki's efforts. While Sato had better moments Takaki delivered consistent high quality in a potpurri of styles that I will use as the benchmark for this franchise (I only really care again when Hayashi is replaced). If there's ever a Precure Orchestra concert (and I just have this itch that will be announced soon) I hope they focus on Takaki's work.
As far as Takaki's career goes, I hope he made some connections through Precure and is involved in a more "serious" project for a change. He has yet to show us his greatest work but I'm very much looking forward to the day it drops.
[FONT=Century Gothic]LINK IN DESCRIPTION (https://mega.nz/#!87BBnCzR!tNI5plWQU5fC3m-UJSEp5LuFdgIT-kMR5qIP2bcjKIA)
New releases/compilations
Hiroshi Takaki
Tokyo Studio Orchestra and PreCure Voice Cast
PreCure 15th Anniversary
There are certain constellations that happen at the right time and at the right place. There are two types of longrunning Japanese TV franchises. Those that (usually) ask for a new composer for every new entry in the franchise and those that employ a composer for a certain period and then swich sides. Taiga Dramas, Sentai and Gundam fall into the former category while franchises like Ultraman fall into the later. But there's another new major longrunning franchise on the horizon that nobody expected to turn into a megafranchise, back in 2004. Granted it had some serious pannache and a genuinely catchy song and score by Naoki Sato but that now, fifteen years later I would sing songs of praises for the franchise, nobody could have predicted. Sato's scores for the first installments were nice and dandy but ultimately little more than a little breather from his serious scores. It was not anything special by his standards. Well, except from hearing Tom&Jerry style scoring for a TV series from 2004-2008 with full orchestral openings.
After that came an instant change in tone. With Yasuharu Takanashi, the franchise was home to something entirely different. In the end, from 2008-2013, just with the change of composer, it ended up a series with speedmetal, Blues Brothers and Gospel... among them, Smile Precure stands out for being the most enjoyable.
And then... in 2013, it happened... another major shift in composer style, only this time a match made in heaven, eventhough it needed a season of settling down and getting comfortable.
Hiroshi Takaki (36 at the time), who launched on the scene with a phenomenal classical debut with Tytania and follow-up Shinkenger, was contracted for four years, from 2013-2016. Under his baton, during the period of his command over various studio-orchestra ensembles, the franchise had up to this point, its most glorious years.
It turned full on classical and Broadway, with Takaki writing in the end over four hours of classical score and three hours of incredibly diverse fusion of orchestra with funk, rock and pop. His new style that would finds it utmost perfection in the last series employed a small ensemble of female singers that would provide some distinct personality to his music. But aside from his experiments, at its core its good old classical tradition unleashed on a major media franchise for four years straight, by a ridicolously talented composer. I must treasure such occasions, recently Shiro Hamaguchi landing a hit with Girls und Panzer.
What he left us with from his period of PreCure is worth celebrating the franchise's fifteenth anniversary and should an orchestra concert be announced in the future, I hope it features music from Takaki-san.
I. Royal Elegant Sinfonietta
Download (https://mega.nz/#!GYojVKxA!odwrSN1ZqUpr3NhOifWRjEqFIDzfTFRhOCJnNQ8n6NY)
Sample (http://picosong.com/we9GG/)
This is an arranged album of the orchestral score from DokiDoki to Princess. An album full of classical waltzes, marches, Strauss and Tchaikovsky. It stays consitent in style and orchestra size that it could easily be one massive TV score.
For classical styles, Princess Precure reigns supreme and towers above DokiDoki and Happiness Charge. Even Mahou Tsukai doesn't come close, as it trades the pure classical for film score. It also has to be said that Rei Ishizuka (who I adore) wrote one of the greatest songs ever written for TV anime.
II. Magical Miracle Serenata
Download (https://mega.nz/#!uJxCRaBC!ooyGW5sp5hCEZXoscJkFlIEHD0LfpWRsPGJ39CMJ514)
Sample (http://picosong.com/we9pD/)
This is two hours of pure excellence and the last hurrah of Takaki for this franchise, pure whimsical and swashbuckling film score and broadway. With Mahou Tsukai, Takaki achieves a level of confidence and absolute control over the orchestra that in combination with his excellent hybrid pieces, that never sounded better, make this my favorite score of his, and him a strong contender for the next Tanaka. Most of these fusion cues I cannot, and will not separate from the orchestral score, they are just too damn good. Right now he is in his 40s and if he lands another major franchise/hit in the future, then he will be able to soar onto new hights.
