I will support Japanese composers, but the industry for which they work for can go to hell.

I still stand by my position that the anime industry is commercialized garbage that is guaranteed to implode on itself through its terrible cannibalistic practices, and that Japanese composers are only able to write good music due to their own heavy classical training and using it in a creative manner through their own means, because the Japanese executives making these shows really don't give a rats ass about the music outside of it fitting their sound library stock music for generic situations like "action" or "kawaii" or "sad crying". It's a common complaint by many composers working in Japan that directors and producers don't think about music until the last moment if at all- many composers have to create the music on their own with little more than a summary and maybe a storyboard if they're lucky.

It's a terrible shame you see it that way (I object of course) but what can I do... (maybe I should write that book after all). Rest assured, I'm cool with it and understand your position (I have battled with British cynicism, I can stomach anything :D)


It's a common complaint by many composers working in Japan that directors and producers don't think about music until the last moment if at all- many composers have to create the music on their own with little more than a summary and maybe a storyboard if they're lucky.

You see, that's part of why its so great. Mike also confirmed this with his Japanese work "you're the composer, just do what you think is best for the project". You're only limited by your own imagination, budget (which in Japan can sometimes even be the lion's share of the entire production) and skill as a composer... what a world! For everyone complaining about a clueless producer/director I can find you someone who cares. And if you have that one plus the freedom you described, wonderful things can happen... (On a side-note, isn't it a bit funny you say all that while having an anime avatar ;))


If we're talking about disappointing things, what's actually disappointing to me is that not more Warsaw scores get the Fafner treatment of a recording session video bundled with the soundtrack:

http://fafner-beyond.jp/release/ (I wonder when Vol. 2 will be announced)

I would have absolutely loved to get a glimpse of the sessions for Hellsing or Drifters. And speaking of recent Warsaw talk, Taku Iwasaki X Range Murata (Copcraft) is a combi I did not expect. Something tells me the score will be heavy on electronics but I will immensely enjoy it regardless. On that note, this version of Trembling Heart (https://picosong.com/w8TJN/) is my favorite.

And Sahashi has yet another soundtrack on the horizon, he's getting the motor working again: http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/UZCL-2161

Sample (working that 90s Drama sound again) (https://picosong.com/w8DT3/)

And Sahashi has yet another soundtrack on the horizon, he's getting the motor working again: http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/UZCL-2161

Sample (working that 90s Drama sound again) (https://picosong.com/w8DT3/)

Man, you are killing me with these Sahashi announcements!

(On a side-note, isn't it a bit funny you say all that while having an anime avatar ;))I like anime as a medium, but I despise the industry that produces it. Or at least, the policies in place.

That composers are able to write exceptional music under such an undisciplined environment is a testament to their own talent rather than any kind of encouragement from the industry. That's why I find it rather disingenuous to praise the anime industry for its general negligence, with great music being produced as a result of the chaos rather than a desire for it from the top brass. Which composers do these guy promote the most often? The ones that can make the most money with idols and pop stars- i.e. Sawano, Kajiura, Kanno, etc. Whether or not any of these composers are hacks or geniuses means nothing to them. And that attitude is never worth celebrating.

All true, but the same situation as in Hollywood.

All true, but the same situation as in Hollywood.Hollywood is kind of the opposite, where any composer worth their while is squashed by insane temp track editing and directors with their own specific idea of what the music should be (usually through said temp track), and unfortunately most of it ends up being Zimmer knock-offs for the sake of easy editing and pleasing of consumer test screenings. Therefore, there is little demand for classically trained composers, because you don't need to have that background to know how to cut percussion loops over a scene. It's the opposite spectrum of terrible, and even worse than the anime industry since composers working in the Hollywood system would have little opportunity to grow and have their own unique voice. Those who do (see: Elliot Goldenthal and dozens of others) don't get jobs.

No matter which country any composer works in, the producers will never be their allies.

Really, this again... it's not even resembling a dead horse at this point!

If you ask me, music is the least of that "Starbucks-tier industry" problems ;)


That composers are able to write exceptional music under such an undisciplined environment is a testament to their own talent rather than any kind of encouragement from the industry. That's why I find it rather disingenuous to praise the anime industry for its general negligence, with great music being produced as a result of the chaos and not a desire for it from the top brass. Which composers do these guy promote the most often? The ones that can make the most money with idols and pop stars- i.e. Sawano, Kajiura, Kanno, etc. Whether or not any of these composers are hacks or geniuses means nothing to them. And that attitude is never worth celebrating.

You know, it just now dawns on me but who said something about "industry"? I spoke of creations (by artists) and not "industry". It's not even remotely what I wrote about. I speak of a circle of composers, illustrators, animators, sculpturers, cg artists, programmers, voice actors, directors and producers that constantly and frequently put their skill and heart into projects and merchandize I absolutely love (lets roughly call that AniGame) and where I can obviously deduct something of cultural value or at least great personal enjoyment. And yes, they form or make up something you could call an "industry", but one which is so vast and defragmented you can hardly make out any "Top Brass" in the first place. Last time I checked there is no Big Fire in a Dark Tower ruling over Tokyo... there's big players for sure but I would argue even Kadokawa can not be described as "Top Brass". Maybe the Pokemon company but last time I checked they have some pretty awesome music made recently. I'm not talking about an overworked, lazily scheduled production from some random LN nobody cared about that surely have exploded in quantity in last fifteen years. I'm talking about high-level productions where everyone cared or at least tried to make it as best they could. And a composer is not some special deity of this project, his music is inherently linked to the circumstances of the production and if you heard a great score you also have to thank the producers in many cases. They are human beings too, man, not some cartoon villain. And I can give you some stories were the producer broke down in tears after being present at the recording session.

I also don't get this "idol pushing" you speak of. Kajiura is all but a footnote now and never did anything super major, as did Sawano or even Kanno, who often provided the music for more personal projects of Tomino, Watanabe and Kawamori. With super major I mean Doraemon, Shin-chan, Godzilla, Conan, Mario, Dragon Quest, Anpaman, Pokemon, Sentai, Precure... you know shows and films that everyone besides a small niche audience in Japan watches.


If "the industry" is pushing anyone in particular as their poser boy, its this happy fellow here:




And have you actually listened to some idol music? There's all kinds of genre, from funk, R&B, to classic. Its as diverse as the term "J-Pop" itself and does not mean a homogenous style of music. There certainly is a "stable sound" but that's not all there is. What you can find however, is sometimes incorporation of old traditional Japanese or world folk styles and its mostly performed by real instrument ensembles and sometimes a full orchestra. I guarantee you, the level of instrumentation in many Japanese "Pop" songs put everything else described as "Pop" to shame.

Which brings me to a major point I want(ed) to make: Cultural Environment. You cannot separate the music and the circumstances its made in. I already touched on this point many times, most prominently in my "Jazz/Classical music in Anime" shares so it would be redundant to start again. But the cultural environment of music education and music appreciation in all stages of live does matter if you will hear great scores or not.


I know, in general the medium "Anime" (but any Japanese media content really) gets a biased reception from "outside" and the general view is a result of many people and mechanisms who (mis)interpret its content and desperately try to fit it into their own worldview/cultural habitat (I admit I was guilty of it myself in the past). For example, in Japan there's no such thing as "outdated". In music terms: "If it sounds good we use it", doesn't matter if its Disco or Sch�nberg. The constant censoring or misinterpretation of Japanese content through all decades up to this very day paints a "warped" picture for sure.

If there's one thing I actually despise it's the "outsiders" desperate attempt to "translate" the content into their own without any respect instead of appreciating its uniqueness. These industries that thrive and live on "misinterpretation" often at the expense of artistic integrity, that's something I have issue with.

Victim No. 1 of misinterpretation has to be Hayao Miyazaki btw who gets constantly misquoted and misinterpreted. Even now you can't 100% trust any machine translation and take it as fact.

The only thing Miyazaki has legitimate criticism of in regards to the "modern" industry is the balance of digital and analog tools for artists which you can apply 100% to music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUF9c8oXk08

He has no problem with electronic tools (or CG) if they make the works of genuine artists easier, his point is often they make it in fact more difficult than just using a pen and paper and have a go at it (see the similarities between writing music and drawing, they are linked skills).

Misquote and misconception about a culture that is so different from the rest of the world have always resulted in misunderstandings which is why I'm using direct quotes from composers and directors more often. They paint a more accurate picture.

My Russian CDs arrived so I'm making a companion post to arthierr's (Thread 57893) a page or so back.


Yury Poteyenko
Sea Dogs
Original Game Soundtrack
"Russian Philharmonia" Symphony Orchestra & Chamber Choir of Moscow State Conservatory
2000 - MP3 V0



X MARKS THE SPOT (https://mega.nz/#!huYwAIiA!qRsNlb0rkh0CK4Qf0EyPVJ7S3HKVaFbfdqHiIMtn36A)


This is the predecessor to Age of Pirates so if you like that and don't have this one, take it. The "Spain Theme" is a particular highlight.

Also, the CD is literally $5 plus shipping from keepmovingrecords.com.

So I have searched everywhere and thought you wonderful people might point me in the direction of this brilliant score by Richard Jacques...

I am trying to find Headhunter/Headhunter: Redemption which was released by La-La Land Records. Unfortunately, it is no longer in print. Might any of you happen to have it? I would prefer FLAC, if possible. Thanks!

Also looking forward to new Sahashi!

Well Vinphonic, let's just agree to disagree. I think you've extended your appreciation towards Japanese music beyond the bounds of the music and musicians and now towards Shirobako levels of rose-tinted glasses for everything good and bad concerning the commercial environment in which this music is made, but I appreciate your efforts regardless.

To brighten things up a bit, I took the time to listen to Asakawa's ancient Island Closest to Heaven and discovered a track that I had previously skipped because of insert dialogue- and thankfully it only affected the middle portion, which I snipped out. I can't find its name, but a title like "Sea Stroll" should be more than appropriate:

https://picosong.com/w8dJG/

Asakawa doesn't usually write pieces as playful as this, and I am loving every second of it. As usual from him, it would not sound at all out of place in any 40's swashbuckler film as Errol Flynn gently sails the seven seas. Music of such astounding quality for a cheap J-Drama, and of course executives almost ruin it by plastering dialogue over it due to fear of the soundtrack not selling based on the merits of the music alone (which I removed, though the cutoff point is a bit obvious). Such is the paradox of the Japanese commercial environment as we've already talked about.

Again, I'm not talking about "industry" or "environment" per se, but of people and artists I value working and creating and having an environment to work and create. I don't give a damn about abstract things like industry, nor put everything into categories and am very well able to change my view if facts are provided to let me think otherwise. I will say sometimes humility is the best approach and not clinging to "absolute truths" without 100% certainty ;)

But you're very much right, as long as music we care about is made, as long as composers I love make music I love and it graces my ears, as long as Warsaw performs for some cheap-ass anime, who really gives a damn about whos right or wrong in how or why its made... :)




You're also right in that we need to brighten the mood considerably... henceforth I shall name thee... Wada of Arabia



He was not just in Saudi-Arabia for show but is the composer for this upcoming film of Manga Productions:



Teaser (https://www.facebook.com/mangaproductions/videos/464259504349918/?v=464259504349918)

Remember a post I made a long time ago about Saudi-Japan relations... well Saudi-Arabia is now directly funding major Anime studios and is looking for Japanese composers for their projects. Kohei Tanaka is most likely also involved in one of their projects, the film will be shown at Cannes.


Manga Productions is a subsidiary of the Prince Mohammed bin Salman Foundation, also known as MiSK, and named for Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman of Saudi Arabia. The company aims to create animation, comic, and video game projects " to "promote Saudi ideas and messages internationally." MiSK signed a memorandum with Japan's Digital Hollywood University in October 2017 to train Saudi designers and programmers in creating animation and games.





UPDATE

If anyone wonders... what the hell? Here's the answer.


Taro Aso, former Minister for Foreign Affairs in Japan: In a speech given at Digital Hollywood University, he noted the significance of the fact that consumption of western media has been a huge part of defining modern popular culture in Japan, and that this trend is now seemingly beginning to reverse, with Japanese media becoming more and more popular in China, Europe, and North America, and becoming a more prominent part of pop culture for the younger generations in those areas (and soon cultural hegemony).



“We have all grown up nourished by Shakespeare and Beethoven and other forms of culture emerging from the West. Yet we are now at the point where culture made in Japan-whether anime and manga or sumo and Japanese food culture-is equally able to nourish the people of the world, particularly the younger generations. We would be remiss not to utilize these to the fullest.”

A New Look at Cultural Diplomacy: A Call to Japan's Cultural Practitioners (https://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/fm/aso/speech0604-2.html)




We will continue to enhance our policy towards the Middle East. Peace and stability in the Middle East is directly linked to the peace and economic prosperity of the world, including Japan. Therefore, Japan needs to strengthen its political involvement in the Middle East. From religious and ethnic viewpoints, Japan maintains a neutral position and Japan has not left any negative footprint in the history of the Middle East. Moreover, Japan has a strong alliance with the United States, which has significant influence in the Middle East. Japan has its original role exactly because of these advantages. Japan has come to be recognized as one of the significant players in the Middle East and Japan will play a further active role in order to promote peace and stability in the Middle East under the "Kono Four Principles"-"intellectual and human contribution," "investment in people," "enduring efforts" and "enhancing political efforts"-which indicates Japan's basic principle when dealing with the Middle East.

https://www.mofa.go.jp/fp/unp_a/page3e_000987.html

This isn't exactly on topic, but I thought it might be cool to talk about while I've got the free time.

So I took an entrance exam for a four-year music and arts college course this morning, where I was given one of four questions to answer and asked to play a couple of pieces. In the question, I talked about how it would be a good idea for musicians to listen to as many genres and types of music as possible, and mentioned Kōhei Tanaka's work on Fallen Leaves as an example of music I'd never heard before but went on to influence how I composed music. In fact, one of the pieces I played was actually inspired by Tanaka's music (particularly the piece "Smith" from Gunbuster - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU2dpn47W_I).

I bring this up because I wouldn't have checked out Tanaka's body of work if it wasn't for this thread and the fine folks who talk about him, so I thought I'd thank y'all for indirectly helping me out with the entrance exam. Especially since I just got an email saying that I passed and am now eligible for it if I've got the right qualifications/marks elsewhere. It's really cool that a random forum thread on the internet can have a potentially big impact on someone's life, and I love that it's happened here to some extent! :)

Oh, you're not the first victim ;)


I'm so happy for you to hear that. It's stories like this why it was all worth it.
I anticipate to hear your music, after that four years :)



A few hundred people really is enough to make a difference, creating something from nothing: https://vgmdb.net/album/80376

Sample (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ1qgyYbd50)

All born from a little forum (and private) conversation with the help of a few hundred people :)




On that note, WAY� RECORDS is expanding a little and has a truely beautiful package of one of my favorite SEGA game scores released, with new illustrations by Itsuki Hoshi (lover her artwork for the game, that reference in VC made me all fuzzy): https://www.wayorecords.net/wayo/skies-of-arcadia-vinyl/?lang=en

Sample (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJOmeOavYUQ)

Please, a symphonic album now, a piano suite just doesn't cut it (in Ken-P I trust ;))




Oh and I'm sure a certain someone will be very pleased that another Yasuo Higuchi soundtrack will be released this year: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B07QNN12FQ/

So lets celebrate with some happy music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xVP5ImBifg

Maybe this will be of interest to some; I don't think it's been posted before.

The Flanders International Film Festival celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2003 by publishing "Moving Music", a book of interviews with film composers who had previously been recognized by the festival. Tucked in was a CD of the previous year's concert, Fenton-Delerue: A Film Music Celebration. This retrospective of the two men's careers is performed by the National Orchestra of Belgium; Fenton conducts his own music, and Jean-Claude Petit and Dirk Bross� conduct Delerue's, which includes tributes to the long and prosperous relationship between Delerue and Fran�ois Truffaut.

Download (https://www.mediafire.com/file/mi90m5sq0cwcqfe/Fenton_%26_Delerue_at_Ghent.zip/file)


1) Fanfare
2) Dangerous Liaisons
3) The Fisher King
4) Shadowlands
5) You've Got Mail
6) Ever After
7) Land & Freedom
8) Fanfare
9) La Valse De Fran�ois Truffaut
10) La M�pris
11) La Nuit Am�ricaine
12) Concerto De L'Adieu
13) Zonder Jou
14) 3 Petites Notes De Musique
15) Hommage a Fran�ois Truffaut

Ah, Wayo, still deeply sad I don't own the Nino Kuni albums..

Also hi I awake from the dead.

Welcome back! I hope you're doing well at the moment! Actually, it's just as well I'm writing this now, since I stumbled across something on YouTube that I think you may like (that, or I'm doing that thing where I assume people's tastes by looking at their profile pic/name and make really inept guesses).

I was browsing a YT channel called MartyMcflies v2 (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM2b9WKkanSBY1x70LFX2xg), which specializes in uploads and vinyl rips of mostly obscure Japanese albums from the 70s and 80s, and a couple of rips I came across were for a pair of string arrangements of Disney songs performed by the Columbia Strings Orchestra.

The first album (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JD2OdIPKBNU) was arranged by Haruki Mino, who mainly works as a performer within the industry but has been known to dabble in arrangements every now and again (for example, he did the excellent string quartet arrangements for "Lilia", "Feena", and "Morning Glow" from the Lilia~from Ys~ arrange album - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fWFcI0OzEc, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csVb0K9o_XQ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQrq2ewOSQI).

Meanwhile, the second album (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqDdybLZo94&) was arranged by Goro Ohmi, a composer and arranger who doesn't seem to have done much. The only things he's worked on that I recognize are the soundtrack to the OVA Grey -Digital Target- and a couple of insert songs for Hikari Sentai Maskman (and because this man's apparently everywhere, guess who else shows up on the Maskman albums for composing and arranging insert songs? Kōhei flipping Tanaka! (https://vgmdb.net/album/70863)).

Both albums have download links in their descriptions, and while I haven't listened to much of them, what I've heard so far sounds really good. The first album's arrangement of "Bella Note" is particularly great, enough that I'd recommend checking out both albums on that alone to see what else you can find.

And Sahashi has yet another soundtrack on the horizon, he's getting the motor working again: http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/UZCL-2161

Out Early https://ototoy.jp/_/default/p/383181

!!! Thanks for the headsup :D (Shame I'm short on money right now but that was unexpected)

"I want to support the subordinates who are working hard"... no way that's not a very personal statement...


On that note, the Master and his students (Sakabe, MICHIRU) are working now.



Go Sakabe
DATE A LIVE: The Orchestral Score [TAKE III]
Tokyo Studio Orchestra



Diva's March (https://picosong.com/whkdw/) / Diva's Rondo (https://picosong.com/whkde) / AHIH (https://picosong.com/whkdV/) / Wedding March (https://picosong.com/whkd6/)
Download (https://mega.nz/#!f4oVmazQ!DbfRjozRcuJy8B9xFd_7vb_GJ7FfkzP5Pmfu4Uh7A90)

It's really better you listen to it all as the recent soundtracks are more "fill in the gaps" than they are their own thing. Aside from that his new contributions not only build on thematic material of the previous scores but are a slightly level-up in skill and personal style. You can still hear clearly his master's influence but he has a few quirks were he differs and can make his own style. This remains his first major "groundwork" so to speak so I'm anticipating where the road takes him. I also await a collaboration between him and his master at some point down the road.

It's great fun

I was browsing a YT channel called MartyMcflies v2, which specializes in uploads and vinyl rips of mostly obscure Japanese albums from the 70s and 80s.Marty used to be an active member in the old anime OST thread (Thread 67259), but hasn't made a post on this site since over a month ago. He seems to have moved his whole platform onto Youtube.

In fact, I was waiting for him to post this soundtrack on this site, but since it's been stuck on Youtube for months, I guess I have no choice but to share it myself- or at least the portions relevant to this thread.


Tomoyuki Asakawa arrangements
Tera Senshi PSI Boy


Timeless River (https://picosong.com/whkpC/) (Sample)/Download (https://mega.nz/#!vHojzabI!kmwob8EOk5Rc39wxDe_lqmE7EXhIdoEGXwmGx22SV0A) (FLAC)

For the most part, as with most other 80s soundtracks, it's mostly synth noodling and occasional hints of J-pop. But then you have Asakawa's majestic contributions with the orchestra. As usual with Asakawa arrangements, they aren't so much "arrangements" as they are him taking portions of the original melodies and writing an entire piece around it. Also as usual with Asakawa, his contributions to the score got shafted in the soundtrack release. Out of the 13 songs on the album, only 4 are his- and those 4 are the ones I've included in this download. I talked to Marty and he told me there was more score in the movie- the final piece Asakawa wrote for this soundtrack had the horror of having over a minute of impressionist aquatic beauty chopped off from its intro so it could lead into the pop melody arrangement more quickly.

Still, what music there is is unquestionably Asakawa. Which means it's the work of God, and you should enjoy it. :) My favorite piece on the album is "Timeless River" which I've used as the sample. Kanno and Hisaishi's aquatic preludes to The Creation and Ponyo (respectively) were nice... but something about how Asakawa pulls off this same approach just tickles my fancy a bit more.

If you want to download the whole album, be sure to check out the video on Marty's channel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcOnYUb-g0c). He's done so much to bring these more obscure Asakawa works into the limelight.

It's hard to tell from the samples, of course, as recent Sahashi has the tendency to start off a promising cue and then spoil it, but there might be some good cues in that score... and some genuinely interesting new Sahashi ideas mixed in with a general old-fashioned sound. The Bolero / main theme mash up at the end is quite classy. It will be the first time he has had an orchestra in a TV drama score in a decade, too. Thanks for the heads up!

[Edit: Wow, it let me buy it... Stand by for an unexpected post this evening...]

[Edit again: Uhh... this is very good! A nice blend of serious Sahashi orchestral cues, a strong melody (even if it does owe a lot to The A Team, it's used in interesting ways) and the usual Sahashi noise that some of you like so much... But a pretty good bit is orchestra-only and Sahashi plays it serious. This could be a Sahashi drama score from the early 2000s - and it's easily his strongest score full stop since Element Hunters. It's not quite Otoko, but I'm really, really enjoying it. Sahashi is almost back. This doesn't leave me wanting. This doesn't make think of better Sahashi scores to listen to instead... this is just worth listening to, and worth enjoying completely on its own merits. Old-style Sahashi, through-and-through. Let's hope he keeps up this momentum! I want him back with a good budget on a long-form anime more than ever now.]

[Edit again: The Bolero cue is magnificent, all four minutes of it.]


TOSHIHIKO SAHASHI
Shudan Sasen!! (aka Everyone's Demoted!!, aka Group Demotion)
Studio Orchestra



Lossless download from Ototoy. No scans, no booklet. Tags in English and Japanese. English track titles kindly provided by Bladelight52.

Version 2 adds English track titles and tags, and MP3 and Opus versions.

FLAC at Level 8: https://mega.nz/#!1aJBFY4C!k4ktlJH-r3y9Vm4-hiQ1AYhYByAVs9cqevFpSviRtrk(392mb)
MP3 V0: https://mega.nz/#!tSZlkQRC!n15VRjRdG20CinmKDziVsYtkqUF9sVbpI8AtfsvODuU (146mb)
Opus ~96kbps VBR: https://mega.nz/#!4SR3SCSb!mAQX4kifCrIc7oTL9bdtRgoimF7oWsk2swZMJKZkmRo (72mb)

Well, it happened. Toshihiko Sahashi wrote a new score, he had an orchestra, he used it properly, and it got released - and here it is, weeks before its official release date. Somebody must have cocked up, but I'm not complaining...

Oh my God, it's full of themes! For what appears to be a typical dour corporate TV drama, Sahashi turns in his most overtly symphonic effort since 2009's Element Hunters. Track 1 sets out the theme; and the 80s are back just like that. The theme owes a lot to The A Team, but Sahashi gives it his own spin, and the theme is really brilliant - unusually playful for a theme like this. Half way through the point, we get a lovely sub-theme for strings. Both get fantastic workouts throughout the score, but there's more.

The album is well stocked, and even once you take out all the funk crap, the tracks which have been ruined by electronica and banging, there's still a delightful 45 minutes (yes, really) of pitch-perfect, grown-up Sahashi orchestral score.

The standout track is the last. This is Sahashi's Bolero - the main theme gets a splendid extended performance over the Bolero rythym, which builds just as Ravel's original did, and the ending is just ravishing.

Suffice to say this isn't performed by the LSO, but it does have a reasonable-size television ensemble.

In the end, nothing to complain about at all... Lots of very familar style music, some interesting surprises - a very solid Sahashi score that could easily have fallen out of 2001.

Enjoy! :)
TT

thank many!

Thank you so so much, Tango!

Oh BTW, if any of you guys want the english translation, here it is. I don't know much Japanese. I just used a combination of google translate and stock phrases I hear in Japanese entertainment media, with a few re-wordings so that it makes sense while still retaining the original meaning.

1. Everyone's Demoted!!
2. Operating Target, 10 Billion Yen
3. Kataoka of the Iwata Branch Manager
4. I Want To Be A Bank Clerk Until The Very End
5. Sanyu-kei vs Big Showa-kei
6. Important Mission
7. Friends
8. Never Give Up
9. I Don't Need To Do My Best
10. Hospitality
11. Store Candidate
12. Sacrifice For The Greater Good
13. 100-Year-Old Site
14. Don't Do Anything Extra
15. Huge Enemy
16. Can You Do Your Best, Please?
17. Another Justice
18. Each of Their Anguish
19. I Want To Cheer For The Men Who Are Working Hard
20. Looming Power
21. For The Future
22. Surpassing One's Superiors
23. Bolero to Tomorrow

Thank you, Tango!

Thank you both, old friends.

*Scrolls up a bit* LOL, It took a while, some moderation from arthy and some little ups and downs, but now I got that collaboration I wanted from last year :D


I worked a little on the score and fixed these two tracks: Sanyu-Kei vs. Big Showa-Kei (https://mega.nz/#!n4AWVC7T!aqsVA0DiTpl6VrI-pJ8W5CH6JgCGLbHCmBrw3lMlpV8) and Kataoka of the Iwata Branch Manager (https://mega.nz/#!zoRSnQxL!WVZMlF0xCgDzEoQWNPDijt9xtSfoON4mgJzCiqmr6Jg)

My playlist:

Everyone's Demoted!!
I Want To Be A Bank Clerk
Friends
Never Give Up
Hospitality
Store Candidate
I Don't Need To Do My Best
100-Year-Old Site
I Want To Cheer For The Men Who Are Working Hard
Operating Target, 10 Billion Yen
Each of Their Anguish
Looming Power
Important Mission
Another Justice
Sanyu-kei vs Big Showa-kei
Kataoka of the Iwata Branch Manager
Bolero to Tomorrow
For The Future



The rock tracks clearly show how he was once upon a time a little band musician... and now has tasked himself to bridge the gap between classical and media music (especially Anime music) and travel to London once more (according to his own words). Let's see how long it will take... actually Elements Garden was at Abbey Road not a long time ago (nextday). Hmmm... there's a show by Elements Garden airing in Summer that would be too absurd to get the LSO treatment... but this is Japan we're talking about here.



I also want to inform you all that I have updated my Wada of Arabia post (Thread 57893) with some interesting statements from the Ministery of Foreign Affairs of Japan that I believe far exceeds the topic of a new sweet Wada score, regarding my statements over the years of culture and government funding and foreign funding of Japanese Anime and Games. It's certainly interesting that they long since realized and made it policy that they can dominate the global media world and judging by the tweets of young and old composers traveling around the world recently, it seems like they have some cash influx nowadays ;)




Last but not least, Fafner is out on nyaa in flac. A little short for my taste, probably because they want to make some sweet cash with two volumes instead of one but its Warsaw... and track 7 and 10 are great.

Man, things suddenly got busy on the music uploading and posting front. That's pretty aces! (Also, super-glad that Tango is so chuffed about Sahashi's score for Shudan Shasen! It's always awesome when someone's so happy to find a new soundtrack that gives them what they were looking and a bit more!)

On the subject of music uploading, I've actually got a small project in the planning that I'm gonna try get out in the next week and a half. It's a collection of orchestral music by a certain composer (hint: we were trying to talk about him before the forum died again about two weeks ago), and it features arrangements by legends in the Japanese orchestra business and a rising star. I'll go into more detail as to why I wanted to work on this collection when I actually upload it, but I wanted to bring it up now because I'd like some advice regarding FLAC uploads.

My plan is to upload an MP3 and a FLAC version of this collection, and while I was getting materials for it, I found a few FLAC uploads that split the ZIP file into multiple files (001, 002, etc.) so that it would be easier for people with slow internet speeds to download. I didn't know you could actually do this, and it's something that I regrettably didn't consider for my Last of the Summer Wine upload, so it got me thinking that I should try something like this.

What do you think: should I offer a version of the FLAC upload that splits it into multiple files (I'll offer a complete FLAC version for anyone who's got fast enough internet speed and good data caps regardless)? I'd like to do right by people, but I also want to know if there's anything in that area I should know before attempting it. If you answer this, thanks in advance and have a lovely day! :)

Ah, Fafner! Thank you, downloading now!

Edit: Is it my imagination, or is the DVD addition ENTIRELY about walking around Warsaw, eating ice-cream, buying clothes, going to Church, and laughing at adverts for noodles - and absolutely NONE of it takes place at the actual recording session?

Flaming Ada...

That's hilarious; just an entire special teasing Warsaw's orchestra, and then it just spends the whole time faffing about like a Polish/Japanese Last of the Summer Wine. And the funny thing is, I have such a fascination for the mundane and average things that go on in a town, I'd probably watch the entire thing if someone put English subtitles to it.

Honestly, I expected a "Buy Vol. 2 to see the session!" in caps on screen. Ah, Japanese commercialism...

This is just my opinion, of course, but I think the days of splitting FLAC uploads into parts have passed. It was only ever really done to get past file locker file size limits - back in the days were Mediafire and Rapidshare reigned supreme, that was 100mb. I can't see a justification for it now.

I haven't done it for probably eight or nine years now, I've never been asked for it, and nobody ever complained when I stopped doing it.

It potentially creates more problems than it solves - if you split into four pieces, you've got four different files to grab - and that's four links that might go down. If one link goes down, the other three are useless. Then you've got the additional problem of clueless users not understanding how to put them back together.

Connection speed / metered connections don't matter - the download is still the same size in the end.

If you're wanting to help the tiny minority who are impatient / on slow connections, consider doing an MP3 version... A good quality MP3 will clock in about a third of the size of the FLAC and 99.9% of people can't hear a difference.

That would be my advice... forget splitting, but offer a lossy alternative instead. :)

Sahashi

I've updated my post - my upload now features English tags derived from Bladelight52's translation - and has been joined by MP3 and Opus versions. I wouldn't usually do this, but I just had to reinstall Windows and I'm still getting all my software back together and I wanted to test my encoders... so I thought it might as well do something useful. Slightly off topic, Opus is magnificent. Of course, we don't really need lossy encoders as much as we used to... but if you ever do for whatever reason, Opus is well worth a look. It eats MP3 for breakfast at equivalent bitrates, leaves Vorbis in the dust, and even gives AAC a run for its money. The Sahashi album is ~100kbps but you'd never believe it. I've moved to Opus in my car and never looked back.

Sahashi's Edo drama has a mature symphonic piece with a sudden mood change from lighthearted to serious (in Episode 2). There's banging drums and synth as well but judging by Shudan Sasen!! there should be enough to enjoy for everyone. So far its mostly excerpts from longer cues me thinks so I really want to have it released.


In regards to the topic that got interrupted, Tanaka is back for One Piece: Stampede, so all is well :) (sole credit this time too, I wonder if Hamaguchi is busy elsewhere). In any case I hope Tanaka sneaked in his Opera piece for the recording session.

And browsing Ototoy, I found something interesting:



A teaser for EVA 4? (https://mega.nz/#!70RgmIAC!zXaeT6cCpTGktSVAgojF26pa2M4MJ4hbkNagYV9Tp50)

It was released as a promo for the new wind concert series of Evangelion Maestro Amano directs for his dear friend (just like old times): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLTi9oKR5hk

I don't follow these things like I should... what's Sahashi's drama called? I want to give it a listen. :)

Episode 1 (https://picosong.com/w8uat/) / Episode 2 (https://picosong.com/wh4KF/) :)

Haha, thank you!

Hmm, I listened (and Episode 3 is out so I listened to that as well) and it seems pretty silly. Maybe this won't be Sahashi gold... But will probably be worth a listen. :)

A few weeks ago, streichorchester recommended I check out some of the orchestral arrangement albums Takayuki Hattori worked on in the late 80s/early 90s, and I decided to listen to his work on Falcom Neo Classic (which contains arrangements of songs from Ys, Legend of Heroes, Dragon, and Sorcerian) this morning while working on music theory exam papers. Though I much prefer his work on Final Fantasy Symphonic Suite, the arrangements in this album are still very good. Particular highlights are "Lilia Symphonic Suite" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMfQmjTMcWk) and "Cursed Land" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFbjJ_JsuV8); the former of which has a really great take on the menu theme from Ys I.

On that subject, I suppose I should mention that I've now started getting into the Ys games, partially inspired by reading about and listening to the music from the series thanks to this forum. I've only played the Steam version of Ys I, but I liked what I played enough that I'm considering checking out the rest of the games. I tried playing the Steam version of II, but the save system is broken (and this only seems to be my problem from what I can see), so I might try and emulate the PC-Engine port of I & II and see where that goes.

Funny thing is, despite how much praise I tend to hear for Ys' music, I wasn't really that fond of the music in I. Maybe the quality of the arrangements in the Steam port aren't particularly good (I've heard the PCE version has the best music by far), but none of the music ever stood out enough to me that I could remember it after turning the game off. But at the same time, I like the aforementioned Hattori arrangements, and Haruki Mino's string and piano arrangements in the Lilia ~from Ys~ album are really good. It actually got me thinking about a question that I wanted to throw out to y'all: is there any series where you prefer a particular arrangement of the music far more than the music is actually played within the series itself?

I'm really curious to know, because I think Ys might be the first time where I'd absolutely prefer the orchestral/live arrangements to the in-game music (instead of it being a case where the originals and arrangements are different enough that I can enjoy both for their own reasons, like the Etrian Odyssey games' FM synth/Super Arrange soundtracks), and I'd like to know if anyone else has come up against a similar scenario.

https://youtu.be/LvvkjkUepCE

Already sounds like Casshern Sins

Remember, this is how you do a teaser, in case anyone forgot ;)


Since its Sahashi time, a little more spotlight for the maestro:


The influence and disciples of Toshihiko Sahashi




Sahashi is the only composer who has composed for every major Tokusatsu series there is, scored plenty of well-known TV dramas and a stupendously popular series called Gundam SEED. Across multiple generations of composers he made a mark and you can hear his influence, he was and is a very influental musical force. Some as a direct results of composers studying under him, other times composers just being inspired and falling in love with his work. Lets give a little tour:



Go Sakabe



He is sticking close to his style while having many quirks to make up for it, the most classically influenced of them all with a love for vocal instruments and beat tracks.

Ex1 (https://picosong.com/whj6M/)
Ex2 (https://picosong.com/whj6z/)
Ex3 (https://picosong.com/whj6K/)
Ex4 (https://picosong.com/whj6c/)


Megumi Ohashi



Completely silent in years but in the 2000s she was shaping up to be the girl you call when Sahashi is busy. I will say she is perhaps too close to his style.

Ex1 (https://picosong.com/whjEQ/)
Ex2 (https://picosong.com/whjET/)
Ex3 (https://picosong.com/whj8s)
Ex4 (https://picosong.com/whj8f)


Shiho Terada



A one-note affair as far as orchestral composing goes, but her style is unmistakably Sahashi, occasionally she scores for NHK programs and video games and is part of music company Innovation Inc.:

Ex1 (https://picosong.com/whjbN/)
Ex2 (https://picosong.com/whjQu)
Ex3 (https://picosong.com/whjbi/)
Ex4 (https://picosong.com/whjQY)


MICHIRU (Michiru Iida)



One of his students that perhaps differs the most from the others but you can still hear Sahashi in the action cues, she is part of music company Creek Ltd and has set a firm foot in the scoring scene:

Ex1 (https://picosong.com/whjQt/)
Ex2 (https://picosong.com/whjER/)
Ex3 (https://picosong.com/whjEk/)
Ex4 (https://picosong.com/whjEX/)


Rei Ishizuka



Brass Band Player and member of IMAGINE

Ex1 (https://picosong.com/whjb4/)
Ex2 (https://picosong.com/whjbV/)
Ex3 (https://picosong.com/whjbj/)
Ex4 (https://picosong.com/whjbQ/)


Not to mention countless scores with his footprint:

Ex1 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBChNkeZtc0&t=22s)


Sahashi's style is easy to learn but hard to master. What sets it apart from all the other efforts is his melodic genius and classical fusion with funk and 80s Hollywood he does like nobody else (and decades of experience).



@Father: There's too many to count, it depends who does the arrangements, who performs, how it differs from the original and personal taste really. JAGMO consistently impressed me and their Super Mario arrangement is perfection. Go Shiina's work for the Tales Of series also comes to mind where the concert arrangements outclass the game music by a whole other dimension.

I also much prefer the orchestral arrangements in Star Fox Assault and by JAGMO and Wanamo to the original Star Fox 64 tracks. Hyrule Field from the SCORE: Game concert series is for me the definitive version of the theme. It all depends.

Vin: That's fair enough. Alright, I'll rephrase the question to fit the context I come from in regards to Ys: is there a series where you're normally indifferent to the music, but love the orchestral arrangements from albums or elsewhere? If so, are there any examples (besides the SF and Tales games since you already mentioned those)?

Valkyrie no Densetsu
Gradius
Hana Ki Sou
Monster Strike
Biohazard (with exceptions)
SaGa (with exceptions)
Granblue Fantasy



When "Love" is too strong a word:

Toho Orchestra Albums.
Miku Symphony albums.
FFXV



On the topic of orchestra arrangement of video game music, did you know Hamaguchi not only collaborated with Uematsu for some of the best music ever written, but made his own contribution to the franchise?!

Some may already know this but I believe it has never been shared before and I never payed close attention to it, so perhaps it still is a surprise to old veterans, like Cyborg 009, at least I didn't catch someone compiling the orchestral material into a neat and cohesive package:





Shiro Hamaguchi
FINAL FANTASY UNLIMITED [ORCHESTRAL ADVENTURE]
Studio Orchestra (Additional Themes by Nobuo Uematsu)



Yu's Theme (https://picosong.com/whSMg/) / Underwater Voyage (https://picosong.com/whSME/) / Fungus (https://picosong.com/whSMB/) / Road to Somewhere... (https://picosong.com/whSMW/)
Download (https://mega.nz/#!axpjGSoD!qrkvtxy4Z7pKL3Mi5H_DsHzVqGMSoiPbAyNoNJoUsQk)

This is mostly an original orchestral adventure score with a little bit of Uematsu's famous themes. If Kotobuki didn't happen I would have said its high time for another one of those. This is good-old orchestral Hamaguchi with a very familiar elegant orchestral approach and some lovely melodies. Of course Neverending Story appears. It also has my favorite rendition of the famous Victory Fanfare.

If anybody were to mistake this score for One Piece, I wouldn't blame them.

Hamaguchi's style is that recognizable.

Sahashi is the only composer who has composed for every major Tokusatsu series there is, scored plenty of well-known TV dramas and a stupendously popular series called Gundam SEED. Across multiple generations of composers he made a mark and you can hear his influence, he was and is a very influental musical force. Some as a direct results of composers studying under him, other times composers just being inspired and falling in love with his work. Lets give a little tour:
another one of his students is rio kohyama. her most recent work was only 2-3 years ago. she works as an orchestrator too.

https://picosong.com/whbmS/

Thanks for the new Sahashi! I have been really enjoying some new Bear McCreary scores, particularly "Rim of the World" and "The Professor and the Madman". Both have lovely main themes and are a step above what I normally expect from him.

Sirusjr: Agree with you on both McCreary scores. They are good for me too.

"The Professor and the Madman" has it's victorian atmosphere that I really like. In my opinion, concert version of “When I Am Dead” is the best track on album.

"Rim of the World" it's a not bad orchestral score wich pays homages to 90s sci-fi and kids comedies.

Sadly, but I can't say the same about his "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" soundtrack. I watched movie today and can say that It's too much loud, too much bombast and forgettable, except new Rodan and Ghidorah theme, and new arragments of Ifukube themes of course.

This arragments also does almost nothing to me (well, at least i wanted to listen the original Ifukube's score for Godzilla 1954). And, to be honest, score is fits to the movie, wich have all this modern Hollywood problems with characters development and script but at least it has an epic and grand battles between gigantic monsters and it would be lie if I'd say I don't like it :)

In the end it's not the worst blockbuster of the year and has its moments.

Who would have thought it would one day get a fabulous symphonic "film score esque" album.

Symphonic Tale: The Rune of Beginning (bandcamp) (https://vgmclassics.bandcamp.com/album/symphonic-tale-the-rune-of-beginning-music-from-suikoden-ii-hi-res-digital-album)

Preview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9TZ31OITdI&t=12m44s)


Since we got some questions on our business side, we decided to disclose what we could.

As we have already stated on the funding page, the pledge amount would cover about 50% to 70% of the production cost. We cannot disclose the detail, but it is safe to say that for a full orchestral album (50 to 74min), it takes about US$60,000 to US$70,000 depending on the license fee. Of course, this number can go up if we decided to use a more expensive orchestra and studio.

Let’s say we sold a CD at US$35 at Amazon US. As usual for any retail, they will cut about 30%, thus our profit would be $24.00. Considering other fee involved like shipping, storage and annual fee, our profit would come down to $20 to $22 per 1 CD sale.

If the 3000 CDs were sold, that would add up to be about $60,000 to $66,000, and thus covering the initial production cost. Since our business maintenance cost is extremely small (less than $1000 per year), we could keep making new recordings if about 3000 CDs were sold per 1 new full orchestral recording. Of course, we can reduce the production cost by reducing the performance time, or using smaller ensemble. But we don’t want to cut cost by just reducing musicians or even worse replacing with computer-generated or sampled sound, and to claim the recording to be “symphonic” or “orchestral.” Every arrangement we make will be concert-ready and could be performed by traditional orchestras or ensembles around the world without any amplification, and we feel this is very important, and we don't want to do anything which might lower the artistic potential of the original music.

For this project, $35,658 was collected, and we received $32,226 after Kickstarter fee, and backer drops. Our Music director has pretty much paid all the cost which was not able to cover by the Kickstarter funding. This is where we stand right now.

So if you want to see more quality orchestral arrangements of video game music and give Ken-P (who is in the broadest sense of the word "one of us") some work, then by all means, please support it. A little downside for me is that they didn't get the original illustrators for their projects (contractual reasons & copyright). Would have loved me some new illustration, but I feel this is insignificant to many.



Finally, a little surprise:



Akira Senju
Opera MANYO-SHU
TOKYO ART ORCHESTRA and SENJU LAB Choir



Live Performance (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngJPLtn6MmY)


LA FOLLE JOURN�E TOKYO 2019
The Special Opening Concert by Akira Senju, Tokyo University of the Arts

“Opera MANYO-SHU” 〜 ASUKA KAZE 〜 FTAKAMI BANKA
Music by Akira Senju, Libretto by Madoka Mayuzumi

Performed on May 3, 2019 (the 1st year of Reiwa ) at the Marucube on the 1st floor of the Marunouchi building

Conductor: Akira Senju
Soprano: Ai Okada, Mezzo-soprano: Yukiko Seto, Tenor: Takumi Fujiwara, Baritone: Yusuke Koike
Chorus: SENJU LAB Choir
Performance by TOKYO ART ORCHESTRA

It has a light gregorian touch but is mostly traditional. In this case however, I will let the music make the words instead.


Maybe I should also point out he has two new drama scores coming up, so he is far from retired (how does one retire from music anyway?): http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/AVCL-25992





On that note, I completely forgot to say welcome back, Ponyo. Hope that everything's well and good.

So tests for Code Vein have been announced. In fact, it's starting next week, but some players already tried the game and of course some music is uploaded on YouTube now. It sounds great and could be one of my favorite Go Shiina works.

Main Menu Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReFAdSh4dUM

Battle Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfm6z871ULo

Tutorial Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooYcCPfo6rE My favorite for now :)

I've been listening to Takayuki Hattori's soundtrack for Sangokushi V/Romance of the Three Kingdoms V recently, and I think it might be my favourite soundtrack by him (even if Intelligent Qube's music is pretty baller too). Tracks like Fragrant Spring (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcrQPdwBAvU) and Summer in the Native Place (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VB5ITX5bSUk) are very relaxing to listen to, while The Heavenly Peach Land (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cR4KK6L-qk) and Dance of Silver (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZqiHY3YpC4) helped to remind me why I love the erhu so much as a melodic instrument. It really is funny how much I've come to appreciate Hattori's talents as a composer and especially an arranger over the last month or so, and I have this thread to thank for that.

On a side note, I've fallen in love with a piece composed by Tomoyuki Asakawa for the film Tengoku Ni Ichiban Chikai Shima called Miracle Hill (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pDmUxlfm0k). The way the orchestra and the harp crescendos after the first few seconds, the easily identifiable melody played by the violin, the fact that the harp makes itself known throughout the song; I've often heard about how Asakawa's compositional sensibilities recall the Golden Age of Hollywood, but it's only listening to this gorgeous cue that I finally "get" that. Even though it's the sixth track according to the description, I can so easily imagine being the track that plays during the opening credits of a Golden Age film, where they list the major roles of who did what to give stragglers a little more time to get into their seats. In fact, part of me really wants to make that type of intro and put this piece over it to see how well it fits (or maybe over an actual opening from a Golden Age film).

Vin - I bought the thing on a whim... even though the samples were massively underwhelming, and 28 USD for a DOWNLOAD is just taking the piss. I still think this thing deserves to go a bit further than it has.

Sato does what he can with very average source material, but ultimately this is Final Fantasy Dissidia with Suikoden melodies instead of Final Fantasy ones. Sato isn't a very creative orchestrator, and Suikoden isn't a very creative score - so this comes out sounding bland and repetitive.

This needed a Yoshihisa Hirano or a Souhei Kano in the orchestrator's chair... an "interventionist" who would weave a coherent symphonic piece using familiar themes as raw source material - instead, it's another album of straight orchestral transcriptions of score cues.

At least it's better than that ridiculous JAGMO album.

All that said, NICE TRY and lovely that crowdfunding worked so well for this... Let's hope they make their money back and do something a bit more interesting for their next outing. (Though at $28 for a digital download, that's going to take a while - particularly when someone inevitably pirates this thing.)

I also bought the album, partially out of support and partially because I liked some of the samples. The price is definitely going to be a contentious point (especially with the tax - I ended up spending �35 on the thing thanks to that), so I don't necessarily blame anyone who ends up pirating it at some point. At the same time, I guess I also wanna give the people involved the benefit of the doubt; maybe they've got projections saying it will only sell X copies and that they need to price the digital version similarly to the physical version in order to break even, never mind doing another album of a similar scale. Considering this is their first time doing something like this and they don't have enough clout yet that they're guaranteed to do well, I can understand why they'd want to charge as much as they did. (To be fair, it's equally possible I'm being too naive and forgiving towards them - I'll happily cop to that if it turns out to be the case.)

As for the album itself, I'm interested in giving it a listen. I've never played any of the Suikodens and I'm not terribly familiar with their music outside of a couple of pieces from the Celtic albums they did years ago, and I've never heard anything by Kentaro Sato before (though the fact that that one of his biggest credits according to the site is arranging the music to Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighters 1 and 2; a pair of games I've heard nothing about since 2007; is slightly concerning). So I'm legit curious to see how I end up feeling about the music featured in this album: even if it's just a generic orchestral transcription album, it'll still be my first time hearing a lot of Suikoden II's soundtrack, and that's kinda exciting.

Maybe I'll write something about it when I get round to listening to it (though not before I post my secret project...).

@Father: I was essentially in the same boat, until a few years ago I had not heard any Suikoden material aside from the Warsaw opening posted by arthy and the Haneda/Yamashita album, so the last couple of years have brought to my attention another "classic" game I missed which I of course corrected, (I was not into Japanese media and artists fulltime until I spent some time in this thread ;)) It's a quality game with quality music.


@Tango: Just say you are dying for another FFXIII :D

It's not Walkure Story for Orchestra quality, but a quality orchestral album nonetheless. JAGMO is mostly very young enthusiasts, vgmclassics is a very young label in its infancy, so I'm not expecting FFXIII from the getgo (that said I love some of the Symphonic Gamers pieces already). Sometimes it takes time to grow. On that note the NJBP concert with Actraiser gets an album release in July: https://vgmdb.net/album/86126 .

Likewise this is essentially a fanmade "dream-album" in that it sounds like what the game score would have sounded like if they had more budget back then and sent the composer to Budapest with an orchestrator (and this will make many people happy of course). From that angle its essentially a dream come true for many who grew up with these melodies (I didn't). I imagine the power of an orchestra with a nostalgic sense of melody can further preach the love and quality of the medium (even if it can be viewed as score #97898 with O Fortuna but I'm a simple man).

We love "intervention" arrangements but to some that can be a downside. Sato doesn't get in the way of the original music in the way Walkure Story for Orchestra is an Akira Senju score with barely any connection to the original material. Great things can happen when an orchestrator takes over (Amano) but sometimes a project doesn't call for that or an orchestrator doesn't want to get in the way of the original composition (Miyano). Regardless, it's always a pleasure to see a good-willed and good-quality creation born from the money you invest in (although its not Oshima-level of LWA).

That said, I too share your sentiment that a creative and more traditional arrangement in symphonic movements ala Walk�re Story and Final Symphony would have been my prefered choice. So here's to a sequel project, same time next year hopefully!

Btw "Victory and Beyond" is a Silver Age thrill ride.

Since you've mentioned it a couple of times, what exactly is so noteworthy about FF13's orchestral arrangements? I'll admit that I'm not terribly familiar with 13 in general, nevermind its music, but I've never really heard much about the arrangements other than supposedly being quite good, and I'm curious to know more about it. If anyone could fill me in, that would be pretty aces.

Where you hear a "Silver Age thrill ride" I hear a short, unimaginatively orchestrated, throwaway cookie-cutter bouncy happy tune.

THIS is a Silver Age thrill ride: https://picosong.com/whTbE

I am definitely dying for another FFXIII... I wasn't expecting this to be anything like that... I guess it would just be nice to get something a bit more interesting. Crowd-funding is a good way for a producer to get a bit of a guarantee before stumping up the cash. CDs are dying but digital downloads are in growth - so it's a VERY encouraging step that these things are being made available that way, and Japan seems to be FINALLY getting its act together. That said, we're getting "orchestra" concerts coming at us from all directions lately, but is the quality matching the quantity?

I want better stuff and I want it now. ;)

It's a sobering thought that if I won the lottery and spent �1million, I could record 20-odd albums like this. 40-odd albums if you really stretched the budget... a mixture of crowd-pleasers and things that are a little more minority interest... I want Oshima's viola concerto to be recorded... I want Yasuo Higuchi to write a symphony. I want to get Kohei Tanaka in the studio with a big orchestra again and remind him of the joys of writing a long-form, symphonic piece in a uniform genre. I want Sahashi to write a symphony. All these things would be possible with money... and if you pitched it right, sold it in the right places, got some good reviews, gave free copies to anime production companies, put on proper concerts of these pieces, and so on... that really could get the ball properly rolling again.



What we really need is a stupidly wealthy benefactor who

Hello, everyone! I hope you're all doing well! I've got a bit of a special upload today; not specifically because of the music itself, but more because of what it represents to me. And there's a bit of a story to it...

Back in the summer of 2014, I'd suddenly gotten into listening to music by Shiro Sagisu, a composer who I'd only really paid attention to when it came to his work on Evangelion. But out of the blue, I began listening to more of his music, and this was especially the case for the Shiro's Songbook albums he produced. For a span of about a year and a half, I became obsessed with those albums, to the point where they had a sizable impact on my decision to start composing music myself (and even my desire to start writing lyrics). To this day, I'll still happily listen to the majority of the songs from those albums whenever I'm working on something or just need to relax.

But what's important is that for the first few months, I was only listening to whatever songs had been uploaded onto YouTube. At some point, I decided to try and find the full albums - and due to their overall obscurity, the only place I could find them was in a little forum called ffshrine. After seeing that I needed an account to access links, I did just that and had the majority of the albums to listen to within the week. I never intended to use the account beyond that, but I ended up stumbling across this particular thread around the time Shin Godzilla came out, and the discussion was so fascinating that I decided to get involved.

It's been nearly three years since then, and the impact that this thread has had on my life can't be understated. I've listened to many composers and soundtracks I've now listened to that I might never have looked into, I've learned about all kinds of perspectives when it comes to composing, arranging, performing, recording and more in the world of orchestral music that I'd previously never considered, and I've met, made acquaintances and even friends with people who are truly passionate about this area of soundtracks in a way that constantly makes me feel pumped and revitalized. In fact, my time on this thread has even inspired me to go to a music course in a local college to become better at understanding and composing music (which has led to its own series of fascinating and wonderful adventures), and it might even result in me going to a new music course in a few months.

And all that came from my interest in a bunch of R&B/gospel albums that most folks have never heard of. That's pretty damn amazing, and I want to pay tribute to that fact and to all of you by doing a collection of music from these albums, while keeping in with the theme of this thread. I hope you enjoy, and from the bottom of my heart, thank you for everything.



Shiro's Songbook Orchestral Selection



FLAC:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/96914sys4z1sncs/SSOS_FLAC.zip/file
https://mega.nz/#!9DhXTKpK!utHD0yvNnHiEn5e1wTn4mPpC3MyX-JqKfr3QP96hLWU

MP3:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/276c6sj5xnql6jj/SSOS_MP3.zip/file
https://mega.nz/#!dPJ00Q6S!MF33ro5Icm7nerDvOcdUcayRUjJh1NsUBotKIQw3cYM



The original uploads for these tracks were done by bubbrubb666, megiddoryu and 17love, whose complete uploads of the first seven Shiro's Songbook albums can be found here: Thread 166505 and Thread 164333 (and for anyone who just wants MP3 versions, you can go here: Thread 142297)

I'd like to offer special thanks to Vinphonic, who helped with crediting the arrangers for each song based on his own experience and understanding when the album credits for certain songs didn't specifically attribute arrangers (for when a song featured multiple versions on an album). Super special thanks also goes to Spriggangirl, whose uploads of various Shiro's Songbook songs back in 2014 got me into these albums!

Some minor notes on the upload in regards to the FLAC version. I wasn't able to find FLAC versions for tracks 1 and 11, so I had to convert the MP3s into FLACs. The versions of tracks 3 and 7 are edited from their original versions, and were exported as FLACs. Tracks 1, 3, 7 and 11 are in FLAC at Level 0 compression because of this, while the rest of the original, unaltered tracks have Level 8 compression. This doesn't really mean much in quality other than that some tracks have larger file sizes than others; I thought it was worth mentioning.

Included with the upload is a list crediting who worked on each song, utilizing the album credits featured on VGMdb to the best of my ability and research (which occasionally don't offer much, for whatever reason). Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find anything for track 6 beyond the back cover of the album it's featured on, so the credits featured beyond the performers are guesses based on the arrangement and info I managed to gather on the song it's based on. If the full album credits are found at some point, I'll adjust the credits accordingly.



Shiro Sagisu is a famed composer, arranger and producer best known for doing the soundtracks to anime such as Neon Genesis Evangelion, Bleach, Kare Kano, the newer Berserk adaptations, and a lot more. But throughout his 40+ years in the industry, one area that often goes overlooked is his work on the Shiro's Songbook series of albums.

Starting off in 1999 as something of an extension of the collaborative work he had done with the artists on the infamous 1997 Evangelion Vox album (which took his music from Evangelion and rearranged it into gospel, R&B, and rap of all things), Shiro's Songbook allowed Sagisu to further experiment and refine on those ideas - even allowing him to redo songs he'd composed decades earlier. It was also where he would establish relationships with collaborators that carry to this day, such as lyricist Mike Wyzgowski and vocalists Loren and Hazel Fernandes.

From 1999 to 2013, seven albums would be produced featured new collaborators and explored further genres, making for a collection of albums that appeal to a wide variety of musical tastes. In 2017 and 2018, a pair of compilation albums were also released that included a few previously unreleased tracks, allowing both newcomers and longtime fans to experience Sagisu's musical history while discovering new works along the way.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of this series, and to fit within the theme of this particular forum thread, I've put together a collection of orchestral pieces. The bulk of these tracks come from the 2013 album Shiro's Songbook Xpressions (which has the greatest variety of genres and styles out of the entire series, and is a 2-disc behemoth worth checking out), while the rest come from other albums.

The first half of this collection consists of purely orchestral pieces (and occasionally sporting the "four-person choir" typically seen in Sagisu's more recent soundtracks), all of which are arranged by Sagisu's regular collaborators:

Masamichi Amano (Giant Robo, Battle Royale, Stratos 4; he has been collaborating with Sagisu for the last decade, in works such as MAGI and Gridman)
Takayuki Hattori (Slayers, Martian Successor Nadesico, Intelligent Qube)
Miho Hazama (an up-and-coming composer who's worked alongside Amano in arranging Sagisu's soundtracks, including the Berserk movies and Evangelion 3.0)

Meanwhile, the second half is made of vocal songs accompanied by an orchestra (and on occasion, an particular instrument like a piano or an acoustic guitar). These songs feature the talents of Shiro's Songbook regulars:

Loren (best known for singing the ending version of Thanatos from End of Evangelion)
Hazel Fernandes (best known for singing the insert song Number One from Bleach)
Ian Michael G. Pitter (not particularly known for anything in anime or elsewhere, but he's got a very good range)

I've also included a bonus track in the upload that, while not part of the Shiro's Songbook series, will make a certain amount of sense when you get to it...