III. Vortex Giocoso
Download (https://mega.nz/#!6cJwHRiJ!ZUaLHoK-bVzU-LmHmgcBHobcjKkvbyuv9iQ4VrxqLp8)
Sample (http://picosong.com/we4yy/)
To not downplay his hybrid efforts before Mahou Tsukai, here's everything from the previous series, over two hours of bouncy, jazzy fun. I adore his style that blossomed with Happiness Charge, for which he kind of took inspiration from Takanashi. In parts it even comes close to the glorious fun of Toshihiko Sahashi and Kohei Tanaka.
Though it can get a bit too much magikaru wonderfuru at times :awsm:
As for the franchises future... its uncertain. Considering we already had a major shift in style by change of composer, I can accept it. At this point nobody knows who will be contracted after Hayashi. Maybe Sawano, maybe Yamashita. Everything is possible with a franchise that went from Tom&Jerry to speedmetal to classical to EDM.
Hiroshi Takaki
Here we have another very classical inspired composer that composed excellent music for various anime but is not living up to his fullest potential yet.
With TYTANIA he set an insane high benchmark, a score worthy of space opera and the core of it written in Sahashi's Gundam Symphonies style.
For Samurai Sentai Shinkenger he wrote a score that does not need to hide behind Yamashita and is a more than worthy entry into the franchise, delivering at its core classical inspired film score.
AKB0048 is one of those Japanese miracles... a show about a pop idol group (albeit in space!!!!) gets some really good orchestral pop arrangements and a decent chunk of delicious SciFi score. Such oddities could happen a lot more for my tastes :D
Kaidan Restaurant is another classical inspired score that is straight out of Elfman territory but with a very distinct voice Takaki established early on.
Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu is a very nice afternoon score with some stellar moments of film score.
Beet The Vandel Buster is a nice adventure score in tradition of Tokusatsu scores.
Denkigai is more Demo reel than score to be honest, but a pretty stellar one ;)
(He also has pretty good taste in pop: http://picosong.com/72is)
Saint October shows Takaki's Jazz and Big Band background and is one of those charming quirky scores the anime medium is filled to the brim with.
But a huge chunk of his work and effort went into Precure which did continue Sato's legacy more than Takanashi's intermezzo (but some trademarks sneaked into Takaki's scores). His Precure scores are great fun, filled with everything I love about the medium, from 60s Disco to Tchaikovsky, he continiously evolved with each new entry and hours upon hours of classical inspired gravitas and 60s/70s inspired wacky adventures.
All the more tragic that he leaves it after delivering his latests and most mature efforts for Maho Girls and Minna de Utau.
After checking KiraKira and the "to put it mildly" soulless imitation I just had to return to the proper version. It's a shame but here we have two composers who wrote music in the exact same style for the exact same franchise and yet one of those two can only be called competent enough. But as usual, Takaki gets quickly forgotten and Hayashi praised, I wonder why... But just compare the first tracks of KiraKira with DokiDoki... worlds apart in skill. When I think about what Ruka Kawada or Yukari Hashimoto would have done... Hayashi has his strengths and I don't dislike his work but here they are wasted and miscast, which is sad to hear.
Oh well, at least I can sing the song of praise for Takaki's efforts. While Sato had better moments Takaki delivered consistent high quality in a potpurri of styles that I will use as the benchmark for this franchise (I only really care again when Hayashi is replaced). If there's ever a Precure Orchestra concert (and I just have this itch that will be announced soon) I hope they focus on Takaki's work.
As far as Takaki's career goes, I hope he made some connections through Precure and is involved in a more "serious" project for a change. He has yet to show us his greatest work but I'm very much looking forward to the day it drops.