I hope you enjoy this collection, and that maybe it'll encourage you to check out the full albums and stumble across gems you'd never have found otherwise. Whatever happens, thank you for listening and have a great day!

I'm glad to have been of assitance for your passion project and stellar post. Maybe a separate thread for your hard work would be my final advice :)



@Tango: To each his own, "Silver Age" is more of a spectrum anyway, so not every score has to be Star Wars to qualify.

At least I can ride into the sunset with this ;)


I speak only for myself but... cautiously positive?... :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8bGyhtkEzg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h-c7I_CG3E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_5g_hEePjc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABXmYQahABA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewMe3pjhxeQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGfStIXSWTg&t=4m08s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lKDpl2E38Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrYmzJKB-Jg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cgdyUUxszU

Of course I'm always a sucker for some happy bouncy tunes: https://picosong.com/whU2j/


And you're not the first with this wet fantasy... maybe some rich Oil Prince likes Tanaka enough to give him a symphony orchestra...


I want to get Kohei Tanaka in the studio with a big orchestra again and remind him of the joys of writing a long-form, symphonic piece in a uniform genre.

Oh, you mean one of those:



Kohei Tanaka
Gulliver Boy
Studio Orchestra



Symphonic Suite "Supreme King of the Sea" (https://mega.nz/#!awAzyAKb!Y2gPdTDXxjwEMW3G1p3X0PAOjneNnzkXfGPB3u4yMDw)

16 minutes of Tanaka at his best (in lossless). There's also the TV Anime score (maybe some other time ;)) but its the game score where Tanaka fires on all cylinders. Short but powerful.

Good thing Tanaka has at least a dozen new scores in the closet for the next few years and it looks like One Piece gets everything ready for its 20th Anniversary, in addition to Stampede, it looks like we're getting a new Sakura Wars earlier than expected: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_Q8udJsovE

He wrote a chunk of new material for every major arc of the last few years, recently a full-on mini-opera. Something tells me he will have a budget this time ;)
Hard to believe I watched it as a child and its still ongoing, but perhaps it will be like Dragon Quest (next major installment announced) and continues forever.

I also have to say it really looks like they give a damn again. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_98K4_6UQ0)



and new things from the corner of "ladatree goes out of his way":



ladatree presents (and revised by myself):


Tsubasa Ito (Score assistant Ryunosuke Kasai)
EGAO NO DAIKA
Studio Orchestra



SOLEIL (https://picosong.com/whUjc/) / YU-KI (https://picosong.com/whUgQ/) / AFFECTION (https://picosong.com/whUge/) / EGAO (https://picosong.com/whUgT/)
Download (https://mega.nz/#!boAE0azC!24bIhNlB7mXw5aiKpezHQXQItLr4k0qLEEUiD3zlNOU)

A nice orchestral score by a fan of Tanaka and Hamaguchi.


Masato Coda
RADIANT [Orchestral Soundtrack 01]
Studio Orchestra



Avant Title (https://picosong.com/whUsn/) / Artemis Institute (https://picosong.com/whUsD/) / Courage to Confront (https://picosong.com/whUsW/) / Hope (https://picosong.com/whUwK/)
Download (https://mega.nz/#!XwRSSASJ!gS9MG_PM4h0IPL_3yclP6AAGLZFA0VosI1-cibkojQs)

A fan of Yoko Kanno no doubt about it. Lovely melodies and some surprising appearance of THE funeral march. A little fun woven into it similar to Sahashi. The french tone is because its an adaption of a french fantasy manga.



Maybe I need to point out that nobody nerds out and is more passionate about my favorite circle of Japanese composers as much as the younger and young generation of composers that came after them and in many cases studied under them. It will not take much longer now...


Harumi Fuuki and her idol.

(and three days until new Hisaishi)

As always, a big rep for ladatree :)

Thanks a lot for these latest OST!

This needed a Yoshihisa Hirano or a Souhei Kano in the orchestrator's chair... an "interventionist" who would weave a coherent symphonic piece using familiar themes as raw source material - instead, it's another album of straight orchestral transcriptions of score cues.
souhei kano actually arranged a suikoden 2 suite which was performed at tokyo gametakt 2019 a couple days ago. but who knows if video/audio will be released.

I have the first OST of Gulliver Boy, but the second OST is so expensive that I'm gonna have to save up some money to get it. I'll let you guys know when I have it. :)

Vinphonic:

Hopefully you make a collection of Sahashi disciples for us to download and enjoy ;). I really loved all of those examples you shared!

I thought I would share this bit of news... a friend of mine managed to get a study score edition printed of Kaoru Wada's Actraiser Suite for Orchestra. For $30 it is quite a steal imo.

https://www.wasabisheetmusic.com/product/2150

From the recent pvs, this sounds very familiar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfPyxG-ZbFM&t=25
so the composer for this one was announced as MICHIRU. i didn't expect that.

fantasy score by one of sahashi's disciples. there's potential for sure.

Since there's a bit of a lull at the moment, I thought I'd talk about something that's been on my mind for the past few weeks. I don't know why, but I've really been in the mindset of taking a piece of video game music and trying to arrange it either for an orchestra or a string quartet. In fact, I attempted to make an arrangement for the title theme of Phantasy Star III (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FmGy6nyduk) and actually managed to create a complete track, but I'm not particularly satisfied enough with it to post it.

At the same time, I kinda wanna try and do a medley based on the music of the GB rougelike Cave Noire; there's enough of a desire that I at least know which songs I'd like to adapt. However, my main issue is that I'm not really sure how to write for an orchestra or even a quartet. I can compose music competently enough, but arranging other people's music has never particularly been my strong suit - I've got really good ideas, but I can never seem to put them into practice (in fact, I used to try doing arrangements but gave it up a few years ago).

It's possible I'm being a bit too ambitious right now, and maybe I need to start smaller. Or maybe I just need to talk with someone who's got more experience in this area to figure out what I should do, or even to just guide me on how to approach these types of arrangements. I really would like to give it a shot, at least so I can better understand how the songs I want to arrange are put together musically and see what I can learn from that. If anyone can offer some advice on the topic, I'd really appreciate that. Thank you.

Learning how to compose and orchestrate is part studying scores and part trial-and-error.

You won't get it right the first time, tenth time, or even hundredth time. But you will improve each time.

A way to start arranging is to pick a model and aim for that. For example, the Phantasy Star track you posted has a nice descending chromatic bassline. What string quartet also has a nice descending chromatic bassline? This one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTPrcBAq28Q

So essentially you're rewriting the Borodin quartet, but the melody and harmony are coming from the Phantasy Star track. Not the entire quartet, though, just enough to get things moving. Harmony is in the second violin and viola, melody is in the cello. Accompaniment changes around m. 24 and the 1st violin now has the lead, but the melody is essentially the same. I'd say this is a great way to start.

If you have any questions about orchestration just post them here. I'm sure there are a few of us that can answer them, or direct you to scores that exemplify good orchestration techniques.

Thank you for linking that quartet piece, streich. I've never heard anything by Borodin (or at least that I know was composed by him), and it's really quite beautiful. I especially like how each instruments gets to play the main melody, and how a "call and response" of sorts is introduced at around 4:55, where the 1st violin plays the melody just after the cello has done it. I think I might try and take another crack at the Phantasy Star III theme with that in mind, so thank you for giving me the inspiration to try it again. (And if nothing comes of it, I'll at least post my original arrangement and hopefully get enough feedback on it to know where to improve in future - you never know if you don't try, after all!)

Children of the Sea by Joe Hisaishi


https://anonfile.com/ifYcu5u9n2/Kaijuu_no_Kodomo_OST_SaRDeath.Com_zip

Found here: https://sardeath.com/kaijuu-no-kodomo-original-soundtrack-mp3-zip/

Thanks Sea Monkey!

Initial impressions... as I suspected from the trailers- this is more of a "Mamoru Fujisawa" score than a Joe Hisaishi one. It's like I went into a time machine because I'm hearing the soundscape Arion and Nausicaa all over again- but with modern Hisaishi brilliance of orchestration. At times it does get rather repetitive with its barebones motifs, as is the case with most minimalist Fujisawa scores, but when I reach tracks like 4, 18, or 20, I'm just floored. Personally, I haven't enjoyed a Hisaishi score this much since Princess Kaguya.

Also, when was the last time Hisaishi used synth or electronics? It's especially audible in track 21- which sounds almost entirely electronic.

Many, many thanks for posting!

I really, really wanted to like this... but it just doesn't hold together, for me. Flashes of brilliance, and some fascinating use of electronics which, whilst not to my taste, is genuinely creative and genuinely musical.

But... an unsatisfying whole. Still, I'll take what I can get from the almost-retired (as far as scoring for media is concerned) Hisaishi.

I'd like to hear this material expanded into a concert piece... but it's just not doing it for me in its current form. It just makes me want to listen to Minima Rhythm... which I think I'm going to do now. :)

Sorry to interrupt the discussion on Hisaishi, but I just stumbled across something that left me both bewildered and amazed. Partially because of the peculiar nature of its existence, and partially because it's something that's so... well, whenever Vinphonic talks about how weird and amazing the world of Japanese orchestral arrangements is, this thing is that entire area of game music arrangements encapsulated into a single album.

So I decided to look up some string quartet arrangements of video game music to try and help give me some more ideas after the above posts I'd written on the subject, and I came across an album that came out in the early 90s. It was a soundtrack album for a SNES game that also featured string quartet arrangements at the beginning of the album. What caught my attention was the fact that the music was composed by Koichi Sugiyama: aka Mr. "Hi, I do the music for Dragon Quest and am one of the most influential composers in all of video gaming."! And then I listened to the first strings track, and it's really good: it's quintessential Sugiyama and will sound right at home for anyone familiar with his compositional sensibilities. At this point, you're probably wondering what the game is, so you can find the soundtrack and have a listen. Surely it's a cult classic RPG, since the SNES had plenty of those? Or a visual novel based on a popular series? Nope! You wanna know what the music is for?

Monopoly. Freaking. MONOPOLY. On The Super Nintendo. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhL-SVsFBck&list=PLkHaqUQ98btItZtMb3l0ByIi-WA2MoeJ7)

On the one hand, I'm utterly speechless that this of all games managed to bag itself a renowned composer to do the soundtrack, and that he decided to arrange some of the pieces as part of the album seemingly for the hell of it. But at the same time, it also demonstrates how insane Japan is when it comes to game arrangements, and in the best possible way - any vaguely popular game can just nab itself a talented composer to handle the music, and then just throw in a few string quartet/orchestral arrangements because why not! Goddamn it, Japan. You're ridiculous and silly, and I love y'all for it.

More from Sagisu's Abbey Road Sessions: https://twitter.com/ShiroSAGISU_twi/status/1137528316984868867


In regards to ladatree's shares, it looks like this very hot Summer Anime season belongs to the young:

Suehiro #1 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqW-YbHugT0&t=11s)
Suehiro #2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG5nEiEssvI)
Inai #1 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1AqkXWxsiA)
Inai #2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EIm7UaN5ws)
Masato Coda (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sETb41GEpBo)
Yoshiaki Fujisawa (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVIdUuUCZUU&t=25s)
Kota Yokoseki (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP0CnyAmxc0)
Kato & Friends (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NxtW57oyKg&t=11s)
Yusuke Shirato (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aAGb8_M0zw&t=48s)
Yutaka Yamada (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2aneW0sH7c&t=20s)

Wild Card: Elements Garden had a session at Abbey Road, but is it really... no it can't be.

Special mention of a new Souhei Kano score (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PpA_ci8A_I)

The rest of the shows are also scored by very young classical trained composer (MICHIRU with two shows) and some of them got their first solo show (Satoshi Hono, Moe Hyuga etc.).

The Old Guard assembles with:

Kohei Tanaka (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZ-ersvsFZg)
Shiro Hamaguchi (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IHSIXtTovw)
Shinji Miyazaki/Akifumi Tada (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WggtgeonV58&t=28s)
Michiru Oshima (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5SHacpKokc)
Joe Hisaishi #1 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aklKCGWIhg)
Joe Hisaishi #2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVGbgBy_yo4)
Yoshihiro Ike (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBuRICpKeME&t=22s)
Taku Iwasaki (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPdRvu_1x6I)

Wild Card: Does Sahashi return for Knight of the Zodiac?

Special mention of Koichi Sugiyama (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANB1TBs6RRA) still returning to compose music for Dragon quest, this legendary composer has serious dedication to his profession!


Also, this marks the first summer season in ten years where the number of shows dropped below 40 again (36) as oppossed to 91!! shows last year and the years before with 80 shows on average. OVAs also dropped significantly and there's fewer movies too. Consequently the shows, OVAs and movies that do air almost all feature an orchestra and look high-quality. Its like someone told them how to do things right and how not to spread the "few" orchestral players in the business across crazy schedules and thus ending up with missing horns here or missing trumpets there. I hope this trend continues. Can't say I'm overly interested in the shows themselves but a few gems should appear, like always.


@Tango: I suscribe to that, it might work wonders with the visuals but as a standalone listen, its not doing it for me either, but worth a listen without question. I'm more of a Joe Hisaishi fan anyway so bring on Ni no Kuni 3 ;)


@Father: Yep, there are no easy shortcuts I'm afraid... it takes a long time to "get good". For gifted people it takes a couple of years, others struggle for decades until they get to that point where they know whatever they do, it will be fine, not great, but fine.

If you genuinly want to make good music, get great scores to study, both in print and in lossless audio files, first listen carefully, then write it down what you think it means, and then and only then confirm it with the printed/written score, that way you will improve over time and learn the interal ways of composing and orchestrating, use your music course for guidance and context, but in general, the most important thing is as Streich said, to study scores and try and fail again and again until it makes click.

On that note, if you're serious, here is some basic repertoire for score study you should know and study (pieces or whole works):


- Bach's Toccata and Brandenburg Concertos
- H�ndel's Messiah, Fireworks
- Vivaldi's Four Seasons
- Mozart's Requiem, The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni (but basically everything)
- Beethoven's 5th and 9th Symphony (but basically everything)

- Dvorak's New World Symphony
- Smetana's Ma Vlast
- Tchaikovsky's Ballets
- Stravinski's Le Sacre du printemps, Firebird
- Shostakovich's Jazz Suites
- Korsakov's Sheherazade
- Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Excibition, Night on Bald Mountain
- Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky, Romeo and Juliet, Peter and the Wolf and Scythian Suite
- Rachmaninoff's Piano Concertos

- Mahler's Symphonies No. 2, 3 and 8
- Wagner's Ring der Nibelungen, Meistersinger
- Sch�nberg's Verkl�rte Nacht, Gurrelieder
- Orff's O Fortuna
- Holst's The Planets
- Copland's Little Town, Ranch, Appalachian Spring
- Ravel's Bolero, La Valse, Le Tombeau de Couperin
- Debussy's Claire de Lune, Reverie, La Mer
- Saint-Saens' The Carnival of the Animals
- Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance
- Rossini's Wilhelm Tell
- Vaughan William's Lark Ascending

I'm sure I'm forgetting lots and I would throw dozens of great Hollywood and Japanese scores in here but for a masterpiece like Korngold's Kings Row there exists no printed or written score available.

Is Making or Performing Music something some people are naturally disposed to or is hereditary? Aside from just wanting to do it. No-one on either side of my family (to my knowledge) is musically proficient, and because of that it�s the only subject that I was allowed to fail.
After all my years of listening to anything, I Wish I was good at it but I cannot play an instrument to save my life and I�ve had some? success with GarageBand. But it�s just something I don�t think I would be cut out for as much as I like it.
I�m not even that old but yet I feel like if I were to try even just a bit more seriously that I�m too old to get anywhere.
Plus I am lazy AF.
Is there any basis to what I am saying or as it just nonsense?

No, I get what you're talking about. You love music, and you'd love to be able to compose or play it yourself, but you're not able to in a way that makes you happy right now. You don't know why that might be, but that's unfortunately how things are for the moment. Believe me, I know how that feels: I love animation and artwork and colours, but I can't draw or colour in anything to a degree that I'd be personally satisfied with, and it kills me every time I think about it.

But here's the important thing: you're not able to do that right now. But you will be able to do it someday. It's never too late to get into playing or creating music, no matter how old you are or what your prior experience (or lack thereof) is. I barely had any music classes when I started playing piano and composing music, but I decided to keep doing it regardless because I enjoyed it. And while I'll regard most of my early stuff as pretty crap (this is a pretty good example (https://jimsjams.bandcamp.com/album/whos-the-audience-for-this)), it still helped me figure out things and what I'm doing now is all the better because of it.

If you're interested in doing it, all you can do is try. The worst thing that'll happen is that you won't be any better than when you started, but at least you'll still have a better understanding as to why that is and can use that to help you move forward elsewhere. That's not too bad, and that's the worst thing. You'll likely end up in a better place in your ability to play or create music. As long as you're enjoying it and get something out of it, I'd say that's enough incentive to give it a shot. I know you can do it. I believe in you. :)

Hi, does anyone here have the 2016 re-recording of GODZILLA under Ifukube's student Kaoru Wada?

The only link available in the forum appears to be dead.

Much obliged.

I had a bit of free time today at the college, and I still had string quartets on the mind, so I decided to try and transcribe one of the pieces from Sugiyama's Monopoly String Quartet Compositions album I was talking about a couple of days ago. I didn't really have a plan other than to see if I could transcribe from what I heard onto sheet music to the best of my ability, and here's what I managed to do: https://picosong.com/wA95x

This covers the first eight bars (or twenty seconds) of the album's debut track "The Invitation To Monopoly", which took me half an hour to transcribe by ear. From what I can tell, it seems to be mostly accurate to the original song, though I'm sure I've gotten a couple of things wrong in regards to the 2nd violin and viola acting as the other notes in the chord (which I based off what I assumed to be the cello acting as the root note in the chord).

For the curious, here's the original version of the track for reference (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhL-SVsFBck), and here's what I transcribed in Musescore:


I'd like to know what y'all think of what I've done so far. I'm probably gonna keep working on it until I get to around 1:24, but I'd love to hear any feedback and suggestions to help me improve.

All this talk of string quartets has me revisiting the Shostakovich series. There's a torrent floating around with some difficult to find recordings, as well as scores for all 15 quartets. I'm planning to upload the rarest recording here at some point in the near future, but in the meantime, FrDougal9000 (and anyone else who could be interested) might find the scores (https://mega.nz/#!MjgS1aJB!DHsMvGuqwrdsbrb1MYzwrMMhnNP8TrVVMmFAtgHg3SA) useful. (37.3 MB, PDF format)

Oh, that's weird. My class was actually trying to do some music theory questions based on a Shostakovich piece this morning; that's what got me thinking about sheet music and string quartets again in the first place! Funny how life can be so holistic sometimes! :)

Thank you kindly for the scores btw. Hopefully, I can do something with them! :)

Wow, I can't tell you how many times I've tried to get here recently only to find a down server.

Also, while I do feel like The Pokemon Company is running out of movie ideas, I am very excited to see a new album of Miyazaki's music, even if it is all reprises. That was an outstanding soundtrack !

Here are the harmonies as I hear them for each half note: C C C Dm G G C/E C7/Bb F/A F7 Dm G7b9 C/E Cdim7/Eb Dm7 G7

Very early recording of some work I am doing for my next string album... I love working with small ensembles to really draw those melodies and harmonies out by exposing them bare. This is one of those times. I also added some new cello countermelody and some other adjustments such as playing with pizzicato.

I can assure you, this won't be the only Valkyria piece I do on this album either. Just finished arranging 4's main theme:)

https://soundcloud.com/josh-barron/rangdrith-mix-ver-1/s-q5g9f?in=josh-barron/sets/ethereal-string-ii/s-TpoLZ

Very nice Josh :)

If you ask me, intead of Suikoden they should have done any major Sakimoto game score. He's still way to underappreciated, so I'm glad you're giving him some attention again. Still keeping my fingers crossed for a Valkyria Chronicles Orchestra concert.

Regarding Sahashi's Disciples... they should be all in my "The History of Orchestral Music in Anime" (Thread 224788) share. Just replace Date A Live with the most recent one a few pages back.



Since a little intermission took place, I have to share part 2 of "ladatree's corner" with a little delay, it's more from the next generation:



Keiji Inai
A Certain Magical Index III
Victor Studio Symphony Orchestra



God's Seat (https://picosong.com/wAgKi/) / Aggression (https://picosong.com/wAgBu/) / Palace (https://picosong.com/wAgac/) / This is why I don't believe in Miracles (https://picosong.com/wAgZY/)
Download (https://mega.nz/#!DloV3YTT!k5fj4oZZ3dXnxsbJjMfj51CH0wbo0tkKI_b9mZEnG1o)

Here is all the orchestral material where Inai arranged/orchestrated/has ghostwritten for Maiko Iuchi. If you love Don Davis Matrix scores you will like it. A little classical style as a bonus. Kenta Higashiohji worked as assistant, Hayato Matsuo collaborated on some tracks. Its a full symphony orchestra recorded at Victor Studio. The best a domestic studio score will sound like. He most likely had the same ensemble for Arrow of Orion and the upcoming Summer shows.



Keiji Inai
K�niglicher Familienlehrer
Chamber Ensemble



Overture (https://picosong.com/wAg6Q/) / The Princes of Glanzreich (https://picosong.com/wAg8p/) / Coup doit (https://picosong.com/wAgG7/) / Believe in Miracles! (https://picosong.com/wAghU/)
Download (https://mega.nz/#!i9JyzKZR!1OJdFcyCGtc6-DbmfH_v9n8y74Qmx1UtnmTvM8Y4oeQ)

Here we have a case of what to do when you suddenly don't have real brass available for your session:

a) You write for it anyway and cover it up with synth. Unless its really good performed sample-modeling stuff (performance ALWAYS trumps sound quality), it won't sound convincing next to real players.

b) Don't write for it at all but the downside is you are limited and some people notice its absence (some more than others)

c) You write for brass.... but replace it with woodwinds (logical... the closest to each other).

The score is full of baroque, classical and romantic gestures, natural, as this is the typical Japanese European Fantasy. This is all still from his "transition/beginning to grow a beard phase". This summer we will hear how much he has developed since Outbreak Company. Arrow of the Orion will release on July 31... unfortunately its enclosure but the series is quite popular so no worries :)

It's alive! ALIIIIIIVEEEEEEE!

Thought I'd post about a couple of things that I've done over the last couple of days, since I've got some free time in the morning.

I finally listened to the Symphonic Rune Suikoden II album by Kentaro Sato and the Budapest Orchestra after buying it a whole back, and... I don't like it, unfortunately. It's not that it's bad, and I have all the respect in the world for everyone who worked on this for trying to create more orchestral arrangements - it's not easy to do, and I hope that they can keep doing this and keep improving as they move forward. My problem with the album is that I find it unremarkable. The music on its own left me wanting, and the arrangements didn't do anything to transform them into interesting interpretations - I can see what Tango meant now when he talked about it, and I have to agree with him on it. I was hoping there'd be at least one track I'd really like and listen to over and over again, but there sadly isn't. I don't regret spending the $28 on the digital version, since it helps to further what they're trying to do, but I'm going to be a little more discerning about it in the future.

In regards to string arrangements, I've started working on a string quartet arrangement for the Phantasy Star III title theme, and I took streichorchester's suggestion of using Borodin's Notturno as a model to help me get started (I'm even thinking of including a cheeky reference to it!). I'd say it's about halfway done, and I'm fairly happy with where it's going right now. Hopefully, I'll get it done within the next week or thereabouts, and I'll post it on here to see how it checks out. :)


Here are the harmonies as I hear them for each half note: C C C Dm G G C/E C7/Bb F/A F7 Dm G7b9 C/E Cdim7/Eb Dm7 G7

Is this for the Sugiyama Monopoly transcript I posted the other day? If so, thank you very much for doing that - I'd actually gotten stuck on the transcription because of this, and I hope this'll be able to help me get back onto doing that. Thanks! :)

This year, 2019, has been a commemorative year for my composition life.


I have been involved in two major titles, "One Piece 20th Anniversary" and "New Sakura War".

Both are important works that are important to me.


There are many fans all over the world.

I think that the expectation are very high.


For these two major titles, my composition work for this year was a huge amount.

I managed to finish it somehow.

Every day, a great amount of notes were written on the orchestral score.

I worked without a break (196 consecutive days) from October last year.


On the way, I could not really see the future because of the large amount of work.

But even then, I was very happy because I could write my favorite "One Piece" and "Sakura Wars" songs again.


Every morning, every morning, whenever I get up

"Ah ~ I can write a new song for Sakura today! "

And compose with joy. Then I feel better and better


Even though my body was tired, my energy went well.

As a result, I am proud that I could write so many great songs for myself.


These songs will reach you in the second half of this year.

I am really looking forward to it.


In the music, I have something to say in various ways.

I hope this will be fun.



Thank you.

8 months on an anime film and PS4 game. Now THAT'S dedication!

Well, "20th Anniversary" doesn't necessarily mean "one movie" ;)

And is this the first glimpse at new score for Ni No Kuni 3?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYZcgMCzMmI

And here's the master at work for Children of the Sea, as Zipper pointed out, he outright rejects Hollywood scoring, especially today, and fully commited to express a state of mind and feeling with his music in his Minima style. I have to say I'm more excited to listen to it in the film itself than I was for an album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nG1kbKtLAk

He looks pretty healthy and far from retired to me :) (I also suspect he prefers to work in a studio now)



EDIT:




We are a trio of friends in private too.



And it begins:



Toshiyuki Watanabe makes the first move with his new concert work: "Celebration Fanfare 2020" which premiered yesterday.


It is a work written with a wish for the leap of representative Japanese players at the Olympic Tokyo 2020 Games.

https://www.thailandphil.com/events/symphonic-anime/

Here's the concert where Wada/Takanashi/Iwasaki are making their appearance. The list of music being played is as casual-tier as it gets, and makes me wonder why these three were invited when it's obvious the event holders would have much rather had Kanno and Kajiura, whose music makes up the brunt of the event. Takanashi doesn't have a single piece of his music on the program!

The Thailand Philharmonic is certainly unusual though- years ago they even invited Hirano down for a concert. I suppose it's better than nothing. I hope they'll at least give the composers they invited down to this event the honor of re-orchestrating their own music.

It's nice that it's happening... but yeah, the programme doesn't inspire confidence and the choice of guests is bizarre. It reeks of "we sent out a thousand invitations and only these three answered" - though let's hope it generates some interest. Anything is valuable, these days.

On another topic... Once again the Shrine is infected by some virus... Watch out, folks, and remember to have a backup plan...

Vin: I never said Hisaishi was retired - I said he seemed to be almost retired from writing film/TV music. When Miyazaki "retired" he seems to have shifted mainly towards writing for the concert hall, and his scoring output has gone way down.

Interesting- MONACA's got themselves a new composer from England joining their company. Oliver Reed, who graduated from Leeds Beckett University's music department.

https://twitter.com/MONACA_oliver/status/1140124845687967744

Oliver Reed? Tee hee...

:roflworf:

Do you know him personally, Tango?

What is MONACA? Are they like the Japanese Media Ventures?

What is MONACA? Are they like the Japanese Media Ventures?Well... they are like Media Ventures in the sense that they're a group of composers working under one umbrella. But most of them are classically trained, and of course, their sound has little to do with that of MV. And although they do work for the same company and help each other out, they all have a distinct sound to each of their composers. There's quite a few other similar groups in Japan, like the more famous IMAGINE and the young Elements Garden.

At the end of the year in my Heisei share I highlighted the structure of composers working in Japan. Single "freelance" composers are actually the exceptions and not the rule. Most composers work at a professional music company and many are also members of major music associations and cultural institutions (universities etc.) with direct ties to the government (culture department).

For our interest, here is a refresher:

2.3. The major associations and companies of Japanese Composers, Arrangers and Musicians from 2018 onward

The Japanese Composers and Arrangers Association (JCAA)




The Japan Federation of Composers (JFC)




Self-employed Companies/Freelance Composers
Kaoru Wada, Akira Senju, Michiru Oshma, Shiro Sagisu etc.




Major Japanese Composer Companies:

1. IMAGINE: Professional Music Production (Kohei Tanaka, Shiro Hamaguchi, Hayato Matsuo�)



2. Facemusic (Takayuki Hattori, Toshihiko Sahashi, Naoki Sato...)



3. Fair Wind music (Reijiro Koroku, Kosuke Yamashita, Yuya Mori...)



4. Basiscape (Hitoshi Sakimoto etc.)



5. MONACA (Ryuichi Takada, Keigo Hoashi, Ken Namba, Satoru Kosaki...)



6. 1Music (Yugo Kanno, Kenichiro Suehtiro...)



7. Office Without (Taku Iwasaki etc.)



8. Miracle Bus Corportation (Evan Call, Kei Yoshikawa, Masaru Yokoyama...)



9. Noisycroak (Hideki Sakamoto etc.)



10. PIANO (Yoko Kanno, Taro Umebayashi...)



11. Procyon Studios (Yasunori Mitsuda, Mariam Abounnasr etc.)



12. Creek Ltd. (Shunpei Ishige MICHIRU, Kei Haneoka, Daisuke Shinoda etc.)






And a little challenge: Without looking it up, can you guess who recently scored this?

https://picosong.com/wAtN5/

It sounds like Yamashita... what is this show? Is it a documentary? NHK?

Speaking of MONACA. Mini Doco on Keiichi Okabe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhTSy9OTWv0

Ah, the last of their videos... I really enjoyed some of those.



Yamashita

Nope...

Yamashita is busy with something else ;)




But you're right about the other two things, its a new documentary series about egypt, "Tsutankāmen no hihō", here's episode 1: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x75s53w

here is the culprit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HItobvug8BY

He also scored a film recently and various tba projects and I await a soundrack for DBH.



One of the new members of MONACA is Keitaro Yamamoto, someone who I have been following for a while.

23-year-old Kunitachi graduate. He has experience with wind orchestras, having worked as an conductor/arranger for Akiba Winds in the past.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9XEC0g9f-g

He's a big fan of Asakawa and Iwasaki and often brings up The Five Star Stories as one of his favorite soundtracks.

I expect he will be working with Hoashi/Takada in the future.

He's a big fan of Asakawa and Iwasaki and often brings up The Five Star Stories as one of his favorite soundtracks.Well, he wouldn't be the first MONACA composer to have Asakawa and his Five Star Stories at the top of his list. =)

https://twitter.com/MONACA_kosaki/status/624587419430457345


Nextday, I'm not sure why you're still lurking and using Vinphonic as a proxy when you seem to have made amends with the person you argued with long ago, so please give us an update.

? I'm just quoting... he's busy and well. There's no negative feelings involved at all. He will return when he got time and feels like it. Newfound shares and info got posted through my humble process, and that has been the case for years now. If you want to have a little chat, just go over to vgmdb (its nowadays so linked to this thread that its part of home anyway).

Is that so. I guess he's too busy then. If that's the case I won't disturb him.


Oshima's conversations with Asakawa might have rekindled his fire as a composer somewhat, because he's been more active recently writing for more commercials.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGfUo02NccA

We can only hope for the best. But if Tiger Woods can make a comeback, then I have faith in Asakawa as well.

Hello, everyone! I hope you're all doing well! It's been a few days since I last posted, and that's because I've been a bit busy working on various things - one of which is something that I'm really excited to talk about today!

A while ago, I talked about my interest in doing some kind of orchestral or string quartet arrangement of video game music, particularly the title theme to Phantasy Star III (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FmGy6nyduk) - which I had actually done an arrangement for, but was feeling rather frustrated by how it turned out and the feeling that I wasn't able to do anything of this sort. However, streichorchester made the suggestion that I could try modelling my arrangement from Borodin's Notturno (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTPrcBAq28Q), which actually revitalized my interest in doing an arrangement.

It's taken a week or two, but I'm pleased to say that I've actually managed to do an entire string quartet arrangement for Phantasy Star III's title theme; and it's one that I'm pretty happy with, especially considering it's my first attempt at doing a string quartet!

Here's an MP3 that you can listen to: https://picosong.com/wATcy Along with a PDF of what I wrote up in MuseScore: https://docdro.id/falzOJF

Because this is my first time doing a piece for string quartet, there's likely going to be a couple of things that could be improved, either in the arrangement itself or in the way I've written it into the sheet music. In terms of arrangement, I feel like the transition into A Major's a bit iffy; as for technical stuff, I mainly wrote it so that MuseScore could do a decent approximation of what I wanted in my head, so there's likely a couple of things that I'd remove or change when giving this to a quartet to actually play. In regards to the MP3 version, I don't know why the strings are largely tremelo for any long notes - must be an issue with the soundfont of the version of MuseScore I've now got. I'd really love to hear some feedback on this arrangement and how I've written it, so that I can use that to help me move forward with both doing more string arrangements of game music and composing in general. (Honestly, any kind of feedback will be appreciated!)

Special massive super thanks to streichorchester, who inspired me by talking about Notturno into giving this another shot, and indirectly getting me really excited about trying this sort of thing. In fact, I've even got a couple of ideas written down for other string arrangements of game music (including Molentary Express from Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR8_BMN68Ok)! I hope you enjoy my arrangement, and I hope to do more of these in the future! Thank you for giving the push to actually do this, and have a great day!

Here's an MP3 that you can listen to: https://picosong.com/wATcy Along with a PDF of what I wrote up in MuseScore: https://docdro.id/falzOJF
Good job! Here are some notes:

The opening 9 measures:
-do crescendo/decrescendo every half note (yes, this will be tedious, but worth it)
-add slurs to where you don't want the stringed instruments to change bowing direction (research classical scores for examples)
-consider turning into a 4-part chorale using contrapuntal/contrary motion in the lower strings
-add rehearsal numbers at the ends of small sections, for example, at measure 10 (makes it easier for performers)

Measures 10-13
-same as above

Measure 14
-double stops in violin 2 might be difficult
-the cello rhythm should have a half note + eighth rest instead of quarter + dotted quarter, I see this in a few places (the eighth rest gives space for the pickup note)

Measure 21
-consider dotted half instead of whole notes to give space before the next sections

Measure 22
-the C is in the first violin and cello so doesn't need to be in the viola as well, give the viola the E to avoid the parallel octaves going into measure 23
-need lots more dynamic markings and slurs in general for live performers
-consider the vertical harmony, make sure as few notes are doubled if possible

Measure 23
-the viola should not be doubling the violin down the octave here, measure 24 is much better with the contrary motion

Measure 36
-the viola shouldn't be playing a D here

Measure 37
-consider revoicing the second violin and viola here. This is the dominant G major chord in first inversion. The B is in the cello, the G in the first violin. The second violin and viola should cover the D and F.

Measure 45
-looks like you're setting up a key change to A major using the E dominant. Again the dominant voicing is important. You don't want both violins 1 and 2 playing a B, so one of them could play a D to create the dominant 7th. The cello has the option of falling to a D on the third beat.
-you can also turn the whole notes into dotted half notes for spacing
-there should probably be a double bar at the key change, I think it would look nicer

Measure 46
-same as above, the quarter + dotted quarter should be a half note + eighth rest
-see if it is possible to avoid double stops, they are difficult. I realize Borodin used them, but still...

Measure 60
-consider changing the high B in the viola to an F or F#

Measure 61
-there is some parallel motion going on here that should be revoiced
-the dominant G major could can easily be a G7 to give you more options
-for some extra color, the cellos don't just have to move upward, they can come back down on the same notes before the next measure

Measure 69
-second violin and viola are both playing B here, never double the leading tone
-the cello could use downward motion here to reach the low A

Measures 70
-the long notes in the violins seem anti-climatic, how about changing them to trills playing pianissimo (with the usual fade in/out dynamic markings)
-if adding fade in/out dynamics is too cumbersome, you can do it for a few measures then write "simile" to indicate doing it for the rest of the piece

Measure 77
-another opportunity to use G7

Measure 78
-consider dropping the cello an octave

Measure 82 (last measure)
-the second violin could play an F that resolves to an E to give it a classical feel

Next time I'm printing it out and marking it in pen. It's too difficult describing music using text.

Thank you so much for all that feedback! Though you said it's difficult describing music through text, I like trying to analyse this stuff and figure out what you mean - even if I misunderstand something, I'm still bound to learn from it (I also learned a few terms I'd never heard or knew of until now, such as rehearsal letters/numbers and double stops, so thank you for that!)

I'm currently tweaking the arrangement according to your suggestions, and I thought I'd reply to some of them and give some thoughts.


The opening 9 measures:
-consider turning into a 4-part chorale using contrapuntal/contrary motion in the lower strings

I'm not gonna lie; I stink at trying to do 4-part voicings with contrary motion. We've tried doing these a few times as theory exercises in class, and I always get too caught up in trying to move things either up and down by one note depending on which chord I'm changing to. I get stuck inside this mental box, and it frustrates me to no end that I can't get around it. I know there's gotta be a way of doing the chord progression without everything going up or down at once, but I can't figure out how to do so at the moment.


-do crescendo/decrescendo every half note (yes, this will be tedious, but worth it)

God, I wish there was an easier way of doing crescendos and decrescendos within the same bar in MuseScore. It's not just tedious, but actively annoying having to manually adjust everything and making sure it doesn't look weird. Out of curiosity, what would this actually sound like if I did it? You said it'll be worth it, and while I believe you, I don't know what it would sound like. If you could provide an example, that would be awesome.


-add slurs to where you don't want the stringed instruments to change bowing direction (research classical scores for examples)

I've never played a stringed instrument before, so I don't really know what the benefit of this is.


Measure 14:
-double stops in violin 2 might be difficult

As you said yourself later on, this is what Borodin did in Notturno. While I didn't watch a performance of it (something I guess I should've done in hindsight), I assumed that there were two violinists performing the 2nd violins - in the way that you'll have two bassoonists performing different melodies in the same bar. To be fair, I could be totally wrong with that assumption in this case - and if so, I'll likely have to change this.


-the cello rhythm should have a half note + eighth rest instead of quarter + dotted quarter, I see this in a few places (the eighth rest gives space for the pickup note)

Good point. I was focusing a good deal on having the notes played constantly, that I forgot that the performers should be able to stop for a small bit (something I realized a few months ago when trying to play Thomas Atwood's Theme on piano - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHD7YaW1pzs - it slows down after the B section so you have time to get back to the keys you need to play in the repeat of the A section). Thank you for catching that, and I'll try to fix that in other places you mentioned it!


Measure 22:
-the C is in the first violin and cello so doesn't need to be in the viola as well, give the viola the E to avoid the parallel octaves going into measure 23

Maybe I'm reading this wrong, but won't putting the viola into E mean it has a parallel octave with the E in second violin? (Though this might not be an issue if I remove the double stops from that section generally)


Measure 23:
-the viola should not be doubling the violin down the octave here, measure 24 is much better with the contrary motion

I moved the first note in the 1st violin melody up from B to a D, which might work a little better.


Measure 36:
-the viola shouldn't be playing a D here

I hadn't realized what I'd done until you mentioned it. It's fairly easy for me to get lost when I'm trying to transcribe what's in my head without having something practical on hand to play it on (like a piano).


Measure 37:
-consider revoicing the second violin and viola here. This is the dominant G major chord in first inversion. The B is in the cello, the G in the first violin. The second violin and viola should cover the D and F.

Yeah, that actually sounds better. Thank you for that.


Measure 45:
-looks like you're setting up a key change to A major using the E dominant. Again the dominant voicing is important. You don't want both violins 1 and 2 playing a B, so one of them could play a D to create the dominant 7th. The cello has the option of falling to a D on the third beat.

Done that, and although I'm still iffy on what I've done overall, I think the cello falling to the D makes it work out.


Measure 60:
-consider changing the high B in the viola to an F or F#

I decided to go for the F#, which leads really nicely into the G# in the next bar.


Measure 61:
-there is some parallel motion going on here that should be revoiced
-the dominant G major could can easily be a G7 to give you more options
-for some extra color, the cellos don't just have to move upward, they can come back down on the same notes before the next measure

I'm actually having the hardest time with this one. I'm still very new to wrapping my head around dominant seventh chords, especially when they're triads, so it's not that intuitive to me. I think I've come up with something, but I'm not too sure about it.


Measure 69
-second violin and viola are both playing B here, never double the leading tone

I tweaked the 2nd violin so that it goes up to a G instead of down to B, and that does a good bit better.


-the cello could use downward motion here to reach the low A

I went down to a D to reach the A, but I'm not entirely sure about it. Does that sound right


Measure 70:
-the long notes in the violins seem anti-climatic, how about changing them to trills playing pianissimo (with the usual fade in/out dynamic markings)
-if adding fade in/out dynamics is too cumbersome, you can do it for a few measures then write "simile" to indicate doing it for the rest of the piece

I've included the trill and pianissimo, and I'll work on the dynamic markings later (thanks for the suggestion of writing "simile" though)


Measure 77:
-another opportunity to use G7

I dunno. Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I'm really not liking how it sounds. It just doesn't sound right to me at all.


Measure 78:
-consider dropping the cello an octave

Did that. It sounds fine to me either way, but I suppose it adds to a sense of progression when this overall reprise of measures 10-13 has a bit more going on. I'm happy whatever way works best in this case.


Measure 82 (last measure):
-the second violin could play an F that resolves to an E to give it a classical feel

That's a good suggestion. It makes the ending more interesting than just stick to the same notes for an entire bar.

---

I'm gonna keep tweaking it before I upload the new version, but I really appreciate you giving so much feedback for me to work on. Like I said, it helps me to better understand and learn things I previously wasn't aware, and being given that chance is always awesome. Hopefully, it'll result in a better arrangement, but I'm happy to learn either way! :)

https://twitter.com/nassy_takanashi/status/1141349068536291328
https://twitter.com/nassy_takanashi/status/1141349068536291328
https://twitter.com/taque68/status/1141368636721942529

Three things:

1. The music listed on the program might have been changed with the arrival of these three composers, because "Pierce the Heavens with your XXX" wasn't originally on it
2. It would appear that the composers are giving their input in the performances during rehearsals
2. Iwasaki must have mellowed out in the past decade-and-a-half to let someone else conduct one of his pieces like this

Yeah, its a bit confusing, another list I catched somewhere that contradicts the previous one:

Naruto: Shippūden
Fairy Tail
Sailor Moon Crystal
Pretty Cure series

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Yakitate!! Japan
Soul Eater
Jojo�s Bizarre Adventure: Battle Tendency
Origins: Spirits of the Past

Inuyasha
Samurai 7
D.Gray Man
Iron Leaguer
Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas
Ninja Scroll


You know, I never got the Wadash-Taque-Nassy connection until now:




Shame another composer I really want to see getting around seems to be totally introverted and social-media shy (he's also close friends with Wada).

https://twitter.com/nassy_takanashi/status/1141349068536291328
https://twitter.com/nassy_takanashi/status/1141349068536291328
https://twitter.com/taque68/status/1141368636721942529

Three things:

1. The music listed on the program might have been changed with the arrival of these three composers, because "Pierce the Heavens with your XXX" wasn't originally on it
2. It would appear that the composers are giving their input in the performances during rehearsals
2. Iwasaki must have mellowed out in the past decade-and-a-half to let someone else conduct one of his pieces like this
i think that's the same conductor that performed yoshihisa hirano's music a couple years ago (no recording exists sadly)

I'm not gonna lie; I stink at trying to do 4-part voicings with contrary motion. We've tried doing these a few times as theory exercises in class, and I always get too caught up in trying to move things either up and down by one note depending on which chord I'm changing to. I get stuck inside this mental box, and it frustrates me to no end that I can't get around it. I know there's gotta be a way of doing the chord progression without everything going up or down at once, but I can't figure out how to do so at the moment.


Four-part chorales are puzzles to be solved, almost by trial and error, like sudoku. You just have to practice them. The general rules I live by: 1. contrary motion is better than similar motion, 2. offsetting rhythms so when one voice is long notes another is short notes, 3. if two voices are moving up/down, the other two should stay put, 4. inner two voices move very little, outer two move much more, 5. voices should echo other voices' melodies and rhythms, 6. if a voice is moving you can likely add suspensions and resolutions.


God, I wish there was an easier way of doing crescendos and decrescendos within the same bar in MuseScore. It's not just tedious, but actively annoying having to manually adjust everything and making sure it doesn't look weird. Out of curiosity, what would this actually sound like if I did it? You said it'll be worth it, and while I believe you, I don't know what it would sound like. If you could provide an example, that would be awesome.

Crescendo/decrescendo on long notes almost happens naturally in chorale-like situations. You could probably just slur every two notes and the performers would make the connection. This is just a kind of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_phrasing and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_expression

In Notturno there is a noticeable lack of dynamics in the accompanying instruments. Only the melodies seem to get dynamic markings. I think this is because the dynamics are implied through phrasing. You'd have to listen closely to hear the players improvising the dynamics. There is a slight swell then release at the beginning then ending of phrases. You don't have to notate it for live performers, but computers need to be told to do this.

Another aspect of the phrasing is the tempo. Like dynamics, the tempo for this style of piece is not going to be consistent. There will be a slow start to the phrase, a quicker middle, then slow down at the end. This is called https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempo_rubato

A piano solo can have lots of rubato, but a string quartet is going to have less and really depends on how well the performers can communicate with each other. In an orchestral setting, the conductor will indicate the tempo changes. Here is an example of some extreme rubato in a string quartet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieRQyyPowH0 at measure 8. Also notice the fading in and out. This is an extreme example because it's Ravel.


I've never played a stringed instrument before, so I don't really know what the benefit of this is.


Adding slurs in string music is tough. Even I don't get it right all the time. You can leave it up to the players who would know best. I think as a general rule to start out is you want to change bow direction on strong notes. If you can divide your melody into sub-melodies, you can try slurring those. Using Notturno as an example, the slurring is usually on notes that are grouped by a motion, such as an ascending motion A B C..., descending motion C B A ..., or back-and-forth motion A B A... I usually try to figure this out by playing along on my "air violin".


As you said yourself later on, this is what Borodin did in Notturno. While I didn't watch a performance of it (something I guess I should've done in hindsight), I assumed that there were two violinists performing the 2nd violins - in the way that you'll have two bassoonists performing different melodies in the same bar. To be fair, I could be totally wrong with that assumption in this case - and if so, I'll likely have to change this.


I only recommend against double stops for live performers because it increases the amount of practice time required depending on their skill level.


Maybe I'm reading this wrong, but won't putting the viola into E mean it has a parallel octave with the E in second violin? (Though this might not be an issue if I remove the double stops from that section generally)


Parallel octaves only refer to the cases where there is motion, for example A4,A5 -> B4,B5

You can have voices playing in octaves if they stay on the same note. Just make sure they didn't both come from the same note and/or are not going to the same note. This rule is the same for parallel 5ths, but an exception is made for those if stylistically the harmony consists of step-wise whole tones (ex. bVI -> bVII -> i)



I'm actually having the hardest time with this one. I'm still very new to wrapping my head around dominant seventh chords, especially when they're triads, so it's not that intuitive to me. I think I've come up with something, but I'm not too sure about it.
Measure 52 should contain an F# and not a C# in the cello, this is a B7 chord, the dominant of E. Measure 53 should have a B in the cello instead of a C#.

Measure 61 is tough because you are trying to modulate from the dominant of A major to the dominant of C major. I think you might have to get fancy here and ignore dominants altogether. The first chord could be an E/D major chord: D in the cello, E in the viola, B in the 2nd violin, G# in the first violin. The second chord can then bridge the gap: C# in the cello, E in the viola, G# in the 2nd violin.


I dunno. Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I'm really not liking how it sounds. It just doesn't sound right to me at all.

In the end go with what sounds best. When it comes to 4-part writing using 7th chords can get you out of some tricky situations. Maybe in m.77 you can have each voice play quarter notes, even if they are not moving, as a little something extra to prepare for the ending phrase.

Speaking of that ending phrase, notice the cello and viola are parallel 5ths. Another best practice I haven't mentioned yet is "pedal points". Keep that cello on that C for the last measures. This is your pedal point and works great in classical endings. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedal_point

You know, I never got the Wadash-Taque-Nassy connection until nowMatsuo and Wada were Iwasaki's senpais at Tokyo U, while Takanashi held a radio show that Iwasaki was invited to years ago and the two took a liking to each other. I don't think Wada and Takanashi have any connection to each other aside from being mutual friends of Iwasaki.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrX_5GSYUXQ

Star Fox 64 has literally been done to death, but I'm glad to hear Star Fox orchestrated ALWAYS

To the core, Star Fox has always been a space opera. I can't believe Nintendo hasn't been able to replicate that exact intention, with all the technological advancements today. What I find amazing is the fact that the most hated game, Assault, is the one that, even with its flaws, managed to replicate the feeling the best of all.

That video is literally sweet sound to my ears. If there was an orchestra recording for Star Fox I'd fund it. Even if I don't have much to give. But I'd want an album to have the most possible new recordings of the entire saga.

Have you all watched the trailer for the remake of Seiken Densetsu 3? I am hearing possibly Kameoka or Yamashita orchestrating Meridian Child in the trailer, but OMG does it sound rich and glorious!

Here is hoping they don't repeat their mistake of messing up the music like they did for the SoM remake last year.

https://youtu.be/F_DaAa8h7A8

I am deeply saddened this MAGNIFICENT symphonic suite literally doesn't exist in any form in HQ..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vReG0Pv0SoI

...

Holy Shit! Mori Yuya also scored the new Ultraman! What a wonderful surprise.

Doesn't matter if its in his Seitokai style or electronic Golden Age adventure but I hope its classic Ultraman again (Soprano confirmed): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9V6Ds5MMqg&t=7m05s

I wonder when the new Seitokai material gets another soundtrack...


EDIT: Oh yes! This sets the tone just right, please lift the curse, Mori-san: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpKyk4DfI6A



On that note, I believe this is the first full score cue for Hamaguchi's Das Finale from the series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=583&v=mF0juid3PTY&t=7m53s

From 9:00 to 9:15 is the stuff I'm dying for. This is just on a whole other dimension than his original pieces from 2012, its throughly reimagined in his Kotobuki style. I imagine it will make the original score completely redundant whenever the soundtrack drops (maybe this year, maybe in three... who knows).

There should be more info on his upcoming Shirobako movie as well, it will be a long movie (2-3 hours) so lots of scoring potential. And its another Mizushima project so you know that he will let him fly... a brilliant composer who's not even 50.

I also have a new share in the making where he's involved (but only arranging). Its an old score from the 90s but never heard before in high quality. It will take a while but its worth it.



@Josh: That sounds really nice. I imagine the major cutscenes , intro and credits will recieve the live orchestral treatment but I'm definitely liking what I hear.

@Ponyo: We can only hope Nintendo has some sense for their next title but looking at the direction of Fire Emblem... probably not. Assault and its exhubertant score was Namco's idea in the first place (the company that send their composers to Warsaw for some Arcade shooter) and it was realized by Namco composers and arrangers so they would need to collaborate again.

I probably should have said this earlier regarding Children of the Sea... but I think it's completely asinine to compare a series of separate contained concert pieces and suites with a thematic dramatic work for film. Yes, Minima Rhythm would be more enjoyable to listen to than Children of the Sea, but why would you even compare the two when they're written for entirely different purposes? Children of the Sea is great music, but not every piece is meant to be a self-contained concert work like Minima Rhythm. The more ideal comparison, if you wanted to talk about underwater Hisaishi, would have been to his Huge Creatures of the Deep NHK special.

Who made that comparison?

You did.

I'd like to hear this material expanded into a concert piece... but it's just not doing it for me in its current form. It just makes me want to listen to Minima Rhythm... which I think I'm going to do now. :)
There's no need to turn this into a semantics battle.

I can see where you're coming from, Zipper. While I think there's always something to be gained from comparing a film score to a concert piece/suite in how they accomplish a very specific thing, I get why doing so might normally bug you since the two forms of music are completely different things, and have to be constructed according to their goals, freedoms and limitations (in non-music terms, it'd be like comparing the platforming in a pure platformer like Sonic the Hedgehog to that from an RPG like Vagrant Story; they're way too different to be properly compared and doing so risks coming off as arbitrary or unfair to one of whatever's being compared).

The only thing I'd take issue with is using the term "completely asinine" to describe someone making that comparison. I'll grant that maybe it does bother you that much that using that specific term describes how it makes you feel very well, but I think it's one of those terms that can easily be interpreted in a different light by other folks and can cause unnecessary arguments to occur (similar to those old "elitist" arguments that used to crop up a couple of years back). I'm not attacking you for it, mind; just saying that it has the potential to give folks the wrong idea and wander down a bad road of semantic arguments instead of conversing about the topic originally brought up.

Of course, there's room to compare Children of the Sea to Minima Rhythm because they're both built on the same modern minimalist foundations that Hisaishi has been interested in for the past decade, but I find it makes zero sense to compare the two in a "satisfying listening" manner when it should be very obvious that a minimalist score is going to be more repetitive and droning than a concert piece... that's why I called it an "asinine comparison". You don't go into a burger shop and complain that the burger isn't a steak just because they're both beef that can be served in different levels of rare. If Tango interprets that as an insult, that wasn't my intention, but it does show the extent to which I vehemently disagree with his opinion on this matter.

Okay, that makes more sense. I wish I could comment more on the music to both works and add to the conversation, but I'm not all that much into Hisaishi despite enjoying his music (not any particular reason, mind you - I just don't think to check out more of his music in the way I would for folks like Sagisu or Hattori. Maybe that'll change at some point, considering I didn't have much interest in Hattori until recently enough).

I will take this discussion to PM, folks.

Hisaishi... when he's on fire, nobody beats him. (To me, anyway.)

But I feel like CoTS was one of his weaker works. Frustrating because within the weaker whole is some incredibly strong material... but it strikes me as one of those scores that will probably function phenomenally well in the film but not really suceed as a listening experience. MR, which is in a similar style, is a very enjoyable piece and hearing CoTS gave me at itch that could only be scratched by MR. No comparison was ever made, only noting that CoTS is stylistically closer to MR than to most of Hisaishi's more recent scoring works. Just like hearing a commercial scored by Asakawa usually sets me off wanting to hear some of his more substantial scores, so CoTS set me off wanting to revisit MR.

I thought this was clear from my post.

If I have not been clear, I would appreciate being told that in a courteous and polite way.

Yo gang, what's up in Orchestra-land?

I'll have more posts coming later after I do some much needed catching up, but for now, I'd like to share with you a video by comedian Emmy Blotnick I've seen a few weeks ago, which not only is funny, but more importantly is also quite interesting and eye-opening on the industry of pop music.

I already knew how much that whole industry is a wretched garbage-producing, intelligence-stifling, soul-crushing, slut-making scourge that is meant to make money (a LOT of it) by fucking young girls' minds, and here we have a perfect illustration of this.

So next time you see your sister / daughter / (mother?!) twerking to some Bitchonc�, Taylor Stiff or Britney Smears, in her micro-shorts and skank-tops, I mean tank-tops, you'll know what kind of people really are beyond the poison she's ingurgitating so carelessly. The more you know!




Emmy Blotnick
How Cosmo Has Influenced Your Favorite Pop Songs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rZzNFHuvvs


https://media.giphy.com/media/7zuxaUHMA2eS3cMHvo/giphy.gif

Popular "culture" never ceases to amaze me... but it's always been about making money and to hell with any other concern... it's just that they're really optimising the formula now. Nonetheless, it's disgusting... but at least Blotnick manages to draw a laugh from this sorry business...

"Optimising the formula", beautiful expression, I like it!

And by the way, muchos thankos for that new Sahashi! I've carefully put it aside to enjoy it as soon as I can, preferably with a glass of fine wine and some delicious canapes on the side. (Great way to enjoy some good music, really - try it!)


Thanks also Tazer for the fresh rip of Sea Dogs! It's greatly time for a new listen of it, and it perfectly complements my Age of Pirates post. Get them quick people, because they're really great YARRRT!


And I'd like to give some special kudos to Vin for his many article-like posts, which show a real erudition in those topics. That post called "The influence and disciples of Toshihiko Sahashi" was fascinating and introduced me to some promising new composers I probably wouldn't have heard of otherwise. I applaud you, Sir.

I was going to make sure you'd seen it. :) It's well worth a listen. It's not top-drawer Sahashi, but it's a very good score with a lot of highlights. It's the first Sahashi score I've heard in some years that make me feel like he could have another Gundam Seed in his head somewhere.

I can offer FLAC rips of both Poteyenko scores, if anybody is interested. I'm sure I posted them years ago but they were lost in the Great Mega Massacre. Sea Dogs remains one of my all-time favourites... some of that score is concert-hall grade. Caribbean Tales is great, too... but Sea Dogs may be the "least gamey" game score that was ever written. Sunrise, Fog, and Storm in particular... the wind writing is out of this world. They don't make 'em like they used to.



Wine

I've been knocking back quite a lot of this, lately... with a nice cheese board, they're splendid accompaniments to fine music... The red is woooooonderful...



I know a Frenchman probably snorts at English wine, but there are some genuinely fine bottles around these days.

Slow down thread, you're going too fast!

Hello arthy, much obliged.


@Tango: I would add to that, its always a choice... you don't have to be exposed to it (at least not intentionally), you can escape ;)

Or bite the bullet and educate as many as possible about the circumstances and practices of the music they are listening to (they're bad) and that things can be different and vastly more skilled and vastly more affecting to what they have and listen to.

By knowledge and exposure to different perspectives (and proper culturual influence) you can understand your place in the universe and shrugg the toxic components off of your shoulders.