[FONT=Century Gothic]LINK IN DESCRIPTION (https://mega.nz/#!87BBnCzR!tNI5plWQU5fC3m-UJSEp5LuFdgIT-kMR5qIP2bcjKIA)
New releases/compilations
Hiroshi Takaki
Tokyo Studio Orchestra and PreCure Voice Cast
PreCure 15th Anniversary
There are certain constellations that happen at the right time and at the right place. There are two types of longrunning Japanese TV franchises. Those that (usually) ask for a new composer for every new entry in the franchise and those that employ a composer for a certain period and then swich sides. Taiga Dramas, Sentai and Gundam fall into the former category while franchises like Ultraman fall into the later. But there's another new major longrunning franchise on the horizon that nobody expected to turn into a megafranchise, back in 2004. Granted it had some serious pannache and a genuinely catchy song and score by Naoki Sato but that now, fifteen years later I would sing songs of praises for the franchise, nobody could have predicted. Sato's scores for the first installments were nice and dandy but ultimately little more than a little breather from his serious scores. It was not anything special by his standards. Well, except from hearing Tom&Jerry style scoring for a TV series from 2004-2008 with full orchestral openings.
After that came an instant change in tone. With Yasuharu Takanashi, the franchise was home to something entirely different. In the end, from 2008-2013, just with the change of composer, it ended up a series with speedmetal, Blues Brothers and Gospel... among them, Smile Precure stands out for being the most enjoyable.
And then... in 2013, it happened... another major shift in composer style, only this time a match made in heaven, eventhough it needed a season of settling down and getting comfortable.
Hiroshi Takaki (36 at the time), who launched on the scene with a phenomenal classical debut with Tytania and follow-up Shinkenger, was contracted for four years, from 2013-2016. Under his baton, during the period of his command over various studio-orchestra ensembles, the franchise had up to this point, its most glorious years.
It turned full on classical and Broadway, with Takaki writing in the end over four hours of classical score and three hours of incredibly diverse fusion of orchestra with funk, rock and pop. His new style that would finds it utmost perfection in the last series employed a small ensemble of female singers that would provide some distinct personality to his music. But aside from his experiments, at its core its good old classical tradition unleashed on a major media franchise for four years straight, by a ridicolously talented composer. I must treasure such occasions, recently Shiro Hamaguchi landing a hit with Girls und Panzer.
What he left us with from his period of PreCure is worth celebrating the franchise's fifteenth anniversary and should an orchestra concert be announced in the future, I hope it features music from Takaki-san.
I. Royal Elegant Sinfonietta
Download (https://mega.nz/#!GYojVKxA!odwrSN1ZqUpr3NhOifWRjEqFIDzfTFRhOCJnNQ8n6NY)
Sample (http://picosong.com/we9GG/)
This is an arranged album of the orchestral score from DokiDoki to Princess. An album full of classical waltzes, marches, Strauss and Tchaikovsky. It stays consitent in style and orchestra size that it could easily be one massive TV score.
For classical styles, Princess Precure reigns supreme and towers above DokiDoki and Happiness Charge. Even Mahou Tsukai doesn't come close, as it trades the pure classical for film score. It also has to be said that Rei Ishizuka (who I adore) wrote one of the greatest songs ever written for TV anime.
II. Magical Miracle Serenata
Download (https://mega.nz/#!uJxCRaBC!ooyGW5sp5hCEZXoscJkFlIEHD0LfpWRsPGJ39CMJ514)
Sample (http://picosong.com/we9pD/)
This is two hours of pure excellence and the last hurrah of Takaki for this franchise, pure whimsical and swashbuckling film score and broadway. With Mahou Tsukai, Takaki achieves a level of confidence and absolute control over the orchestra that in combination with his excellent hybrid pieces, that never sounded better, make this my favorite score of his, and him a strong contender for the next Tanaka. Most of these fusion cues I cannot, and will not separate from the orchestral score, they are just too damn good. Right now he is in his 40s and if he lands another major franchise/hit in the future, then he will be able to soar onto new hights.
III. Vortex Giocoso
Download (https://mega.nz/#!6cJwHRiJ!ZUaLHoK-bVzU-LmHmgcBHobcjKkvbyuv9iQ4VrxqLp8)
Sample (http://picosong.com/we4yy/)
To not downplay his hybrid efforts before Mahou Tsukai, here's everything from the previous series, over two hours of bouncy, jazzy fun. I adore his style that blossomed with Happiness Charge, for which he kind of took inspiration from Takanashi. In parts it even comes close to the glorious fun of Toshihiko Sahashi and Kohei Tanaka.
Though it can get a bit too much magikaru wonderfuru at times :awsm:
As for the franchises future... its uncertain. Considering we already had a major shift in style by change of composer, I can accept it. At this point nobody knows who will be contracted after Hayashi. Maybe Sawano, maybe Yamashita. Everything is possible with a franchise that went from Tom&Jerry to speedmetal to classical to EDM.