There's countless people on this planet who know better and strive for a better world, the best it can possible be and are eager to pass the torch. People that cherish the good old nature, the good old humor and the good old music.


On that note I hope some petty little things and issues are not stopping us from being just that.

I meant to share this:




Kohei Tanaka
(Score assistance and add. arrangements by Shiro Hamaguchi)
The Violinist of Hameln
Studio Orchestra



Victory and Glory (https://picosong.com/wNCeM/) / Those with Wings (https://picosong.com/wNCCF/) / Pandora's Box (https://picosong.com/wNCCk) / Hometown of the Mind (https://picosong.com/wNCCg/)
Download (FLAC) (https://mega.nz/#!a4xlyS6A!Dd3sXwlmSSCGmczRQotPyOsLJaYlBoTEiBybTcaF1SQ)

Thanks to a friend over at vgmdb I was able to get my hands on the original 3 soundtracks and done some work on the score presentation. It's Tanaka in classical mode with long developing cues in his intoxicating style. I will say you really hear its from his early career in some aspects and I really miss that irresistable evolution of his style from the late 2010s from his Gravity Daze 2 or World Seeker in this that makes me go "oh wow, that's so damn cool!" Make no mistake, it not only has its charm hearing him like this once in a while but its brilliant music already (and so much ideas found in this that are also in the aforementioned scores). Its a lot of music and a huge chunck are the classical arrangements of famous tunes. Shiro Hamaguchi assisted with the score and these are not mere copies, they are interpretations. The violin takes the lead and its a fully satisfying listen.

Tchaikovsky ala Hamaguchi (https://picosong.com/wNCYa/)
Mahler ala Tanaka (https://picosong.com/wNCe6/)
Rossini ala Hamaguchi (https://picosong.com/wNCen/)
Smetana ala Tanaka (https://picosong.com/wNCeN/)

But the rest of the score is full on classical inspired like "Ride of the Valkyries" in "Those with Wings". The Tokyo Philharmonic performed the stunning operatic song for his 20th Anniversary concert (next one imminent), sung by none other than the legend himself:

One of the Greats (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mp0W6u7V0ZU)

Enjoy!

I should precise: ONE glass of wine, it's more than enough! Take your time, sip it slowly, very slowly, let it express its full flavor, relish its refined scent: that's the way. Drinking more than one or two glasses (depending on your capacity to cope with alcohol) will just screw your musical sense, and you'll probably end up having a nap real quick.



If you do it right, maybe the wine will make you even appreciate the aforementioned pop music, as this suggests:

A guy walks into a bar and asks for a glass of wine.
The barman serves him.
The guy takes a photo of a woman out of his wallet, looks at it, and drinks his wine. Then he asks for another glass.
The barman serves him again.
The guy do the same thing again.
After a few times of the same weird behavior, the barman asks him: "Excuse me, but what are you doing?"
"This is my wife, I drink until I find her beautiful and then I go home and f*ck her."




Edit: Tanaka + Hamaguchi, the incarnation of a Winning Team! Thanks, long time I haven't heard this one!

I tend to drink wine very slowly, so that works. Back in my teens it was glug, glug, glug, glug... but now I'm 35 I actually appreciate the stuff for its qualities, not for its ability to get me drunk... ;)

The pop culture thing... yeah, you don't have to partake, but if you prance around telling everybody "that's shit, you're just buying into the death of culture!" all you're going to get is a reputation for being a cock... so you just quietly fly the flag for that which is better... Bringing culture to people these days is hard. I came to classical music watching old cartoons when I was a kid. Chuck Jones' "What's Opera, Doc?" did more in seven minutes than a year of community outreach programmes. Animaniacs and Tiny Toon Adventures continued to carry the torch - intelligent, fun scores that were stuffed with classical references and genuinely inspired interest in this great music...

Nowadays we try to educate children about classical music with stuff like this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Pieces

We dumb down, we hire young spunky presenters to tell the kids about "There was this real cool dude called Gustav and he made some bangin' tunes about outer space!" - and all you have to do is integrate classical music in their spaces, and create genuine interest... and let them do the rest. It's easier than ever for people to get access to culture... the problem is getting them to give a shit in the first place. Making them watch a nineteen year-old in a baseball cap with an impossibly wide smile talk about "awesome songs and blood pumping excitement" then have an orchestra all dressed in T-shirts and jeans playing the music... is going to achieve nothing but create a bunch of bored, pissed off kids who understand COMPLETELY that they're being talked down to... after it's finished, do they really think the kids are going to go home and say to mum and dad "I want to go to Glyndebourne to see Rigoletto, and then I want to become a conductor and my dream is to lead the Berlin Philharmonic in a Kurt Atterberg revival!" or are they going to say "They made us listen to some classical music today, some of it was OK I guess, but Stormyz is TONNES BETTER!"

Difficult... this Max Martin is a cog in the wheel... Just one wanker in a sea of wankers...

Vinphonic - your mailbox is full... trying to PM you... can you make a little space please?

Will do :)


Well, its true we don't have shows like that anymore but on the other hand it makes me appreciate cultural items like Dragon Quest tenfold. Everyone and their mother over at Japan plays that game and listens to the music. You cannot underestimate what that means listening to Sugiyama since you are an early child up to a grown adult.

The power of the classical (symphonic leitmotif) score is ever-present still:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4a4cT1kDls&t=54s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eceWg3BlHP4&t=15s

Internationally, even I was shocked just how many people all over the world watch shows like One Piece, Pokemon or Saint Seiya (like that chart I pulled up some time ago about Japanese IPs actually beginning to dominate the global market). I mean, it has to at least influnce some people. I was completely unprepared by the data just how damn popular and influental Japanese Media is on the young generation today, and I think they realized that too in some aspects.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGzl_AB4poI (over two million views for soundtrack music is a lot)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSiDkSFLoco&list=PLbMXzKKpQ09lAxGoaXpr1f2KP1QlGA1iq&index=1 (this is heard by millions of people)

Aside from Star Wars, Back to the Future and Robocop and those old cartoons like Gummibears, Gargoyles, Animaniacs, Batman etc. that played a huge part of getting me into it, broadcasts of Pokemon, Digimon, Inuyasha, Escaflowne and Candidate for Goddess on goddamn national television over here certainly played a part in making me stop and listen to the music. A whole generation grew up with anime shows over here and some of my friends all recognize One Piece's score or Digimon music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-XUREVYeec&t=18m11s

Agent Aika on the other hand (how the hell did they manage to air this) was responsible for awakening something else if you catch my drift ;)

I can say with confidence my love for music would not have blossomed without these shows (or the music of Tanaka). Of course Johnny is important too but people are not exposed to "Summon the Heroes" casually anymore nowadays are they...

We already had a close relation in cultural exchange with Sunriseland come to think of it, and the first proper classical concerts of video game music outside Japan were held in Cologne. I think Final Symphony and certain popular "influencer" who like anime, game and classical music and propagate it and even host such classical concerts over here do more than the whole ministry of education can do in ten years.

Of course, not everyone has the same tastes or is as affected by the music the same way as we are but I believe Japan played their cards right in realizing that in taking pop culture seriously and using it (properly investing in it), you can actually achieve more than with any boring program. Yamaha statistics show clearly "Your Lie in April" and "Hibike Euphonium" played a huge part in getting people to play classical instruments and into classical music. We just need to bring classical music in our lives, casually, not with obtusive finger-wagging as you say, and it will just all work out :)

Indeed, it's not dead yet... and it's healthier in Japan than elsewhere... but the days of a prime-time cartoon show on Western television doing a whole comedy skit about the orchestra scoring session for the show, and finishing off with a virtual symphonic poem are long, long behind us.

For me, this episode (the last) of Animaniacs remains the gold standard: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5r9iub

Edit: I see the reboot is finally in production... I wonder how cheap and hopeless it's going to be?

Indeed, it's not dead yet... and it's healthier in Japan than elsewhere... but the days of a prime-time cartoon show on Western television doing a whole comedy skit about the orchestra scoring session for the show, and finishing off with a virtual symphonic poem are long, long behind us.

For me, this episode (the last) of Animaniacs remains the gold standard: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5r9iub

You madman. You actually made me want to watch an episode of Animaniacs. Honestly, for that alone, well done. :)

I watched the episode just there, and sadly, I wasn't all that keen on it. That's not because of the episode itself but more because I'm generally not a fan of the series (something about its humor just doesn't gel with me, even though I can't really articulate why beyond a vague notion of it seeming a little insincere). The only thing that made me laugh was that I occasionally pretended the conductor was Iwasaki during the infamous Agito sessions, which made certain bits funnier for me. But I guess that's not much when the best I can say is that I only find it amusing when I pretend it's about something else. Ah well. It was worth a shot, so I appreciate the chance to try and give the show another chance. (Not listened to the Animaniacs suite yet; I'll try do that in a bit, and hopefully have something to write about it.)

On the subject of WB-style cartoons, you just reminded me that one of my favourite Looney Tunes, Feed The Kitty, has a version on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1 DVD from years ago that only has the isolated score by Carl Stalling without any voices or sound effects. Annoyingly, I can't seem to find it online (I may need to finally get into the art of DVD ripping just so I can try and put it up somewhere), but take my word for it when I say that being able to hear the music on its own is a really good way of being able to understand how many things in the short work thanks to the use of music - be it as "sound effects" (the tinny xylophones that play when the kitten blinks at the beginning), accentuating of actions like Marc Anthony's barking with enormous brass, or through selling the emotions of a scene by picking a particular instrument (the violin that plays when Marc Anthony tears up at the "cookie" is particularly heartbreaking).

I used to be quite indifferent to the short, but listening to the version with just the music made me appreciate it a lot more, and made me appreciate Carl Stalling's chops as a composer. I've always preferred Scott Bradley's music in the MGM Tom & Jerry shorts, but I could now see why Stalling was held and continues to be held in such regard (which really shouldn't be surprising to be fair, considering the man invented a lot of standard classic cartoon music techniques during his time at Warner Bros. and even earlier when he did the first Mickey Mouse shorts for Disney - yes, seriously. The man had a long career composing cartoon music).

It's really funny how a love for music can help you to get interested or revitalized on things you might never have previously cared for... (Yes, I might be alluding to something I'd like to write about, but not this evening...)

It's not my favourite, either... (Well, I do like the show, but there are better... and this episode isn't exactly roll-on-the-floor laughter.)

But what it tried to do for orchestral music during its run, reaching that pinnacle in the final episode, is certainly noteworthy. The composers on that show were really, really fantastic... and even though they were scoring a cartoon comedy they never once coasted with bad music. There's nothing like it on TV now.

Carl Stalling... genius, and nothing but genius. Bradley and Franklyn were too, but Stalling... he wrote to book on cartoon scoring. I even have a bit of affection for poor old Bill Lava.

Here's a fun little oddity - the same scene scored twice, once by Milt Franklyn and Bill Lava. Franklyn is more classical, but Lava clinches it, for me anyway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeF72N-6An8

The only thing that made me laugh was that I occasionally pretended the conductor was Iwasaki during the infamous Agito sessionsNow that you mention it, aside from a couple stage and audience photos, Iwasaki has yet to say a single word about the performance at that concert in Thailand when it came to the public. Wada and Takanashi took quite a few photos and videos and were filled to the brim with praise for the orchestra and conductor and overall success of the concert. Of course, we don't know what Iwasaki is thinking, but given how unusually quiet he is about the concert compared to the other two, I suspect that his attitude towards the performance isn't much more optimistic than the days of Agito.

Here's a fun little oddity - the same scene scored twice, once by Milt Franklyn and Bill Lava. Franklyn is more classical, but Lava clinches it, for me anyway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeF72N-6An8

Man, that's a blast from the past. I used to have a videotape recording of one of the old LT compilation shows, and that was one of them. I had no idea Franklyn took a crack at it first, since I've always been familiar with Lava''s music.

And honestly, I gotta agree with you on preferring Lava in this case: I feel like the buildup from the final launch of the catapult to Wile E crashing through the cliff is a good deal more noticeable and (for lack of a better term) satisfying than Franklyn's take, and adding in a steel guitar with the springy legs is a nice touch on Lava's part.

(Also, I like the difference in approach the two take to the initial catapult montage. Franklyn adds more instruments and develops the same motif to suggest a feeling of escalation, while Lava sticks to the same cue each time to highlight how repetitive it is - much to Wile E's detriment!)

Same! I think I'm more familiar with it from the Bugs Bunny Road Runner Movie, which has the Lava score. As you say, Lava is scoring the idea of trying the same thing but expecting different results - Coyote's folly - so the score is in a way laughing at him... where Franklyn is pushing up a semitone and piling on thicker orchestration at every attempt to score Coyote's increasing irritation at failure - scoring his emotion almost straight. Both approaches are interesting... but I find Lava's funnier. I would normally prefer scoring the emotion, not scoring the action - but it's a cartoon, it's silly... Lava is more visceral.

You see this approach also when Coyote is straining to release the catapult - Franklyn's score stays with him - he isn't aware that the catapult released, he's still straining against the rock. The score doesn't mark the release at all. Lava scores the release with with ascending suspense chords alongside petulant little dissonant stabs for Coyote jumping on the rock... scoring the Coyote's daft total lack of awareness. It's the counterpoint of the impending horror of what's about to happen combined with Coyote stamping up and down in frustration, just makes me laugh.

I like this sort of thing... hearing how two different people can see the came visuals and approach the score in completely different ways.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading on Russian culture lately and figured I’d post a few works that I’ve been exploring. I hope this break from the usual anime music is a pleasant one.

The first is a relatively rare recording, at least in the West and on CD.


SERGEI RACHMANINOV
VESPERS (ALL-NIGHT VIGIL), OP. 37
USSR State Academic Russian Choir
Alexander Sveshnikov, conductor



FLAC | 290 MB (https://mega.nz/#!53h0QIQK!9h0SeMCEK12igCjdaUU-Km9n-Qi-tylZC5Qw9-zCGU0)

So this is actually the first produced recording of Rachmaninov’s “Vespers,” or more correctly “All-Night Vigil” as it contains settings of texts from the full Russian Orthodox ceremony and not just the evening service. It was produced in 1965, a half-century after the work was written, by the Soviet Melodiya label for release exclusively outside of the USSR due to anti-religious policies.

If you have never heard Rachmaninov’s masterpiece and are only familiar with him as a pianist, this is truly one of the most beautiful choral works you will ever have the pleasure of listening to. Despite being a cappella, it is harmonically rich.

I have uploaded a sampler from the second movement (https://picosong.com/wN4F8/), “Bless the Lord, O my Soul,” following my own path to this work through the recordings with which I discovered it: the Robert Shaw recording for Telarc, which is pristine but ultimately a bit too slight; the USSR Ministry of Culture Chamber Choir conducted in 1986 by Valeri Polyansky which is more appropriately Slavic but is still missing some needed gravitas due to being a smaller ensemble and a further twenty years of degradation to Russian choral tradition; and lastly this Sveshnikov recording, which has perhaps the most astounding choral bass that I have ever heard. [NOTE: The Sveshnikov is somewhat louder than the more recent recordings, but I opted to leave the levels untouched.] The fifth movement, “Lord, Now Lettest Thou Thy Servant Depart,” descends to a notoriously low B-flat for a special Russian basso profundo tradition, oktavism. (https://www.oktavism.com/single-post/2014/11/16/What-is-an-Oktavist)

This particular rip is from the most recent CD mastering in 2012 from Melodiya, which is sadly long out of print. A cheap CD-R from an earlier mastering is available on Amazon, but this 2012 disc is highly sought after due to its improved sound quality.




SERGEI PROKOFIEV
SYMPHONY NO. 3 IN C MINOR, “THE FIERY ANGEL”
SYMPHONY NO. 1 IN D, “CLASSICAL”
Philadelphia Orchestra
Riccardo Muti, conductor



FLAC | 220 MB (https://mega.nz/#!AuogDCIB!VnggNbftk-NQnOLp48MyoUKEvTzakXtn5P4unlY2mzU)

I’m sharing this recording because of the Third Symphony; it is diabolical, which it should be as Prokofiev extracted it from his opera “The Fiery Angel” which concerns unrequited love and demonic possession in 16th century Russia. The opening of the First Movement remains one of the most apocalyptic moments in music that I’ve ever heard.

I’ve long had a complete set of Prokofiev’s symphonies by the Scottish National Orchestra (of forbidden-label-rerecording fame) conducted by Neeme J�rvi, but this Philadelphia recording is much tighter and I think has a bit more ferocity. There’s some unfortunate digital artifacts that are audible, but my rip showed no errors so I can only conclude they’re part of the mastering (or at least pressing) of this disc.




ALEXANDER BORODIN
SYMPHONY NO. 2 IN B MINOR, PALOVTSIAN DANCES
National Philharmonic Orchestra
Loris Tjeknavorian, conductor



FLAC | 290 MB (https://mega.nz/#!Y6o0TYiA!L57IlTn3vVo_4Os8qsFqDnJKTomMkJFLf9CjR5cF71A)

Lastly, I’m sharing this disc because FrDougal9000 said a few pages ago that he hadn’t heard any of Borodin (Thread 57893) and this disc contains some of his most important orchestral works, including the “In the Steppes of Central Asia” not mentioned above. An interesting footnote is that this recording was produced by Charles Gerhardt of the Classic Film Scores series for RCA and recorded with his usual ensemble, the National Philharmonic Orchestra from London session musicians.

(I might have shared this a long time ago, but if I did it is long-deleted, so why not share again?)

This break from anime music has now concluded.

I was planning my own series of classical posts... so I hope everyone will indulge the anime break a little longer... but knowing me it'll take weeks to post anything anyway... We'll see. ;)

Thank you for these... Borodin in particular is unfairly neglected nowadays... He's the Polovtsian Dances guy and that's it...

Looking forward to enjoying this when I finish work. :)

TT

Polovtsian Dances. Wasn't that supposed to be the opening to Eva? Wait no Chinese cartoons.

Polovtsian Dances. Wasn't that supposed to be the opening to Eva? Wait no Chinese cartoons.

Cheeky reference there, and yes, it was planned to be the original opening to Eva. But it was decided to go for a more typical J-Pop theme instead (in a hilarious coincidence, RahXephon - a series sometimes considered an Eva rip-off even though it's really, really not - would feature Polovtsian Dances years later. The more you know).


I like this sort of thing... hearing how two different people can see the came visuals and approach the score in completely different ways.

It is incredibly fascinating, both in how it shows off the different skills in the composers and how you can choose to approach a scene in all kinds of ways. It actually got me thinking about how you could score a scene that doesn't have any music*, and I thought about the Batman vs Bane fight from Dark Knight Rises (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDuetklFtDQ) - I'm not really a Batman fan, but I do remember there being a lot of videos from back in the day that took this scene and put various music tracks over it, and it made me wonder how you could approach it. Off the top of my head, you could go with:

-A piece of music that establishes a leitmotif for Batman, which gets distorted and weaker as the fight goes on to represent the character losing against Bane
-Two separate themes for Bane and Batman, the former becoming more and more prominent to show his dominance
-A grand, also empirical piece to show off the unstoppable might of Bane
-Failing all of that, just play the 4th Movement from Dvorak's New World Symphony (seriously, I just listened to it there and it works amazingly well - just start playing this at 0:18 until the end of the video; the music doesn't end but I think it fits with the beats of the scene (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9OBf8f55tU)

These are just what came to mind, but there's just as many other approaches you could take - and the most interesting bit is that even if you gave the same interpretation to two composers, you're still going to end up with two completely different takes on that approach. Man, I love discussing and thinking about music!

*Something that's generally been on my mind due to Evangelion being forced to remove Fly Me To The Moon and any pieces based on it with its recent inclusion on Netflix, with scenes featuring those pieces not having any music featured as a replacement - leaving them in stark silence besides dialogue and sounds, which generally kills a lot of their emotional impact.


Lastly, I�m sharing this disc because FrDougal9000 said a few pages ago that he hadn�t heard any of Borodin (Thread 57893) and this disc contains some of his most important orchestral works, including the �In the Steppes of Central Asia� not mentioned above. An interesting footnote is that this recording was produced by Charles Gerhardt of the Classic Film Scores series for RCA and recorded with his usual ensemble, the National Philharmonic Orchestra from London session musicians.

(I might have shared this a long time ago, but if I did it is long-deleted, so why not share again?)

This break from anime music has now concluded.

Aw, that's really cool that I inspired this share. I've got a few soundtracks or collections to listen to at the moment (Age of Pirates, Miyake's work on Uncharted Waters Online that Zipper posted a while back, Sixteen Small Screen Greats, and The Stewart Copeland Anthology, to name a few), but I'll make sure to get and listen to this in the future. Thanks for sharing it, and have an awesome day.

I'm a big fan of conservative scoring. If a film is well made, you don't need to slather it with score - and the moments where you do bring in the score are all the more impactful. No music can be just as effective, sometimes infinitely moreso, than music.

There are some kinds of scene that I couldn't bring myself to score. An emotional death, for example. I don't mean a Hollywood death, I mean a heartbreaking moment of palpable emotion... where you look into someone's eyes and watch them mentally breaking. You don't need to throw sad music on that. You don't need a theme for the dead person and a theme for the person who's sad and a leitmotif representing death and a complex symphonic retelling of the death. You can see it happening in front of you. That's enough. The exposure, the nakedness, the emotion. The camera that lingers past the point where we start to feel uncomfortable. We want to look away, we want something to break the tension, but it doesn't happen... we stay with them, we feel their pain, we live it. If you wrote that scene well, if you directed it well, if your actors gave a good performance... music would just cheapen the scene.

Jerry Goldsmith was always very good at knowing when, as a composer, to bring in the score and when to keep a dignified silence.

But I digress... as I often do. :)

You're very right on that. I was just doing a theoretical exercise to just consider how one could approach a scene without there already being music to subconsciously influence their ideas, but it's always good to be reminded that sometimes the best approach is to just leave it as is. :) (And now I'm wondering about the inverse; are there any scenes that could be potentially improved by removing the music and leaving only the rest of it? Again, just as a thought exercise.)

SERGEI PROKOFIEV
SYMPHONY NO. 3 IN C MINOR, “THE FIERY ANGEL”Haha, so that's where the opening of the finale piece from Magnetic Rose came from. Even when Kanno is supposed to be arranging another composer's opera, she still can't help but throw in pieces of Prokofiev.

https://picosong.com/wN58Z/

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. For some reason, as much as I like Prokofiev, I haven't brought myself to listen to any of his symphonies yet. This needs to be rectified soon.

*Something that's generally been on my mind due to Evangelion being forced to remove Fly Me To The Moon and any pieces based on it with its recent inclusion on Netflix, with scenes featuring those pieces not having any music featured as a replacement - leaving them in stark silence besides dialogue and sounds, which generally kills a lot of their emotional impact.

I've never watched Evangelion, at least not all the way through. I watched at least the first five or so episodes in college and I've seen the first two "rebuild" movies, but most of the series still eludes me. I had downloaded Blu-ray rips of the show and End of Evangelion to watch in my leisure, but never got around to it and was frankly unhappy at having all that storage space sucked up by the show. When Netflix announced they would be hosting it, I thought "Great!" and I could toss my files. But it seems like their changes have resulted in a sub-par experience. Grrr.


Haha, so that's where the opening of the finale piece from Magnetic Rose came from. Even when Kanno is supposed to be arranging another composer's opera, she still can't help but throw in pieces of Prokofiev.

Oh, Yoko. I watched Memories a long while back but don't have the album, this didn't register at the time. The woman has unimpeachable taste.

Sorry for the sudden shift, but Endro OST 2 is out tomorrow. Let's hope it turns up quickly and provides the missing parts of the puzzle needed to complete Yoshiaki Fujisawa's best score to date... (Not like that's hard, but it is a really good score...)

Tazer: Tell me about it. I've done some massive clearouts just recently, as well as re-encoding a tonne of stuff to HEVC. My anime folder (which is by no means large) dropped from 500gb to 200gb. Even though I've got a big NAS for storage, my media is still living on a wheezing old D-Link box which doesn't seem to be talk to a drive bigger than 4tb, and I'm kinda attached to the thing... so I just went for efficiency instead. Even when you've got space to spare, there's something satisfying about it. Space Brothers went from 33gb to 10gb with an almost negligible quality loss... And did I really need Chu-Bra!! in 1080p? *facepalm*

I've never watched Evangelion, at least not all the way through. I watched at least the first five or so episodes in college and I've seen the first two "rebuild" movies, but most of the series still eludes me. I had downloaded Blu-ray rips of the show and End of Evangelion to watch in my leisure, but never got around to it and was frankly unhappy at having all that storage space sucked up by the show. When Netflix announced they would be hosting it, I thought "Great!" and I could toss my files. But it seems like their changes have resulted in a sub-par experience. Grrr.

It's really only the removal of Fly Me To The Moon that's the problem. I know some folks dislike the new dub and plenty of folks dislike a certain line getting a new subtitle translation, but those issues are more subjective and aren't going to drastically ruin the experience. But removing FMTTM, or more specifically the arrangements from certain scenes and not putting in other music (even though the original series has more than enough music for the job), makes it an objectively worse show for everyone. It really sucks this happened, especially since I was really looking forward to watching the show proper for the first time since 2013, and even checking out the new dub at some point. Ah well, back to being a pirate to watch the series. Ya-harr!

(As an aside, I'd definitely recommend Evangelion. It's not for everyone, and that's okay, but I think it's worth the watch. I won't say any more than that.)

Oh my god, is Sawano really calling his work a "Symphonic Suite"?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prBfs0yhjZE

i'm definitely adding these to my Sahashi collection. Can't wait til they're released this September.

http://tokusatsunetwork.com/2019/06/kamen-rider-zi-o-music-cds-announced/

Oh my god, is Sawano really calling his work a "Symphonic Suite"?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prBfs0yhjZE

He doesn't know the meaning of symphonic

---------- Post added at 08:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:17 PM ----------

Anyone know the best recordings of Petrushka and Rite of Spring?

@TazerMonkey: Thank you very much for these recordings. Once upon a time it was this culture (and the whole Eastern Europe for that matter) that made some of the finest music ever put to score, or rather the composers living in it. Its funny how the center of music I value moved over the centuries (from Vienna to Tokyo).




Yasunori Mitsuda X Kosuke Yamashita (additional arrangements by the usual suspects Mariam, Daisuke and Tomomichi)
Three-days session with the Tokyo Philharmonic (Hall recording)
Project: TBA


And Here's something I catched yesterday:



Shin Sakura Taisen [First Score Preview] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtD-iUYrMH4)

These new melodies sound absolutely lovely (especially the mundharmonica piece). And yes the familiar tunes are brand new arrangements. More of the game's "Action side" will be revealed in time I'm sure.


Finally: Nice end title/Flying into the sunset (literally) (https://picosong.com/wNJgK/)

https://vgmdb.net/album/86575


EDIT: A little tease (https://picosong.com/wNE6E/)

Things are a little bit quiet on here again, so I thought I'd ask a question that I'd like y'all to answer if you can: is there an orchestral piece you love that comes from a work you can't stand?

To use a personal example, one that's been on my mind lately is a cue that plays in Land of Chocolate level from The Simpsons Game, composed by Tim Wynn and referred to as "The White Rabbit" in the game's soundtrack release (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAdZi1uzkuM). I absolutely loathe The Simpsons Game, mainly because it's an incredibly complacent, self-obsessed and self-satisfied farce that seems to think making video game references is the only "humour" it needs and constantly crams it down your throat over the span of 6-8 miserable hours. And yet, I honestly adore this cue - it's very calm and serene, which is helped greatly by how lovely the overall arrangement is. The instruments are used very effectively to help convey the intended mood (and in the case of elements like the choir and wind chimes, add to the sense of being in a dream, which the level is all about).

Something I particularly like is that there's a homage to "Pure Imagination" from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory in some of the melodies (because they're both candylands, geddit?), but there's plenty to the piece beyond that. It's not just a blatant reference with nothing else to speak of; something the game sadly does frequently in every other area. Instead, it's a piece that can be enjoyed entirely on its own merits, with a small but appreciated nod for anyone who picks up on it.

As an aside, I recently stumbled across a YouTube channel that ripped all the music straight from the game, including three separate layers for this cue: one for the brass and woodwind sections (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSbfCq9WIas), one for the strings (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJene6ls-xA), and one for brass and choir (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIPqswX5lHs). Unfortunately, they cut off right at the very end, but it's fascinating hearing the different sections and getting a better understanding of what they're each doing - I especially like the brass and woodwind sections, which sound like something out of a Last of the Summer Wine outtake in terms of how they're arranged.

I'd love to hear if y'all have any examples of orchestral music you love from media you otherwise can't stand! :)

I'd love to hear if y'all have any examples of orchestral music you love from media you otherwise can't stand! :)I think this is pretty common among most of the music being discussed in this thread, especially stuff from Japan. Cue Amano's massive score for Legend of the Blue Wolves... a yaoi hentai. Wherever you look, there's always some tremendous garbage out there that has received outstanding music, like half of Goldsmith's film scoring career.

If anything, hearing people admit to the opposite would be more rare. Enjoying technically terrible music from something they like because the media it's in has tremendous sentimental value to them. Often, I see people blindly defend the banality of music from a certain series because that series means so much to them, music included, that they cover their ears because they refuse to evaluate what they like on an objective level. I think this is an unfortunate but very common behavior. I'm not going to list any examples of works that fit this bill because I'm sure many of you frequently encounter this attitude enough to know exactly what I'm talking about, even on this site.

Sorry for the sudden shift, but Endro OST 2 is out tomorrow. Let's hope it turns up quickly and provides the missing parts of the puzzle needed to complete Yoshiaki Fujisawa's best score to date...

Your wish is my command:



Yoshiaki Fujisawa and his SPECIAL QUEST Orchestra
ENDRO~!
The Orchestral Score: FLAC



It Can't End with an Endroll! (https://picosong.com/wNNXr/) / Trial Entry (https://picosong.com/wNNjg/) / Warrior Cartado (https://picosong.com/wNNjz/) / Brave Party returns (https://picosong.com/wNNji/)
Download (https://mega.nz/#!uopG2IZK!H0ApQtRj5oVC26Cx1pYm3L-FXNzTKtxk3ocszgJ87oI)

All the credit goes to ladatree, who goes out of his way to bring you wonderful music you probably never heard before. You should give him a big rep :)

If you want the full package, with the addition of lovely folk tunes and somber or playful piano pieces as well as some charming pop tunes full of class, click below:

Example (https://picosong.com/wNNgB/)

ENDRO~! [The Complete Score]



Download (https://mega.nz/#!TwxjQQJZ!6bFAf5S_pLkshZqUcz0-Sb0O0P_Nye_chDl3N81LiVU)

Love it all, show and score. It has some forgettable episodes but those special few where the score takes over, just wonderful. You will have a tough time finding music this playful, elegant and rich for a cute anime girls show (not that they didn't have orchestral music or good music in general before, but Golden Age Fanfares and larger than life romantic moments is something else). Pieces like "The Ancient Ruins run deep" very much remind me of Drilands "Adventure Princess" (https://picosong.com/w8qjX/), a personal favorite of mine.

Everything about this show is endearing, its not even an adaption but an original work with some heartwarming ideals and stellar character designs and music:




"I wanted to make a show where you come home exhausted from work, grab a beer and have fun with these girls and appreciate the European cultural influence and we succeded. We designed everything and worked hard to bring you a smile and appreciation of the culture of "ancient Europe". Dragon Quest was our main inspiration and its very similar in its philosophy.

I hope the fun daily life of these girls warms your heart that may be tired. Since this is my first original animation, I was very nervous but also excited with a sense of adventure. I hope you find that reflected in the show.

Everyone of the staff, from the character designer to the composer had a smile on their faces and the working environment was great. I feel confident in saying we made something that brings people joy and something so cute I was moved to have been part of it. I may be a maniac, but I think it would be nice if you could also pay attention to such differences in body shape and features of the girls. Like how Yusha is chubby in all the right parts and we made sure to emphasize that or how Phi's skirt has a hole where you can see her panties. Surely the viewer should see and find his favorite figure (laughs).

Like Dragon Quest, music plays perhaps the most important role. Since talks with KING RECORDS were finished, I definitely wanted to work with Mr. Fujisawa. I gave him my request for rich and elegant Medieval Fantasy Europe music with a rich ethnic flavor. I asked for lovely melodies in a theatrical context with many variations to support the picture and gave him also a request of music I want to listen to carefully. It was a very elegant and productive atmosphere. Certain episodes have music that shines at every point. I really want everyone to pay attention to the music.


Enjoy!

After taking it all in (its quite a big score), I can add its all around a good showcase of class, clulture and pure musicality. In many ways the score draws huge inspiration from Sugiyama's Dragon Quest and classic film scores (though I hear an uncanny resemblance to Hirano's Driland). Its so insanely playful and melodic with lovely tunes and big romantic gestures with an orchestra just jamming it out. There's an element of control and craft Fujisawa has previously shown only glimpses of (or perhaps if GATE had a real orchestra he would have played his cards much sooner). His film score for NGNL Zero really served as a prelude of a classic composer at heart, a true professional, who has written music that profoundly affected people and no matter the tools such a composer uses, at the end of the day you can sit down, play it all on piano and have a smile. There is much to say how it came to be, which I think the director/creator of the show already adressed enough but I really hope there's more to come from it. An OVA would be a good sign. Regardless I hope Fujisawa's musical life will bless us with some grand things to come in the future. I'm not exactly holding my breath for his next run-of-the-mill ligh novel adaption in a few days to be a continuation of Endro but I certainly wish for it.

@TazerMonkey: Thank you very much for these recordings. Once upon a time it was this culture (and the whole Eastern Europe for that matter) that made some of the finest music ever put to score, or rather the composers living in it. Its funny how the center of music I value moved over the centuries (from Vienna to Tokyo).




Yasunori Mitsuda X Kosuke Yamashita (additional arrangements by the usual suspects Mariam, Daisuke and Tomomichi)
Three-days session with the Tokyo Philharmonic (Hall recording)
Project: TBA

I suspect this has everything to do with the Chrono series. It could be something new entirely, but with Chrono getting two revival soundtracks and a new concert at the end of this year, it seems very likely.[COLOR="Silver"]

Looks like the bulk of the good score was on the first album, but taken as a whole this makes a rather satisfying, though a little lightweight for my tastes (but you can hardly complain looking at the show) score... and one which is unusually hyper-melodic and displaying a level of orchestral skill that I simply didn't expect from Fujisawa given his previous work. Hearing his scores after Endro suggests that Endro will be a happy exception rather than a sign of the direction his future music will take... but to know what he can do when he's asked is encouraging. Just listening to the end of "Farewell to the fisherman" - that end tutti... this is skilled orchestration... (And the recording quality is very, very nice for a domestic recording.) This has pushed Fujisawa from "Don't even bother listening to this one" to "I await his next score with interest" which is really, really good going.

It doesn't unseat Kotobuki as score of the year, but it's one I'll definitely return to.

Thank you to both Vin and Ladatree for your post.

If I may make a plea... following on from a conversation we had some days ago, your tendency to move tracks around, combine music from multiple albums, and retitle everything makes it very difficult to work out what came from where. The archivist in me likes to keep OST 1 and OST 2 in separate places with tracks in the same order they were released. If it's not too much trouble... I'd really, really enjoy having the original, untouched, and hopefully lossless albums... If it's a pain or you don't keep them, no worries, though. :)

I kinda get it. However I care about the musical experience and narrative in my albums first before anything else so I don't have them anymore. But you're in luck, they are out on nyaa now :)

So short answer... nope! Buy the Bluray/CD if you want that, that's not my game :P

As I said before, I only share stuff from my collection, with stuff that appeals to me (and I only share it here and nowhere else "in public" as I'm contrary to the impression I seem to give very reserved in expression my thoughts about music online these days). But since people keep telling me they like what I do, I share my thoughts and albums and started a little channel a couple years ago. Simple as that. I've long since flipped the finger to boards like FSM and godawful music being celebrated and low-tier to garbage-tier composers put on pedestals, so as my counterpoint this Final Fantasy Forum now has a little project I'm very proud of and if they stumble upon it by accident, a wonderful world awaits in this little corner of the internet. Can't help it that a few dozen composers from sunriseland consistently write music I love and cherrish and everything else sounds boring now so you're free to convince me otherwise with some music ;)



and one which is unusually hyper-melodic and displaying a level of orchestral skill that I simply didn't expect from Fujisawa given his previous work

Now that I don't get. Its all in his music. Every grand statement in Endro has trademarks from his previous scores. He just has a full orchestra this time. Nothing in Endro truely comes out of nowhere given everything from GATE to Slow Start. Skill can be heard regardless of ensemble size and instruments available. And his score for Senko (no orchestra mind you) is full of the same sensibilities and display of control and craft as where the scores preceding Endro. I have difficulty understanding how you evaluate him as I have different perception of his music. I can sit down, play it on piano and its highly musical with proper musical structure and clear personal style and it has been that way since LoveLive. That's all that matters and everything else is just personal taste. But seeing your stance on a score like Gravity Daze, Last Jedi, Re:Zero, Orville or Invisible Victory, it would seem your philosophy of music or rather what you enjoy and value in music is different from my own values so an argument would be ultimately fruitless I believe (and where's the fun in that). Lets just agree that, in any form, its a skilled and highly musical orchestral score that we need more of ;)

Tokyo Phil, the only Japanese orchetra I cannot stand. Yamashita and Mitsuda sounds like a dream come true, though!

Tokyo Phil, the only Japanese orchestra I cannot stand. Yamashita and Mitsuda sounds like a dream come true, though!

You genuinely can't stand the Tokyo Phil? I actually find that genuinely fascinating; how come you can't stand them?


But seeing your stance on a score like Gravity Daze, Last Jedi, Re:Zero, Orville or Invisible Victory, it would seem your philosophy of music or rather what you enjoy and value in music is different from my own values so an argument would be ultimately fruitless I believe (and where's the fun in that). Lets just agree that, in any form, its a skilled and highly musical orchestral score that we need more of ;)

To briefly butt in on this conversation, I don't think it's pointless to discuss the merits of something when you're coming at it from very different perspectives. To me, that's actually a big part of why I love to talking to people about this sort of thing, or any other thing in general - being able to tackle the same subject when you both enjoy and value different things means that you're able to consider new perspectives, and maybe get a chance to appreciate something you hadn't given much of a chance before (e.g. being on this forum helped to give me some appreciation for John Williams, a composer whose works I never particularly cared about before, and I even gave him some compliments when talking about why the idea of comparing Michael Giacchino to him is laughable). Yes, it can be occasionally frustrating when you can't agree on something, but I think it's okay for that to happen. Differences can sometimes be a bit too inherent to ever really change, and the best thing to do is to accept that and at least acknowledge the positives that come with that.

Tango may not have cared for Fujisawa's work before Endro, but now he's got a reason to care and look forward to what he's capable of in the future. That's what matters, and it's awesome that he's been able to reconsider Fujisawa in that way. :)

Let me tell you, no matter if you like Williams or not, he is a composer you have to study if you want my advice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3kNRyh_rj8

Jaws, Superman, Empire Strikes Back, Reivers, Born on the Fourth of July and countless others... scores you should have heard at least once. Just forget everything after 2006 (or really 1999).

He is a master at dramatic structure (until the 90s) and a master at orchestral colors. That makes him worthy of study I think.


Fine, I take you up on that offer, since you ask so damn nice ;)

A good way to illustrate what I value in music can be heard in Kow Otani's return to anime scoring:



Kow Otani
Kenja no Mago



New World (https://picosong.com/wNjHc/) / Training (https://picosong.com/wNjds/) / Maelstrom Ire (https://picosong.com/wNNJR/) / Ultimate Magicians (https://picosong.com/wNjr2/)
Download (https://mega.nz/#!b1BDHSKQ!Viy3a1YiOUCZDCuB-xp_PreIloR-27EoGGtB2TNqRRg)

This is an artist album. Its a lot more electronic than usual and could be straight out of his 90s work, while being more playful and regal with a cross of Popolocrois and Shadow of the Colossus but honestly I really like it that way, its his trademark afterall and its all so musical. I also realized how much I missed his piano tunes, Haibane Renmei still stays freshly remembered In my heart (https://picosong.com/wNNus/)

It uses a shitton of electronics... but its all by a composer who is in completete control of his craft, he knows what he's doing, he loves what he's doing. He has a strong personality and could write anything you throw at him but he does what he loves. It's like an old friend has returned after a long absence and greets you with a beer. In fact the musical personality is so strong among my favorite Sunrise composers that I only need a few bars to hear who scores a project. Best recent example is Kaoru Wada's Journey teaser, you only need 3 seconds to realize its him if you're familiar with his music. Taking all my favoirtes together these days, they form a warm blanket in a cold winter night. That they are also friends in private too is very endearing.
But I digress, back to Otani, far too often are electronic tools or any exotic or percussion-slammy-heavy techniques associated with incompetence but that is only if you live in the Hollywood bubble where music gets produced you can only marvel at (not in a good way).

I could endlessly elaborate my perspective and values but I could try to list them comprehensivly:

- Mastery of craft of music making, no matter the genre, no mater the form, no matter the tools, a livelong journey (I don't care where you get it, by classic music education or by self-study, it doesnt matter these days, every knowledge and tools you need to be good and one day great can be found on the net, it takes years even when your active on the scoring scene to get good, even Williams needed a few decades for Star Wars)

- Strong personal style (Please don't try to sound like a copy of Williams, be your own voice by figuring out what makes their music so affecting for you)

- I can play it on piano and don't feel cheated (If its not singable its not something you will remember)

- You can write a smashing pop tune but you can also write a symphonic poem when asked (Be versatile, be a master of music, not a narrowminded "film" composer, do what you like and find a place where you can compose how you like)


I worship Tanaka for example because he completely encapsulates what I value in music, no matter the tools, no matter the form.

Speaking of him, I'm quite anxious about next week because Tanaka not only wrote the new theme song for Wano "Over the Top" ("the sound is high, the tempo is fast and the music is dense. You won't forget it once you listen") he also recorded a huge chunk of new music for it "It is also the first time I recorded so densely with Japanese musicians" which I hope means some Mario Galaxy recording situation.


I have a good feeling about this, its the 20th Anniversary
and its a cultural thing, surely they won't blow this up?! (please...)

I've been a Kow Otani fan since Gundam Wing. He reminds me of Uematsu in terms of his melodic sense. While he isn't the most interesting orchestrator, it's perfectly fine to rely on the strength of your tunes.

Several years ago I attempted to write something in his style: https://www.jeremyrobson.com/entering_the_arena.mp3

As far as Japanese composers go I've attempted to write stuff in the styles of Kanno, Uematsu, Wada, Hisaishi, Mitsuda, etc. This is how I learn.

streich, ever thought of joining IMAGINE? I bet after your demo tapes, Tanaka and Otani are up for an interview ;D

That's a really good question, and the only answer I can give is that I don't know what that entails. Do they pay a yearly salary, or act like an agency that finds you contracts? What kind of work do they need done, and does it require relocation? Would I get financial assistance for expenses that the position incurs? What is the success rate of their members/employees? Is there a demand in the industry for my style of composition? What is the competition like?

I see you aready prepared the necessary questions for an interview :D

Well, it depends, how much do you want to be Evan Call conducting a full symphony ochestra live playing your music with standing ovations and get the chance to score a major TV show and film, in an old-fashioned way where its completely up to you and with a good ensemble?

Violet Evergarden: Working Process

Interviewer: In contrast to film scoring, whereby you compose music to the edited footage, when scoring for anime, you�re handed the original work or the scripts and asked to compose to a �music order menu�. How does this compare?

(Translator�s note: A music order menu is a collection of songs and tracks requested from the composer, usually with titles like �battle music� or �everyday 1, 2, 3� etc.)

Call: It�s very different from the process I learned, so it was, in a way, quite refreshing. With film scoring, you have to match the musical composition to the footage, so you have to keep changing the beat, for example, from 4/4 time to 3/4 time and then to 7/8 time. Since you don�t have that constraint with TV anime, there�s a greater degree of freedom because you can just create according to your imagination. It�s fun because you can create pieces that sound good on their own, and it�s also interesting because the sound director can decide how to use your work as they please.

Interviewer: When creating background music, what is most helpful in terms of sparking your imagination?

Call: Scripts and storyboards are helpful too, but rushes (rough cuts of the animation) are the most effective. It gives you an idea about the tempo of the show in question, and it�s not uncommon to decide on the tempo of cues based on them.

Interviewer: With Violet Evergarden, your work began with the composition of the background track for the CM. What materials did you have access to at the time

Call: Before I was asked to create that track, I composed a piece that was to be used for a presentation to the show�s staff. That was the first piece. There weren�t any materials since work for the show hadn�t actually started, so I went out to buy the novel. And since kanji is difficult for me, I read it with my girlfriend.

Saito: To explain what happened, when I recommended Evan as the composer, the director and the other key staff asked me if they could listen to his music to get an idea of the kind of music he could write. But the two shows that Evan had worked on previously were very different from Violet Evergarden, so I didn�t think that listening to the BGM from either would be of any use. As such, I asked Evan to read the novel and create a background track for the presentation. And that piece of music eventually became the �Theme of Violet Evergarden�, which was used in the second CM. In short, director (Tatsuya) Ishihara took a liking to the track that Evan wrote based on the image he got from reading the novel, and besides cementing him as the composer, it was used as the music for the CM.

Call: They told me to record it ASAP because they wanted to use it for the CM. so I immediately booked a studio and made an orchestral recording. And since this �Theme of Violet Evergarden� contained the main melody, I�ve used derivatives of it in many of the other tracks I composed.

Interviewer: So you started working on the BGM pretty much straight after that. You composed over 40 tracks, but how long did each one take, approximately?

Call: It varies depending on each individual track, but I�m better at orchestral music than I am at funk or jazz, so it took less time compared to my work on the previous two shows. A cue that needed a full arrangement took about 8-10 hours; something lighter just 3-4. When I get into full composing mode, I can write two tracks a day. And when that happens, I pretty much stop shaving (laughs).

Interviewer: Because you�re basically cooped up at home working.

Call: I just let it grow out, and it�s craziest when we�re recording. Once all the work is done, including the mixing, that�s when I finally shave it all off (laughs).

Interviewer: Director Ishihara did mention that you had this fuzzy beard when you were all doing the sound mixing for episode 1 (laughs). Also, when I spoke with Mr. Tsuruoka, he brought up the person who plays the Viola da Gamba � during the recordings, was there anyone that left an impression on you?

Call: Kōichirō Muroya, who plays the violin, was magnificent. He listens to the performers around him, and modulates his own playing so that it all sounds good together. He really was fantastic. And Akio Noguchi, who played the bodhr�n and the tin whistle for us, was also impressive. He�s actually a pianist, but is really well acquainted with traditional Irish instruments. This is the first time he�s performed the bodhr�n, but he was incredibly good. And the pianist, Kōichi Satō, is someone I�ve worked with a lot recently, and the emotion he puts into his performances really makes you feel it. He really played well for us, matching himself to an orchestra of more than 50 people.

Interviewer: That�s a pretty large size for an orchestra.

Call: I think we used the largest studio that has ever been used to record BGM for a TV anime. We used an orchestral booth for the recording, so it�s also the biggest that I�ve ever done myself. I asked Shinsuke Tajiri to conduct, and he was incredibly important in that he conveyed what I wanted to do perfectly to the orchestra. Mr. Muroya and Mr. Tajiri are both able to differentiate between all the instruments by ear, so they notice if, for example, the woodwinds make a mistake. There are times when I don�t notice because I�m focused on other instruments, so they really helped me out on that front.

Interviewer: The BGM really is luxurious, for us fans, too. Who named all the pieces for the CD release?

Call: I named them myself. Since overseas fans would be listening to it as well, I wanted the titles to be in English. The album title, �Violet Evergarden: Automemories�, was also my suggestion. �Automemories� is a made-up word, (derived from the term used to describe Violet and her peers). I�ve organised the album such that it follows the story, gradually leading up to a climax, and I�d like as many people to enjoy it as possible.

If you want that experience I guess you could give it a try and get in contact with Call or MONACA's new member Oliver Good for further questions. Japanese Music companies/industry are very open and supportive of upstarting composers from what I've heard.

You would need to have at least a very basic understanding of the language (but you could get by with english most of the time) and have a certificate of residence down the road so you would need to relocate if you're serious, I think.

Several years ago I attempted to write something in his style: https://www.jeremyrobson.com/entering_the_arena.mp3

I'm not terribly familiar with Otani outside of some of his SOTC work (fun fact, his work on that game inadvertently helped me understand how to start figuring out chords from a bass note, thanks to a video Hamish Black did on it about a year and a half back - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-WtAZ_PidOQ). So I can't really say how well you emulated it, but I wanted to write and say that I quite like that piece and how quickly it changed gears. What starts off as something you'd hear in a Roman colosseum quickly turns into the theme tune for a space shooter from the 90s with a rockin' soundtrack, and now I want to play that game. (Another fun fact: one of Hayato Matsuo's earliest projects was the soundtrack to the SNES port of Syvalion, so this kind of thing isn't unprecedented - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nhFSfgjlwNc)

---

As an aside, I just wanted to pop on here to say that I'm working on another post for a soundtrack. It'll be up in a couple of days and it's a lil' bit old-school, but also a lil' bit strange - which isn't surprising given the film it comes from. You'll see what I mean... :)

I'm not terribly familiar with Otani outside of some of his SOTC work
My favourite Otani work, if you couldn't tell already from that track I posted, is Gundam Wing. And it's not due to nostalgia or anything, though it was one of the first anime I saw growing up. When the first episode aired I knew nothing about Gundam but right from the opening notes of the "intro" I was hooked: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch6sAZ-G5po

It's kind of Daphnis et Chloe-inspired, as if opening a large classical piece. Plus you are treated instantly to a few motifs you hear in other tracks, including the OP. Otani uses chromatic figurations (similar to turns) which gives it a unique sound. Overall it's dark, brooding, and gives it a sense of seriousness I felt was lacking from other OSTs at the time, such as Evangelion.

Speaking of which, I miss the trend of hearing arrangements of the OP in OSTs such as Gundam Wing, Evangelion, Escaflowne, Martian Successor, etc. Now they just play the OP again at the end of the season as a sign that's the last episode.

Just a quick one to say that I'm a bit occupied just lately with some family stuff (elderly relative related) and will be on holiday from Friday, so will probably not post... just to assure you that I haven't just legged it in the middle of a conversation... :)

That's completely understandable, man. You do whatever you gotta do to make sure you and anyone else in your corner of the world is okay. We'll still be here when you get back, so don't worry about it. I hope things turn out alright on your end. :)

Hello, everyone! I hope you're all doing well! Sorry for the double post, but since it's nearly the weekend, I thought I'd give y'all a little surprise from my childhood. I don't have as much to say about this one as I normally would, but this comes from a film I watched all the time as a kid and holds a bit of nostalgia to me. Hopefully, this'll tickle something similar for some of you here. Enjoy:



Disney's Robin Hood (1973) - The George Bruns Collection



FLAC:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/l0dnma8kesh3rou/RHFLAC.zip/file
https://mega.nz/#!ZOJhmYrb!z1R6ncC-zsqj8qICStinnnoahwF9iAwYN5OqOuL0Lws

MP3:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/iuamxufd2715udx/RHMP3.zip/file
https://mega.nz/#!8PJDDA6C!i_uLMz9RxxJGoTpOurx84chusEN0tq75ZRxeI92o_FM

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Composed and arranged by George Bruns

Tracks 3, 4, 5, 11, 20 and 24 feature music composed by Roger Miller

Tracks 7, 12, 14, 15 and 24 feature music composed by George Bruns and Floyd Huddleston

Track 16 features music composed and written by Milo Sweet & Glen Grant, and William T. Purdy & Carl Beck

Note: Track 20 is a shortened version of "Not In Nottingham", which featured both the musical number and the instrumental arrangement on the same track. The track now begins with the organ arrangement played in the church, followed by the orchestral cue that it's named after (according to the notes on the Legacy Collection).

Special thanks go to Miss Purple, who was responsible for the original upload of the Legacy Collection, from which this upload is derived from: Thread 218374

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George Bruns was a film composer best known for his work as musical director at Walt Disney's film studios from the 1950s to the 70s, scoring many of their live-action and animated films. Both Davie Crockett films (including co-writing "The Ballad of Davie Crockett"), The Jungle Book, The Love Bug, The Aristocats, The Absent-Minded Professor, 101 Dalmatians, and his adaptation of Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty ballet for the 1959 film are among his more well known works - the man's music practically defines nostalgia for at least a couple of generations who grew up with these movies.

Robin Hood was one of Bruns' latter day works, and keeping in with director Wolfgang Reitherman's anachronistic sensibilities, the score of the film plays around with expectations. Like how the film takes place in medieval-era England while featuring a cast that speaks with the kind of accents you'd hear in Westerns of the day, Robin Hood's music features plenty of old school Golden Age music while also going off into Nashville-style country songs and the odd bit of funk (though the former is due more to the inclusion of various songs penned by country singer Roger Miller).

Despite the cult following the film earned over the years, the original score had never been released on its own - the closest we got was a soundtrack album that still featured the dialogue and sound effects from the film itself. Thankfully, that was rectified in 2017 with the release of the Legacy Collection, which included the entire score along with demo songs and arrangements featured from accompanying albums, allowing people to appreciate Bruns' work in all its glory. Listening back to the music for this collection has helped me to appreciate various elements that I previously hadn't noticed before, such as the use of "Love" as a leitmotif throughout the first half of the movie.

This collection features all orchestral cues composed and arranged for the film by George Bruns in chronological order, taking care to remove the musical numbers by Roger Miller and any tracks that doesn't feature an orchestra. An orchestral arrangement of "Love", sung by Pete Renoudet, is included where the film's version of that musical number would have taken place.

For anyone who has fondness for this style of Disney music, or enjoys listening to an old school score with some eccentric elements thrown in, this should hopefully bring a smile to your face. I hope you enjoy the music, and that you have a great day!

news - Junichi Matsumoto composes for his 2nd anime next year: https://youtu.be/FVylUdXqQ_s?t=44

music is already recorded with a good size orchestra

Thanks Father, I watched it as a child of course. The one Legacy Collection I really want is Bambi and I want it now!

On that note, someone uploaded Sleeping Beauty recently with better audio quality and I stayed up at night against better judgement to watch it again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8612Y3rFuC8&list=PLk2AFrmbjsm7BjRNTeoXm5v46PfLJ0QdG




@cal: Me, personally, I'm looking forward to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEOveeZuor0

OOOH... There's a vague kind of Fractale vibe going on there... This could be really, really good...

Edit: Is there a composer announced for Orbital Era? The scores in the director's previous films (Akira and Steamboy) make me wonder what we'll get, though anybody who uses Holst in a trailer has got taste, at the very least...

Already sounds better than The Ancient Magus Bride if you ask me.

Ancient Magus Bride had its moments, I thought... but it was basically a collection of noises arranged into an album.

SOme of the orchestration (particularly in the movie) was outstanding, but that was really all there was. This one feels like it has structure, like it's going to be a grown up piece of music. It's easily the most harmonically adventurous piece of music that we've heard in anime for some years, and that's just thirty seconds in a PV. The crescendo between 1:12 to 1:18 is lovely... light dissonance, suspense, control... And though this sounds eminently more conventional, I think it will not take the easy way out.

In more personal news: Grandad just got home from hospital and has the all clear. :)

Off to the ferry port now, will try to post if I can find internet but probably won't be back for a week... so bye for now!

Coming soon...

Well it seems my intuition is correct...

Yamashita and Mitsuda will be doing 8 tracks each for both Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross.

https://www.jp.square-enix.com/music/sem/page/chrono/concert/

New Rebuild of Evangelion is here!!! Bad sound quality because it's a camrip, but still you can hear REALLY GREAT (even if some of it are rearrangements) music! Well at least in my opinion it's sounds great and amazing.

I'm still not sure about the 4th Rebuild itself, since the 3th was a big disappointment to me, anyway I already want to hear more music by Shiro Sagisu.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YF9mmdzsgY

I think Christopher Willis is worthy enough to be a disciple of Sahashi or Kanno, tackling a variety of genres.

Funk.
https://soundcloud.com/christopher-t-willis/croissant-de-triomphe?in=christopher-t-willis/sets/mickey-mouse-shorts

Bebop Jazz (with snippets of the Casey Jr theme):
https://soundcloud.com/christopher-t-willis/tokyo-go?in=christopher-t-willis/sets/mickey-mouse-shorts

Russian Folk
https://soundcloud.com/christopher-t-willis/dancevidaniya?in=christopher-t-willis/sets/mickey-mouse-shorts


I want to know what you guys think of them.

I think Christopher Willis is worthy enough to be a disciple of Sahashi or Kanno, tackling a variety of genres.Writing music in for multiple genres in a single work is a staple of Japanese media that dates back to the 70s with the funk-rock-jazz-orchestra fusions in shows like Fist of the North Star and Gundam 0079. It's considered the norm for almost all their composers, even those with classical backgrounds. Kanno and Sahashi are far from the first to implement this, and there's nothing musically in any of Willis's music that is reminiscent of their styles. It sounds like extremely generic and cheap stock music devoid of any personality if I'm being honest.

That's fair. I find it better than most modern film scores.

Yeah, the sound itself is great to hear, especially the Golden Age Disney homages but its true its devoid of any personality. It also doesn't help that the style of the show seems to leave little room for a piece of music to grow or be its own thing (one of the reason most western scores are unlistenable for me now), its just little snippets of music barely connected, something you would NEVER hear in the classic WB and Disney days (but theres some good exception from what I've heard on his soundcloud). Pretty much sounds like his Death of Stalin (even Republic The Revolution by James Hannigan had more personality). Its certainly a good thing he evokes classic Disney and classic Television, so good luck to him. I hope he can sustain a career writing like this. For illustration, Yugo for example would (could) never write a Jazz/Funk piece like a textbook: https://picosong.com/wKy6F/



@Josh: I would be so down for a new chrono game with a full symphonic score by Mitsuda, so long as Yamashita also gets a little more than arrangement duties.

@suro-zet: I wonder how many Warsaw version of Sagisu tracks Amano recorded this time and how much of it won't be released until years later it appears on an outtake or bonus album ;)

Yeah, the sound itself is great to hear, especially the Golden Age Disney homages but its true its devoid of any personality. It also doesn't help that the style of the show seems to leave little room for a piece of music to grow or be its own thing (one of the reason most western scores are unlistenable for me now), its just little snippets of music barely connected, something you would NEVER hear in the classic WB and Disney days (but theres some good exception from what I've heard on his soundcloud). Pretty much sounds like his Death of Stalin (even Republic The Revolution by James Hannigan had more personality). Its certainly a good thing he evokes classic Disney and classic Television, so good luck to him. For illustration, Yugo for example would (could) never write a Jazz/Funk piece like a textbook: https://picosong.com/wKy6F/

While the music may not be the greatest thing, I still think it's a breath of fresh air when compared to most scores from modern 21st century TV animation, live action, and especially Hollywood films. And that's saying much. To me, the composer is at least trying.

@suro-zet: I wonder how many Warsaw version of Sagisu tracks Amano recorded this time and how much of it won't be released until years later it appears on an outtake or bonus album ;)

I think, as long as Evangelion is at the top of fame, we'll certainly get many outtake albums and other things.

And speaking about arrangements, I wonder if Sagisu crazy enough to ask Amano create an orchestral arrangement of Misirlou song by Dick Dale (This song was uesd not only in "Pulp Fiction", but also in french movie "Taxi" so it could be some kind of joke on France)? Riffs of it already used for new version of Decivisve Battle, but I think it could be maked special for french festival where prologue was shown.

Already knowing, that some events will take place in post-apocalyptic Paris we may have a chance to hear some classical and traditional french songs (or even pop songs!) in unexpected arragments, cause it's Japan :)

I watched the Evangelion preview yesterday, and one of the things I really dug was the arrangement of "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" with strings and choir. Yes, it seems to be Sagisu's standard four-person choir, but I like the way they're arranged and I'd love to hear a full version of that arrangement at some point. I was pleasantly surprised by the sudden introduction of Spanish-style guitar when the fight begins, and it makes me wonder if 3.0+1.0 will have a particular focus on a certain instrument or genre of music in the same way that 3.0 had a particular focus on piano-driven music.

On the other hand, I was a little bit disappointed that when the fight escalated, the music changed to the typical "epic" orchestra with the four-person choir (which always seems to be in A minor for whatever reason). I'm not slamming that type of music, and it does provide some consistency with the rest of the films in how they used their battle tracks, but I was kinda hoping that maybe there'd be a focus on a different style of orchestral action to highlight the overall escalation and add a sense of finality to the proceedings. Granted, this is only the preview, so maybe the film's deliberately starting off with a "business as usual" feeling (the previous two films also started with a big damn action scene surrounded by classic Eva technobabble) before it tries to subvert that. I guess we'll find out over the next year or so. Gah, I can't wait!


While the music may not be the greatest thing, I still think it's a breath of fresh air when compared to most scores from modern 21st century TV animation, live action, and especially Hollywood films. And that's saying much. To me, the composer is at least trying.

Can I make an assumption and guess that you're more than likely talking about American media when you make that claim? I don't mean to be rude, but it's just that whenever I hear about trends in media from English-speaking forums, it tends to concern solely stuff produced by the American mainstream (and then Japanese as a distant second). I'm not trying to single you out in particular for it - I just tend to see those as the only examples brought up in these kinds of discussions, and I think it ignores how far and wide these mediums actually tend to stretch.

Yes, stuff by the American mainstream tends to be pretty generic, but that doesn't mean that's the case for the rest of the world. What about the less popular areas of American culture, or Canada, or the various countries within Central America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North Africa, South Africa, Asia, South-East Asia, and Australia, to try and shortlist everywhere else in the world as briefly as possible? There's all kinds of amazing music, animation, games, media and so many other things going on in the world, with all kinds of people trying their best to make their best work - if you're not satisfied with the stuff you're currently seeing from your usual haunts, why not wander outside of that and see what you can find?

If you enjoy action films with a focus on physical combat, why not dig into the long back catalog of Shaw Brothers martial arts films from the 1960s to 80s? If you're a sucker for adventure games and want something of interest, dive straight into the French adventure gaming scene from the late 80s/early 90s and see what you can find. If you want to find awesome orchestral music for films, games, TV shows and beyond, well... just hang around this thread for a few minutes and see what folks upload or recommend. Heck, I can give a few suggestions off the top of my head if you're overwhelmed by how much there is and don't know where to start, if you like! :)

(And yes, I just realized that most of what I've suggested are older than the 21st century, which doesn't really address your point and might even help to back it up. That's fair enough. But in that case, I'd recommend finding forums, sub-Reddits, Discord groups, and generally using the internet to find recent examples of genres you like to discover new stuff that you'd never have known about otherwise.)

I apologize if I'm nagging you, but I guess I'm trying to point out how much great media there is in the world, and how much of it lies beyond the typical expectations of the American mainstream. If you're not happy with what you've been seeing lately, try and wander outside of that. You'll hopefully find something you never thought you'd enjoy. :)

You guys were talking about Christopher Willis so I couldn't help but to step in here to say I absolutely love his work and Death Of Stalin is in a list of my MOST favourite scores. It's got such a classical background and it just sounds great.

Recently I've been enjoying the trilogy of How to train your dragon, specifically 3, was meh about it at first listen in February but now I like it more after being more knowledgeable with score. I know it's nothing to you guys but felt like saying it.

I felt bad for posting the music.

I just got so tired of generic after generic music in most modern films and tv shows that the Mickey Mouse shorts were at least trying when it comes to producing music.

Can it top Bernard Hermann, Henry Mancini, Mozart and Bach? Of course not. But I'd rather listen to the music in the shorts than the music in a Marvel, or any other live action film.

Oh, don't be so down, I'm definitely glad you posted it :)

Like I said, from the sound angle its wonderful to hear someone going after classic Disney or write a classical inspired score for Death of Stalin, from my perspective we need more composers infused with classical style, but I just value personality in orchestral/classical music a little more and am not hearing something that makes me excited for his music. I also said I hope he can sustain a career, perhaps he will prove me wrong down the road but right now the little snippets of music show at least promise.

And yes it sounds miles above from the usual Disney stuff. The sound of the classics is there, the structure of the classics, however, is not: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGbAcQk6Zso

For your problem I have an easy solution, something I did a couple of years ago... don't watch media with bad music (to your perspective and experience), from my angle that does wonders. I pretty much only listen and watch stuff I value and find wonderful (unless I can't avoid it on occasion), most from Japan, others from past decades (like stuff from Goldsmith, Williams, Bernstein, Goodwin and classical greats). I only let such media in my life.


@Ponyo: Oh I definitely like parts of Powells Dragon Trilogy... especially the stuff taken from Goldsmith scores, made me listen to it all over again (you will remember this scene from HTTYD 2): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=063eHiNFfh4 / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sc3N3UKaYA

Yeah, I mean it's not like they think Christopher Willis sucks, it's just that they've got a bit more of a demanding, hard, adquired taste and that's fine :P

@BladeLight52: Don't feel bad for posting Willis' work. It's something you enjoy for its quality and that gets you passionate about music, and it's always worth celebrating anything that does that. For example, I'm a big fan of Shiro Sagisu, but I'm more than aware that he's not to everyone's taste. That's okay, because I know that I at least enjoy the guy and I can be sure that everyone else has composers that make them super excited to check out! As long as checking out Willis' music gets you pumped and eager to get involved with or talking about music, that's all that matters. :)

Aaaaaaand we're back!

Sorry for the double post (ish), but I thought I'd write a quick one to say that I bought a pair of somewhat obscure orchestral albums the other day because I thought they might be of some interest to folks on this thread. They're mainly arrangements of traditional songs, but I've listened to one of them so far and it's actually a very good album, with some of the arrangements being particularly gorgeous. I'll try to listen to the other one and maybe put something together over the next week or thereabouts, so I hope you look forward to it! :)

I watched the Evangelion preview yesterday, and one of the things I really dug was the arrangement of "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" with strings and choir. Yes, it seems to be Sagisu's standard four-person choir, but I like the way they're arranged and I'd love to hear a full version of that arrangement at some point. I was pleasantly surprised by the sudden introduction of Spanish-style guitar when the fight begins, and it makes me wonder if 3.0+1.0 will have a particular focus on a certain instrument or genre of music in the same way that 3.0 had a particular focus on piano-driven music.

On the other hand, I was a little bit disappointed that when the fight escalated, the music changed to the typical "epic" orchestra with the four-person choir (which always seems to be in A minor for whatever reason). I'm not slamming that type of music, and it does provide some consistency with the rest of the films in how they used their battle tracks, but I was kinda hoping that maybe there'd be a focus on a different style of orchestral action to highlight the overall escalation and add a sense of finality to the proceedings. Granted, this is only the preview, so maybe the film's deliberately starting off with a "business as usual" feeling (the previous two films also started with a big damn action scene surrounded by classic Eva technobabble) before it tries to subvert that. I guess we'll find out over the next year or so. Gah, I can't wait!

A very late reply due to bugs with site, sorry about that.

Cause the health problems I havn't concentrate on details of music and I didn't notice "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring", so I thought it was new original compostion by Sagisu. But I feel better now and after your mention about Bach I finally can hear it :)

While I have no problem with London special choir, but it's strange to me why Sagisu continue used only 4-person choir? He could use bigger ensemble or even the full power of Warsaw choir (He used them only for "Darkness comes to us all" from Berserk, if memory serves) but for some reason he don't.

Speaking of sense of finality, I almost agree with you, but still i feel something like that in first few minutes during the clip (or trailer) that contains mix of scenes from previous Rebuilds.

"Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" gives me feels like it's the end of a long way and we are on the verge of something greate. But, unfortunatly, after end of this clip that feeling faded away and music starts to sound like we are in the middle of the show. Which makes me worried that this movie will not be the end of Evangelion, and after release (or even earlier) we heard about new projects (new series for example). But I hope it's just my thoughts and I'm wrong :)

I believe you're not in luck because Eva is too profitable to just end it (they recently announced a mobile game). Its one of the few anime franchise that stayed relevant from the 90s. Especially now that anime is a global market.
On the other hand that means Sagisu/Amano will be scoring for it some more... so its a win for me. And I believe the recently released Warsaw cue is indicative that there will be great music in the movie somewhere ;)

On the term of franchises that stayed relevant over the decades, the renaissance of Lupin continues: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uw7jrQQK3Mc (Yuji Ohno writes the film score, could be a classic Bond)




In other news, turns out Tanaka-san wrote a testosterone-filled kickass Rock Song for each decade (King of the Medium, baby). I also like how each one kinda represents the general aesthetics of the respective decades.

King of the Braves[1990s] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgAazreoQqA)

King Gainer [2000s] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijHmETsneUw)

Over The Top [2010s] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaVhWpElSGc)

From operatic songs of Sakura Taisen, Gunbuster, Bastard!! and Hameln to powerful joyful ballads of One Piece and AnimeNext100, he wrote some smash hits, some even became popular around the world.
Regarding my values I listed recenty, its totally the same composer when he has a full symphony orchestra:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPaXOac4qfs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgMW82xVtDg&t=4m27s

And who could forget his ode to the sea, it encapsulates what One Piece [The romance, the adventure] is all about to him:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NSBIyOJqT8

That is what I consider a master of music, a true composer.



Finally, after Tanaka's smashing song, here's an overview for the rest of the season, starting with a little program of mine:


Anime Summer Season 2019

Kenichiro Suehiro & Yoshihiro Ike



Episode 1 - When you're growing the beard (https://mega.nz/#!2shlmabS!w3i51cRTfP0ByqEuzAq8fC59W663tJa_F7jpioV9QQo)

Granbelm has the best mech power score scene since Star Driver (and its an Escaflowne wink)
Fire Force is a 4-cour show if memory serves so lots and lots of score. And I like it more and more with the second episode. Seeing his latest work getting official releases I think there's a good chance this time as well.
Ike continues the Bahamut style and episode 2 has lovely little piece already.


Keiji Inai



Episode 2 - Party like its 1985 (https://mega.nz/#!yoRGAKxA!hvS17lwg26LoVVJ27NdGYv4NLdfmxJd4b0EsJVcBlso)

Some of it sounds from a bygone film music era, so much so I had to double check the Otaku Anime tropes to set me at ease, this is current year anime music.


Yoshiaki Fujisawa



Isekai Cheat Magician (https://picosong.com/wK6za/) (Full orchestra, music is far down in the mix somehow)

Shame its a bonus cd again. Fujisawa continues with some real oldschool orchestral writing mixed with a little electronic touch, similiar to Mori Yuya's "Electronic Golden Age Hollywood" style. There's things in there that could be something.


Taku Iwasaki



Copcraft (https://picosong.com/wK6Hy/)

It's Iwasaki with "this is a score I wanted to make 15 years ago, so this is revenge against my old self". Make of that what you will ;)
Also nice OP.


Newcomer Alert! Miki Sakurai



The Demon Girl Next Door [Full Orchestra + Chamber Ensemble] (https://picosong.com/wK6H2/)

Miki Sakurai is a newcomer, 24 years old and she is still currently at the Tokyo Metropolitan University of Fine Arts and Music.
The show itself is one of those 10seconds of music snippets comedies so its difficult to say how much orchestral score there will be but all the music is delightful with a sense of control I wouldn't expect from someone so young. Look out for her.


Ryo Takahashi



Arifureta [Full Orchestra + Jazz] (https://picosong.com/wK6He/)

This makes me think music budget has nothing to do with the actual production of an anime. Huge orchestra. Electronic tools but classical sensibilities and some jazzy aczion.


Nice Impressions

Kohta Yokoseki - For my Daughter, I would defeat a Demon Lord (https://picosong.com/wK6Tf/)(No orchestra so far but full of classical sensibilities)
Yukari Hashimoto - How heavy are the dumbells you lift? (https://picosong.com/wK6TR/) (killer OP, some nice brassy action ala Rocky and some classical style)

O maidens, JK, Dr. Stone and Re:Stage all have pleasant classical style music with an orchestra but nothing I would seek out, the only show missing now is Michiru's Bem which I believe will be full of nice Jazz and some orchestra perhaps.

Disappointment (so far)

Vinland Saga
Nobunaga #184

Remark

Openings this season are lit and catchy with full brass sections, singing ability varies since they use the VAs. Anime films assemble more of the old guard: Hisaishi, Miyazaki, Tanaka and Oshima all had orchestral sessions.
Ike also scored Knights of the Zodiac so that could be a surprise. Wano so far is not at all what I expected, but I dig it, didn't expect Tanaka meant by "dense" the worlds smallest orchestra + traditional ensemble.


That's all for now.

From operatic songs of Sakura Taisen, Gunbuster, Bastard!! and Hameln to powerful joyful ballads of One Piece and AnimeNext100, he wrote some smash hits, some even became popular around the world.
Regarding my values I listed recently, its totally the same composer when he has a full symphony orchestra:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPaXOac4qfs

And who could forget his ode to the sea, it encapsulates what One Piece [The romance, the adventure] is all about to him:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NSBIyOJqT8

That is what I consider a master of music, a true composer.

Huh, I had no idea Tanaka did the music for a Gundam series (to be fair, my knowledge of Gundam as a whole is incredibly woeful; the best comparison I can give it that it's being vaguely aware of only one Final Fantasy - and it's Mystic Quest). How many people have done music for Gundam, since the only other composer I know off-hand is Yoko Kanno? I'd love to check out some of the better series' scores out of curiosity.

Also, that One Piece song is very good. I have little to no knowledge of that franchise outside of some of its music, but I'm always fascinated at how it's likely Tanaka and Hamaguchi's furthest reaching work, and how good what I little I've heard is. I'd really like to hear more samples of their work on the show and the films.

As previously mentioned, my vote is for Gundam Wing (https://soundcloud.com/mohamedyousry1/to-beauty-to-elegance-and-to-noble-mindedness-gundam-wing)

But of course Turn A Gundam trumps everything for me.

Wow, Iwasaki actually got himself an orchestra for an anime next year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLycQPKUwQU

Not expecting much from Cop Craft given what we've heard so far is entirely pure electronics with a tiny strings ensemble, but this is promising.

Forgot to mention that aside from the anime front (but lets be real Tokusatsu is 50% anime anyway), Mori Yuya broke the Ultraman curse! After years upon years of moving away from Sahashi's style and an abysmal netflix series, here comes a score that is an ultra step in the right direction:

Mori Yuya



Ultraman Taiga (https://picosong.com/wKN4H/)

Yes, he uses current electronics but if you can look past that its a leap back to the 80s. Soprano is there, focus on trumpet, lovely themes for woodwinds and strings, frentic action with fast snares and timpani... this has the ingridience to turn it around. I'm looking forward to the movie and the eventual soundtrack. At the very least this gives Yuya the career boost he desperately needed :)



@Father: Tanaka actually scored two major Gundam series. 08Th MS Team and Gundam G, both are favorite scores of mine. I prefer the symphonic album from 08th MS Team (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zj73Y91r3C4&t=1m23s) over the TV ensemble. G Gundam (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIQXhWNlyeM) had a huge orchestra as well
If we're talking about which I love best its really hard to choose between Tanaka's output, Sahashi's Gundam SEED and Yoko Kanno's Turn A. They are all great. But Gundam Wing is really nice too ;)




Wow, Iwasaki actually got himself an orchestra for an anime next year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLycQPKUwQU

Not expecting much from Cop Craft given what we've heard so far is entirely pure electronics with a tiny strings ensemble, but this is promising.

Lets hope he has a big ensemble. I don't know what Cop Craft has in store, I like the elecronics in this but knowing his eccentric character he might as well have written an opera for the cute anime girl:


Once Mozart was writing a beautiful aria for adorable characters, such as the magical princess Papagena and Don Giovanni's Zerlina, I tried to create an aria for my lovable Lucy.


(Lucy Maud Montgomery)

Here's some footage of the orchestra recording of Chrono Orchestra with Mitsuda :)

What I hear so far sounds promising but I would need to hear more to be completely excited. Yamashita seems to be the new orchestrator on call with Square now, which isn't bad by any means.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxdeHfWlMtA

A few very tasty things for you guys from Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0

New (I'd call it Rebuilded :) ) version of "Destiny" composition from Evangelion 2.0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGymajCJh6A

New arrangment of "Jesus bleibet meine Freude", which gives me a really joyful feeling https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISu1rz5KqIE

Does anyone have the complete score for the Jackie Chan movie Bleeding Steel?

Thought some in this thread would like to know that Forest of Piano (I think more accurately translated as Piano of the Forest or Piano Forest) is now on Netflix streaming as a "Netflix Original." Both seasons are available to stream. You may recall the lovely soundtrack that has been posted in this thread. I've been watching the show and have found it very powerful. I'm still not done with Season 1 but wow.

@Sirusjr: Hey, nice to see you around :)

Yes, some parts of it are really good (this is my favorite): https://picosong.com/wKzLK/
From her other works, this is nice as well: https://picosong.com/wKz23/
Or this: https://picosong.com/wKzmV/

Considering its been only her first year of anime scoring, getting that glow (growing the beard might not be the best term here), like Suehiro/Inai/Fujisawa did, will not take long I feel.

[Edit: Temporarily removed because I wrote a load of bollocks at 2am and none of it made any sense.] :D

I'm actually surprised there haven't been any posts in the last couple of days. Huh. Well, in the meantime, a couple of news items came up:

The first is that a Kickstarter has begun to raise money for a complete orchestral arrangement of ActRaiser's soundtrack by Yuzo Koshiro. (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1849284123/snes-actraiser-vgm-complete-score) It's being managed by Yusuke Ichihara (the conductor of the New Japan BGM Philharmonic, who performed many Koshiro soundtracks last year), Koshiro is personally supervising it, and the arrangement will be handled by Nijuhachi Haneda, who was worked with Koshiro as an arranger for the last few years.

If the Kickstarter hits its goal of 1,500,00 yen (around $14,000), a complete arrangement will be made of the entire game's soundtrack and sold as a PDF, as well as a hardback copy to backers, afterward. There are also three stretch goals: a condensed score for those who aren't used to following a full score (�2,000,000/$18,500), a solo piano arrangement (�2,500,000/$23,200), and talk events discussing the game with Koshiro, Haneda and Ichihara (�3,000,000/$27,800). If the project is a success, they would like to release more orchestral arrangements of Koshiro's work, and perhaps other game music in the future. I'm not too familiar with Koshiro's score (nor the Wada arrangement or the newer Haneda arrangement), so I can't really say anything on it other than that exists. Maybe it'll take your fancy at least.

The second one isn't perhaps on topic for the thread, but I felt I should try to promote it given the fact that a fair few KyoAni shows have received some well-liked orchestral music. A couple of days ago, an arsonist set fire to KyoAni's main building, injuring many and killing 33. (https://www.cartoonbrew.com/studios/breaking-kyoto-animation-studio-attacked-by-arsonist-multiple-deaths-dozens-injured-and-missing-177109.html) It's a horrifically senseless act by a deranged individual, but people are doing their best to lend support to all of those personally impacted by the tragedy. One such example is Sentai Filmworks, who started a GoFundMe page for people to donate money to help the victims as best they can. People have currently donated $1.5 million in the last day or so, far surpassing the original $750K goal, and are constantly donating more as I write this.

If you're able to, please consider donating to it: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-kyoani-heal

(If this really off-topic and turned into straight-up pandering for a cause, I apologize and will edit the post accordingly to remove the last part.)

The "full score" looks like it's just a MIDI transfer, especially considering the use of orchestra hit (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchestra_hit)

That's a little disappointing if that's the case, though after reading the initial post again, I noticed there was a focus on just transcribing the music so that people would be able to play it (the existence of the condensed score is to provide chords while letting players focus on the more important parts). If the purpose of this is to help preserve the music as it originally existed in writing for people to play or reinterpret in future years, I think I'm alright with it being a straight transcription.

Hello everyone,

It has been a little while since I last posted.

Truth be told I could not find it in my heart to write anything here the past week and am still unable to proceed to business as usual.

You probably know why, for most it was just a shocking event on the other side of the planet, for me it was more personal.

If you want a little excurse in what Kyonai is, here's an overview: https://blog.sakugabooru.com/2018/08/25/the-evolution-of-kyoto-animation-a-unique-anime-studio-and-its-consistent-vision

Incidents like this are always tragic but it is especially hard-hitting that it hit people who you know are/were very gentle, kind, polite and passionate, their art innocent and heartwarming.
That they suffered the worst terrorist attack since WW2 in Japan, in one of the most peaceful places on earth, is especially disturbing, their demise a result of a series of terrible coincidences.

It is especially tragic if you watch the PV for one of their future projects lost in the flames and the talent that made it is gone from this world:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scf3Nx8qUTo

But it really becomes heart-wrenching when you watch this pure innocence of their original work, as I have high empathy, I just can't process it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-oxCCYInYY&t=18m05s


It is very much possible the world of animation also lost one of the industries best character designers and animation directors:


Futoshi Nishiya


What people perhaps don't know is that the process of Japanese animation is still a very limited personal and talent-based one. Losing just one staff member can make all the difference in the world, he was the main artist responsible for Nichijou's and Hyouka's "style". now take that loss times 50.



Now, what to do. Can you still watch shows like Nichijou, Hyouka, Vanishment or Liz, the wonderful synergy of music and animation in them, knowing what
happened to the incredible people who made it... after a few days I've come to the conclusion that you should.

I felt it might be impossible at first but right now, with another point I want to address, I believe the show and its iconic scenes gain more power, are more touching and more affecting with that thought in mind.
What these people have left behind should be cherished. The power of proper handdrawn animation with personal style and directing as well as handcrafted and personal music.

It was a little outworldy to see Tanaka for example outright furious (Yasuhiro Takemoto, director of Hyouka, is supposedly among the victims), but I believe his words ring home, cherish that these people were able to bring many people happienss and love just from a piece of paper. They created hours of joy and works that resonanted with people all over the world (evidentely) through their imagination, craft and passion, and a true artist doesn't need more than that. Just like his music, born on a piece of paper, their creations are whats ultimately left behind and people will cherish. Pray for the victims and their families and cherish their legacy.

Which brings me to my next point, the support the people of Kyoani have recieved from all over the world was heartwarming. The world is not such a cold and complexd mechanism as you think and actions of kindness will not go unnoticed. NHK even mentioned the campaign posted by Father.

From overseas donation to expression of gratitude and grief, personaly visiting the site and sending the victims and their families cards and wishes, all of that helps... a lot.




After this incident, safety regulations for major workplaces will be massivly enforced I hope. The projects like the Violet Evergarden movie supposedly will still be released as scheduled so you could also show your support on that occasion if you care for their work and/or music.

Plans for building a monument for the victims were announced and I think thats a proper course of action. Other major studios announced their support and the Japanese Animation Association will take everything in their power to help wherever its possible. It may even consolidate and unify the industry in a way never seen before but the circumstances of it all are so extraordinatry that at least major things will happen as a response to it.

I hope through my general perception, experience and understanding of the world of Japanese animation and culture at large, that it will not go down the path of pessimism and cynicism which ultimately let to lifeless and artisictially and emotionally dead handcrafted entertainment (see Disney). I firmly hold on to my devotion and conviction to a New Age for handdrawn animation and handcrafted music and pray for it to shine brighter than ever in regards to the people who gave their life for it.

Unfortunately but completely understandably, the animation "Fire Force" is postponed indefinitly and a soundtrack will not be announced any time soon I think. It will be released on Blu-Ray I'm sure.

Like I said earlier, I find it hard to return to happy-go-lucky me but after a few days I will try to handle it somehow.
I definitely won't let myself be put down by this but at the moment its hard to write anything or play the piano with a smile.

Forgive that rather personal blogpost but I think I can live with myself better having posted it.

The show must go on afterall :)

Well said.

What happened is disgusting on an almost surreal level. The world is full of disgustingness... but there's something about this. To go after a building full of people making cartoons... Pardon my language, but what the actual fuck?

The industry will pick itself up and carry on - that much is certain. That's what humans do in the face of extreme adversity. The good people who remain in the aftermath of an atrocity join hands and move forward.

It's completely appropriate to enjoy the works that they produced in their intended spirit. The past cannot be changed, but good things can and will be born from the rubble.

I have some new posts to make but that can wait.

Vin: It's okay, man. If you feel you don't have the energy or heart to post anything, then don't. It's not worth trying to act positive if you're not able to feel it right now, and it's far more important to take care of yourself and make sure that you're okay until the time comes when you think you're able to get back into things. This thread's not going to go away any time soon, so don't feel guilty about taking as much time as you need for your emotional well-being. Don't feel guilty about writing personally, either - it always helps to get these things out so they're not circling in your head endlessly and making you feel alone or crazy. No matter what happens, just do what you can to make sure you're okay and only consider coming back when you confidently feel you're able for it.

Besides, there's the rest of us on here, who can continue sharing and discussing the music we love that inspires us every day (in fact, I've an album rip I've been meaning to post these last few days but kinda forgot about). We're more than able to carry on while you recover as much as you're able to (and even if it takes a long while, it will come eventually), and I hope that when you come back, there'll be music you've never heard of but will love just as much as what inspires you to post here with so much sincerity and passion.

Take care of yourself. We'll be here. :)

Hey guys, today let me wish the thread a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Eleven years and still strong, this thread is like a dinosaur in this internet age, where things tend to come and go so fast. And this is all thanks to the wonderful contributors, who, over the eleven last years have made it what it is (i.e. awesome).

As for me, right now I've got some priorities that can't wait, but I promise to be back in a week or two with a good deal of posts, including some extensive replies to some posts I've seen those last weeks that I've found quite interesting for various reasons, and wanted to adress as soon as possible.

See ya all soon, and in the meantime enjoy a big piece of birthday cake, and...




https://media.giphy.com/media/ch1Z4rUWBZBnO/giphy.gif

Has it really been 11 years? Yikes, that's insane, and amazing that we're still kickin' round and finding new things to discuss. (Funny you should mention it, since I think it's gonna be three years since I started frequenting this thread in the next week or so.)

I haven't been listening to much orchestral stuff lately, but I decided to listen to Kentaro Haneda's Suikoden arrangement album just now, which features arrangements from Kousuke Yamashita, Hiroshi Takaki and Michiru Oshima among others! I'm only on the first track, but I'm liking it enough that I'm listening to it a few times (I can't find a good version of it on YT and it's late, so you'll have to search for it in your own time. Sorry.) - I've never really listened to anything by Yamashita, but I'll try to rectify that if this is any indication of his work. I'll listen to more of the album and maybe write on it if anything interests me. Here's hoping!

My God, so it is...

I wasn't here for the tenth, but I'm glad to have been for the eleventh... and I just cannot process that (some of us) have been trolling around here for over a decade now.

I remember the exact day I first encountered the Shrine. I was at a work conference and at lunch time I read a review on Movie Music UK of Sahashi's Gundam Seed Destiny symphony. After the conference finished, I searched for a download and came across this place. I couldn't download without joining, so I joined - fully intending to take the music and do one - nearly 6,000 posts later...

With the... operational concerns... in the Shrine these days, I doubt the place will last another eleven years but I'm sure some variation of this little fellowship will... wherever it should end up.

I only hope we still have some music to listen to in 2030...

Yamashita: One of the greats, although I think it's safe to say he really hasn't lived up to his potential in recent years... He's mostly coasting along as an orchestrator these days and he's a very good one, but his real skill lies in composition... In the mid 2000s he looked like he was going to become the next "score everything" guy but it never really took off... Nonetheless, he's given us some really fine scores in the past.

Maybe time for a repost... This is a compilation album I made in 2013, featuring one of Yamashita's best works - the 2011 Super Sentai series "Gokaiger".


Symphonic Sentai
Orchestral selections from the Super Sentai Series
Hiroshi Takaki, Kousuke Yamashita, Megumi Ohashi
Studio Orchestra



MP3 at various bitrates. Shinkenger and Gokaiger at 320kbps. Go-Busters is my own rip at -V0. Magiranger bonus tracks at 256kbps. Boukenger bonus track at 192kbps.

If anybody is wondering about the cover, the original picture is of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the conductor's legs belong to Charles Dutoit.

Mega: https://mega.nz/#!dTpk0S6J!KmyH5jf9WPegFPZk9OABuBvv430FUChYOidG2H5tLr0


I'm not sure if I will be able to stand it. [Gokaiger] was painful. Sometimes I really have difficulty figuring out exactly what it is you hear in scores. I have difficulty conceiving exactly how these scores belong in this thread." - Anonymous Tin-Eared Poster... ;)

[Revision of my original write-up]

Hopefully you'll enjoy this because I spent all bloody weekend on it... The Super Sentai series has some genuinely magnificent music - but as some of you will know, the albums usually leaves a lot to be desired. For each series, you find yourself rooting through a dozen different CDs of radio drama, electronic filler, multiple variations of tacky electric guitar theme music, and generic trash... Multiple cues are squished together in the same track, making it difficult to filter out the good stuff. There's no storytelling, no attempt at consistent presentation - just a lot of music in a hundred different genres dumped on a CD. It's easy to get lost. So, I have prepared three orchestral suites from three recent Super Sentai series, with cues cherry-picked and re-ordered to provide a satisfying listening experience. Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters (2012) with music by Megumi Ohashi, Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger (2011) with music by Kousuke Yamashita, and Samurai Sentai Shinkenger (2009) with music by Hiroshi Takaki. There are also three bonus tracks - two from Yamashita's first Sentai outing Mahou Sentai Magiranger (2005) and one from Kotaro Nakagawa's GoGo Sentai Boukenger.

The compilation runs for 77 minutes and is non stop orchestral music - no electric guitars, no cheap Japanese jazz, and no annoying drama segments... just grown-up, mature, dramatic orchestral score. Incidentally, the scores are presented in the order they're in (2009, 2012, 2011) because I wanted to put the weakest score in the middle so the album could begin and finish on something great. There is method in my madness. :D

For a fan of orchestral music, Sentai music is difficult to enjoy without putting in some effort. The intention of this compilation is twofold; first, to provide an "easy route in" for people who may be wondering what sort of scores they actually are, and second to make a good and enjoyable album of music to be taken upon its own merits.


Samurai Sentai Shinkenger (2009)
Music by Hiroshi Takaki - Time: 19:29

Shinkenger was, in many ways, an antidote to the brightly-coloured silliness of 2008�s Engine Sentai Go-Onger, featuring traditional Japanese influences and a more grown-up story. Hiroshi Takaki was fresh from Tytania when he scored Shinkenger; and although his score does pay lip service to the Sentai �house style� it has a great deal in common with the earlier sci-fi score. Takaki�s music is full of brassy heroism, and surprisingly tender romanticism. Takaki also scored 2018's "Lupinranger vs Patranger".


Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters (2012)
Music by Megumi Ohashi Time: 20:44

Scoring the one *after* the big budget 35th anniversary spectacular, and having to follow Yamashita, must have surely been a thankless task. Ohashi plays it safe. Her score is prototypical Sentai, following the house style to the letter. It�s a pretty good score, traversing the expected range of moods� but at the same time, it�s relatively unremarkable and does not particularly stand comparison to its predecessor. Nevertheless, it�s very listenable, heaps of fun, and pushes the right Sentai buttons; overall an enjoyable, if stylistically bland, piece of work. What the hell ever happened to Megumi Ohashi?


Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger (2011)
Music by Kousuke Yamashita - Time: 31:06

Gokaiger; truly the gold standard of Super Sentai scores. Announced as a prestigious, celebratory series marking the 35th anniversary of Super Sentai, there really could be only one logical choice for composer � and sure enough, Kousuke Yamashita returned to the series for the first time since 2005�s Magiranger. Yamashita�s score plays it completely straight � as an ambitious pirate adventure with romance, action, grand heroism, evil villains, and life-and-death situations; a rambunctious, old fashioned battle between good and evil. Driven by memorable melodies, this intricately thematic and meticulously orchestrated score must surely rate as the finest Sentai score of all time. Yamashita has returned to the Sentai scene twice more since Gokaiger, with Ninninger (2015) and Kyuranger (2017) but I don't think those scores match the sheer invention and compositional maturity on display in Gokaiger... It's also one of the best-recorded Sentai scores.


Bonus Tracks:

Mahou Sentai Magiranger (2005) (Music by Kousuke Yamashita) - Two delightful cues from Yamashita�s first venture into Sentai. The first is a relentlessly cheerful orchestral version of the opening theme song. The second is an all-guns-firing brassy �finale� cue.

Irrelevant gushing:

Magiranger was such a charming show; maybe the most outwardly joyful Sentai to date, and a very orchestral OP song which begins with a delicious 15 second orchestal fanfare before launching into one of the most infectious tunes to ever come out of Japan... Live band, and a full orchestra playing throughout the song - and then just after the three minute mark, the most delightful thing happens... A moment of true genre democracy in Japanese pop music - after a furious electric guitar solo, with a flourish the whole song is handed over to the symphony orchestra for a sping-tinglingly grand "middle eight" with cascading strings and a soaring melody before handing back to the pop band. I have to admit that the Mahou Sentai Magiranger opening song is my favourite to air-conduct...

GoGo Sentai Boukenger (2006) (Music by Kotaro Nakagawa) - A genuinely frustrating composer. His score for Boukenger frequently buries the (large) orchestra under his trademark electronics, but lurking in between are a handful of wonderful moments. This cue is a beautifully dreamy, mysterious piece with some light (sensible) electronics and some delicious harmonies, building to a powerful brassy climax; ending the album in style. This is the Nakagawa I wish we could hear more from... 2006 seem sos long ago now...

Well Father, thanks for the kind words, but I'm still functioning somewhat, writing that was a little carthatic, and your words helped too (though it will take a while and the timeout might continue) but now I'm outright shocked I completely forgot the anniversary, and that is another thing that makes me feel better, even if its a bit difficult to celebrate still. I love this little place, always have and always will, no matter how long it will continue. Other people already offered a backup of the thread on the backup site so it will continue I believe in some form or another.


I have a specific post ready for it:



A genuinely frustrating composer.



Kotaro Nakagawa
Code Geass Orchestra Concert
The Duke of Pianeet & Emperors Orchestra



Sample (https://instaud.io/3ZYe)
Continued Story (https://mega.nz/#!Oo40EIAQ!PRIef1Tq84rsGK5cTWjAFLfkFTzSeHil5pG6mPLCnNQ)



And my main present for this occasion, a composer (whos still alive) I love (to no one's surprise):


Kohei Tanaka
Sakura Wars Concert Night
The Tokyo Philharmonic and the Sakura Wars Voice Cast



Sample (https://instaud.io/3ZYj)
Blooming Dreams Continue (https://mega.nz/#!25xklIAD!aGUvKH-sXgUa1FmN1Lfx9XO0Qmr4OZ7QoW5BWpSG3JY)


Happy Birthday :)

Happy birthday and thanks to you guys for introducing me to music that I would never have known about but for this wonderful thread.

Symphonic Sentai: I'm happy to have played some part in inspiring that repost, and it reminded me of how much I used to be into Super Sentai back in 2011. Mind you, I only ever properly watched Jetman and Dekaranger, so listening to those cues will be a new experience for me. (But now it's put me in the mood of finding the soundtracks to those two series and seeing if I can put together something similar to your collection, especially since their soundtracks helped developed certain aspects of my interests in soundtracks that have stuck around ever since.)

On the subject of posts, I'll finally get this one I've had done for a while out of the way. I randomly stumbled across this album and another one I'm gonna try work on in a charity shop some weeks ago, and decided to get them for this very thread. I'm not usually one to crow about the fact that I come from Ireland (which seems to be a weird thing Irish folks seem to do), but I was very curious to see if maybe there was any good orchestral music from Ireland that I could help to promote. Much to my surprise and delight, this album really manages to offer that. But enough pre-show chat, let's get this started!



The Spirit of Ireland, performed by the RT� Concert Orchestra (Irish National Radio Orchestra)



Features traditional works, and songs composed by Gerard Victory, Arthur Duff, James Royce Shannon, Shamus O'Connor & John J. Stamford, Shaun Glenville & Frank Miller, Hamilton Harty, John F. Larchet, Leroy Anderson, and Ernest Ball

Features arrangements by John Tate and Noel Kelehan

Conducted by Proinnsias � Duinn

Features vocals by M�av N� Mhaolchatha

(Included in the download are transcriptions of the album's liner notes, which feature a description of the orchestra, the conductor Proinnsias � Duinn, and the vocalist M�av N� Mhaolchatha. Credits are also listed for the performers in the orchestra, who have been name-checked for accuracy and spelling errors. More accurate versions of the song credits have been included, such as composers, lyricists or performance origins for any traditional songs. A decent quality cover sourced from Discogs has also been included, since I'm not able to scan the cover myself)

FLAC:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/j0lem1ul9gqi4aq/SOIFLAC.zip/file
https://mega.nz/#!ZHI1mIiY!mm9eYnqpY0zjhldeN9VEomtrJeLAg4v0Sbi9_e287RI

MP3:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/e4mjypht2j4kth9/SOIMP3.zip/file
https://mega.nz/#!MHx0FChB!kG6nm-r88rPXdA3ZeicM1PAr0-fZeLHH9TULvVCcUbk



The RT� Concert Orchestra (also known as the Irish National Radio Orchestra when performing abroad) is one of two full-time radio orchestra employed by RT� (the Irish equivalent of the BBC) one of the country's leading orchestras, with 45 musicians performing over eighty concerts every year and covering a wide variety of genres from classical to contemporary to jazz and beyond. This album is a recording of the music they performed for their second North American tour in 1997, and features compositions and arrangements of pieces by Irish composers and pieces often associated with Ireland but created elsewhere.

These include traditional classics such as "The Mountains of Mourne", "The Last Rose of Summer" and "Danny Boy (Londonderry Air)", selections from orchestral suites like Arthur Duff's "Echoes of Georgian Dublin Suite" and Hamilton Harty's "An Irish Symphony", and American tributes to the Emerald Isle including "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling", "McNamara's Band" and the works of Leroy Anderson. Roughly half of the album are performances of the original compositions, while the rest are arrangements made specifically for the tour, which are handled by John Tate and Noel Kelehan.

What's impressive about this album is how varied the included pieces are. As someone who's only experienced traditional Irish music (which tend to be 6/8 jigs that are always, ALWAYS in G major for whatever reason), it's really refreshing to hear works that go outside of that. From the classically inspired "In College Green" to the relaxed "By the Waters of Moyle" to the initially serene then excited "Irish American Song Book" to the exciting "Revel in Reel Time", there's a great deal of emotional ranger covered in this album that makes for an enjoyable listen.

Accentuating this even more is the performance of the RT� Concert Orchestra. It's hard for me to describe, but the feeling I always got when listening to these performers was a sincere sense of admiration and love for the music they were performing, to the point where even pieces I wasn't personally too wild about were still worth listening to thanks to how much the performers put into making these pieces 'sing' (if you'll pardon the cheesy expression). On that subject, the vocals provided by M�av N� Mhaolchatha for select tracks are soothing and excellently performed, which really adds to the slow serenity for each of them.

For me, the highlights of the album are all the songs arranged by the late great Noel Kelehan. Normally working as a jazz musician, the man has a way with the orchestra that reminds me a great deal of Tomoyuki Asakawa in regards to creating arrangements that feel very nostalgic. As soon as I heard his beautiful arrangement of "The Mountains of Mourne", I knew that this album was going to be something special. He tends to handle the songs performed by Mhaolchatha, which I found a slight shame since I wanted to hear him do more serene orchestral tracks to let the instruments take center-stage, but he manages to work just as well by letting the performers play off the vocals in a way that makes these arrangements truly something.

If you've never really checked out orchestral Irish music before, maybe make this your basic introduction and see if it takes your interest. And if you like it enough, maybe consider buying it to own a copy yourself (since, for once, this is an album that's pretty easy to come across digitally and otherwise owing to its re-releases - https://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Ireland-RT%C3%89-Concert-Orchestra/dp/B008JTV5GW). Regardless, I hope there's something here that you end up loving or inspires you in whatever you do. Thank you for reading, and have a wonderful day.

Happy 11th anniversary, guys. :)

Thanks Vinphonic for that heartfelt tribute. I didn't realize just how devastating that attack was from what little I saw about it.
Thanks Arthierr for the reminder of this thread's long life and yet somehow still going strong. I'm still enthralled by the animation and music in Forest of Piano and it is awakening a slumbering love for piano that I had inside but let rest. I am getting a lot of delightful plays out of some of the piano concertos featured in the show plus various other piano works. I highly recommend everyone in this thread take a look at this show and give it your attention.
Vinphonic - is this Code Geass symphony a separate recording from the shows or more of a compilation of the music you created?

It's an actual concert recording, derived from this CD but with all the tracks re-ordered: https://vgmdb.net/album/85302

I find a lot to enjoy on this actually. I think it gives the music its best shot. If I'm in the right mood, I can really enjoy Nakagawa. Odd for me to say that, but I find the music quite interesting... if not my preferred genre. ;)

But the real star has to be the Sakura Wars... That concert is golden age, though I wish the audience could have restrained their desire to clap like morons every time they heard a tune they recognised. But hey, what can you expect? Tanaka at his peak, but maybe skip if you don't like the cutesey stuff. ;)

(I don't usually, but when the music is actually good as it is here, I really feel it... Tanaka takes very intelligent music, almost operatic in scope, and gives soaring melodies to comparatively unskilled singers... Through his writing he makes pop singers sound like opera singers.)

Thanks for the response. I haven't listened to it all yet but it is a nice addition. Sad that it is quite bass heavy but that's how the soundtracks were mixed as well. It is lovely having the instrumental versions of the vocal tracks from the series, which help round out the experience.

The sound is piss-poor (and this is what is sounds like on the actual commercial release) - to be sure... I don't know what can be done for it, but it would be hard to make it worse at this point...

I don't know what it is with these live recordings lately, but most of them have a completely un-realistic, top-heavy, bass-heavy, metallic sound that just hurts my head.

The recent Otani SoCC piano concert might have the worst sound I've ever heard on any commercial Japanese release full stop... which is a pity because I enjoy some of the music.

You know what Father, you were right, I really enjoy what you posted in my absence ;)

@scoringfan: You're very welcome :)

@SIrusjr: No kidding, Hitomi Kuroishi's pieces are the star of the show... I wish she didn't fade into obscurity, she is an immence talent, and Silver Wing and Shangri-La are so long ago.


@Tango: Yeah, the sound is atrocious, SoTC is a tragedy because I cannot even use it ingame to boost the experience, its that bad. On the plus sound, a certain someone whose scores usually share all that sound attributes now sound really good and you actually feel the ensemble-size.... that its his best score to date this time and taking a shot at an oldschool filmscoring approach helps (seems like everyone grows the beard these days):




Go Shiina
TV Animation: Operation Han-Gyaku-Sei Million Arthur
Score Selection / Tokyo Symphonic Studio Orchestra / Arr. Daisuke Shinoda and Sachiko Miyano



Overture (https://instaud.io/40kN) / Pretty Arthur (https://instaud.io/40kP) / Into the War Dust (https://instaud.io/40kQ) / Fairy Union (https://instaud.io/40kT)
The Oscar goes to... (https://mega.nz/#!O5IyiSgI!m6eSmmsNsodOhD63OIzuSGp22M4HFpQRKGLY5HPh17A)

Go Shiina is in my circle of favorites, his use of electronic tools is clearly deliberate and doesn't bother me one bit, he knows what he's doing and has a very personal style and always seems to give the impression of having the biggest grin on his face when he composes. Some of his work is so exhubertant and joyful... and I really need that right now, and here he goes into overdrive. There's even lovable playful trombones and heroic Hollywood bombast of the Silver Age. It all works flawlessly here. Maybe its because of extraordinary circumstance but this right now is what I most needed.

Btw, there's quite a lot of game composers who "upgraded" into anime composers nowadays (see Coda) and another one joins the fray... Yasunori Nishiki, IMAGINE's new starchild and Tanaka's protegee will be scoring the TV Anime for the "rival project of Kantai Collection"... "Azur Lane" next season:



The master himself was quite busy the past few months, once again he had to prove he's the King of Mecha:



We're getting that Gaist Crusher (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSCBFmWBL8c&t=39m36s)


And if you still want joyful Hollywood bombast of old with current electronic tools (such a thing can coexist):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixE1a6_l7e4 (Kan Sawada wrote this, its a Zimmer impression when Zimmer was actually listenable)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CY9_cCHqDM (this sounds vaguely like Sahashi wrote it)

So far Toshiyuki Watanabe, Tomoyuki Asakawa and Kan Sawada joined the Olympic Circle, I wonder whos next?

I have never been so excited for Olympic music. This will be amazing! I assume there will be a lot of amazing references in the ceremonies ro things I love, as well

I have really, really mellowed on Shiina in recent years. I don't for a moment think he's a fantastic composer, but nobody sounds like him (even if he apparently can't handle an orchestra without help from Sachiko Miyano and friends) and he can write a tune up there with the best of 'em. Sadly, for me, this score has very little about it that distinguishes it, and Shiina's themes never really take off like they've done in the past... and the sound quality... Shiina's orchestral scores have never sounded good and this is no exception. There's a fairly big orchestra floating around in that aural mess somewhere, but you can hardly hear what's going on because there's so much high end and so much fake verb thrown on. It's not as bad as the Otani concert album (*shudders*) but it's not good.

Overall, I'll file this with my "some glorious moments, but overall a big disappointment" scores... "What A Strong Enemy Do" and "Into The War Dust" give tantalising glimpses into what a grown-up, orchestral action score by Shiina could sound like... but in the end most of the action cues bring in the obsessive Hollywood slamming noises and take the lazy way out...

Also, I'm keen to know what the missing tracks are like. This is considerably shorter than the official release and it sounds like something was chopped off the beginning of the Overture. I presume the "Overture" is actually a shortened version of the first track of Disc 1.

Also, I'm keen to know what the missing tracks are like.
If you insist. (https://instaud.io/40K3)

The Overture is an addition of my own. Compared to his God Eater scores its a great improvement, sound-wise.

LOL... OK, I understand why you cut them. ;)

I think the sound is bad, just bad in a different way to usual. Whoever is hiring engineers for Shiina needs a punch in the balls. Right since day one he's been blessed with pretty big ensembles but apparently deaf engineers.

Completely agree with you on this Tango. Sound is just as bad as usual just in a completely different way. I also went through most of it earlier today and not much stood out.

Who's up for another newly discovered Kanno similarity? I know I am!

Arthur Bliss - The Shape of Things to Come - Attack on the Moon Gun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPPB90N_4nk&t=9m40s

We're getting that Gaist Crusher (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSCBFmWBL8c&t=39m36s)

It's a shame that Gaist Crusher never got an official anime soundtrack release.

Its even more of a shame that a rip would be pretty much useless because its almost all extreme shouting and explosions. But its been a while so perhaps Tango has a better understanding if a rip would make any sense at all.

@streich: You know, it never ceases to amaze me that regardless of the classical lifting (which Horner did as well but it seemed to me more out of time, temptrack and laziness) that EVERY "lifting" also lifts the context of the music (not to mention it gets absorbed into her very own trademark style that makes me prefer her interpretation/arrangement over the original). It's bizarre, its like Kanno got the script for Turn A and storyboards and instantly goes: "Oh, this reminds me of that one time Arthur Bliss wrote something about an attack on the Moon, so I'll use that".


EDIT: My god, could this actually be Legend of the Galactic Heroes!? (at least it seems to have real brass now)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9Jfw3wkH08



And from the recent season, I have some updates. Thankfully, so far everything gets released it seems, but unfortunately, many are Blu-Ray releases. Suehiro's scores should get soundtrack releases (no Blu-Ray bonus so far):

On that note, Fire Force is back on air, to my surprise. But ultimately I'm glad it continues and glad its such a long-running show for once. It's Suehiro growing the beard (https://instaud.io/410h)
Granbelm is shaping up nicely as well (https://instaud.io/410j). There's also some Pizzicato piece that clearly shows his other main influence (https://instaud.io/410D), aside from Yugo: Here's his other mentor (https://instaud.io/410I)

Oka-san will release early next year on Blu-Ray. Which is a shame cause I really will end up liking it more than Familia Myth II (https://instaud.io/4111) (after Arrow of Orion, he's really wasted on TV shows I believe).

Maybe I also should point out that Mori Yuya and Kosuke Yamashita work at the same company, and you can really hear the similarities in Tagia (https://instaud.io/410N) and his recent NHK Work.

Yeah, GC would be an uphill struggle as far as ripping goes... and I don't know that it would yield a result that was in any way enjoyable to listen to.

There was a lot of good music in that show.

https://instaud.io/411g

Gaist Crusher was the last time Tanaka really made me smile. Here's hoping he brings his A-game to Sakura Wars.


Who's up for another newly discovered Kanno similarity? I know I am!

Arthur Bliss - The Shape of Things to Come - Attack on the Moon Gun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPPB90N_4nk&t=9m40s

Bloody hell... I can't believe I never picked that one up...

I'm on the brink of making a compilation of all the classical pieces that "inspired" Kanno... I think it would make a fun little album.

[Sorry, double-post-tacular...]

I'm on the brink of making a compilation of all the classical pieces that "inspired" Kanno... I think it would make a fun little album.

For what it's worth, I'd really like to see this compilation, if only to check out pieces I might never have thought to look into myself (and if it's possible, the tracks Kanno made that are based on those pieces). It's late enough that I'm not gonna get too into it now, but my stance on the whole inspiration/plagiarism debacle when it comes to music has softened significantly over the last couple of years. I completely understand why it bugs some people and would always prefer the composer try to do their own thing as best they can, but I don't mind as much these days since it means that I've got a reason to look into more music that I might end up really loving.

It's bizarre, its like Kanno got the script for Turn A and storyboards and instantly goes: "Oh, this reminds me of that one time Arthur Bliss wrote something about an attack on the Moon, so I'll use that".
Time to revisit Moonraker

New Mewtwo soundtrack has been posted in Pokemon Soundtracks and collections in flac!

Thanks! The big six minute finale cue alone is worth the price of admission. :D

Wish Akifumi Tada had done more than 61 seconds of music on this score though...

Thanks! The big six minute finale cue alone is worth the price of admission. :D

Wish Akifumi Tada had done more than 67 seconds of music on this score though...

Yeah, we really don' get enough of his music

Hollywood Sounds



NDR Radiophilharmonie (NDR Radio Philharmonic)
Daniel Hope (violin)
conducted by
Andrew Manze

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inU97oRz94s

RECOMMENDED: HD H265 video, untouched 5.1 channel audio - https://mega.nz/#!pOwGFaRL!SSnu5uw8uzM14c-4dkHC81QU0TrYwhJQ8XHKNqUckSA- WARNING - Filesize 2.22gb

SD H265 video with 2-channel Opus audio (~192kbps VBR) - https://mega.nz/#!xO40za7Q!wHQF8z0CIFBOX1hWwLE1YUk-dnWNFQ3XKZq8yMgyZAM- 569mb
SD H265 video (reduced bitrate) with 2-channel Opus audio (~128kbps VBR) - https://mega.nz/#!RCgQDQSR!SnOjjFlcC4idtN2gTxVUZO59I08POCrTeC1up-l7mm0- 338mb
Music Only (FLAC derived directly from 2 channel mixdown of broadcast audio) - https://mega.nz/#!oKxCmYTT!BR1RFz0WYzRGWRyvDDJYCj39zAZyaIonVsW8fsCfXak (242mb)

Here, ladies and gentlemen, is one of the most enjoyable hours you'll ever spend.

This is a recording of a concert which took place in 2015, originally broadcast on Arte and produced by ZDF.

The centerpiece is Korngold's dazzling violin concerto, but the concert starts with Miklos Rozsa's searing love theme to "Spellbound" and finishes with a vitruosic suite based on music by Kurt Weill.

The Spellbound opener contains one of the most beautiful real moments ever captured on film. The violin carries the melody higher and higher still, and the orchestra swells. Rozsa's breathtaking theme reaches an almost unbearable moment of romantic fervour; the tension is pulpable, then it breaks. Hope is visibly overwhelmed. He turns to Manze, who looks back with a face filled with the special kind of sheer joy that only music can inspire. Two great men - two collaborators, working together as one, caught up in the irresistible rapture of Miklos Rozsa in full flight and wearing their emotions firmly on their sleeves just as Rozsa's music does. It moved me to tears on my first time seeing it.

Then, it's Korngold's turn. When composers famous for film move into the concert hall, they rarely keep their film style entirely intact. Korngold's concert music, however, is pure Hollywood and his violin concerto is just superb. (And, keeping on topic, look out some Kanno inspiration - if you ever wondered where that lovely theme in Aquarion came from, it's right here!)

It finishes with a glorious flourish of Kurt Weill... A thousand different genres of old-school Hollywood, all done with a stupid amount of panache.

Enjoy! :)
TT

^

WOW! That's some beautiful rendition of works from two of my favorite Hollywood composers. Stunning performance. Great Music. Grateful thanks for your heartfelt share :)

Coincidentaly, I listened to "Three Choral Suites" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_nxn7s-vSk&list=PLmheWFkK-ELTgfncFwgYquxNDBIXGu9eG&index=5) of Rozsa's Music just recently (The Quo Vadis Suite is my favorite, didn't Kanno also lift the Assyrian Dance somewhere, or was that another?). I long for the day every note they've written will be made available to the public for study, its just too damn tragic to let it rot in some archieves.

Another recent finding is that Akito Matsuda is a huge fan of Korngold, I never really realized it, but his concert piece "Crescent Moon Dance" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7vcJKhzBh4) is basically a Korngold Best-Of, just start with "Pirate's Flag" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veyRkCh5wzI&list=OLAK5uy_kfrDCL1f4izaF_xODH_ZDfFCuT16L1HrE&index=15) from Captain Blood ;)

I wonder when its finally his time to shine...

speaking of rosza,you should check out franco cesarinis symphony nr1 the archangels.also,johan de meijs return to middle earth is available.

Tango: Thank you for posting that performance! Your write-up was so passionate that I decided to check it out for myself, and I enjoyed what I heard. I've never actually heard anything by Rozsa or Korngold before despite all that I've heard about them (nor Weill), so it was awesome to finally be able to hear some of their work. The music from Spellbound was definitely a highlight, along with excerpts of the Weill Suite at the end, and while I wasn't terribly into Korngold's concerto, it was nevertheless very well written and excellently performed.

(On the subject of real human moments, I was particularly struck by the brief interval after the second movement of the concerto at the 30 minute mark. Hope's face is glistening with sweat, and the orchestra gives him a few moments to compose himself and tune his violin. When he's done that, Manze faces the orchestra, posed in a very animated fashion, looking back and forth to make sure everyone's ready as he wears an expression that makes him resemble the pure embodiment of excitement - and then, he throws his arms down and off they go in performing the third movement. I had the biggest smile on my face when that happened.)

Sorry for the double post, but I had an idea that I wanted to write about and discuss with the forum.

For some context, I'm working on an album upload with Tango that I'm gonna try put up in the next few days, and he included a write-up for the album on my request. It's an album full of themes for TV shows, and he talked about how it was made in the ear when every TV show had a memorable theme tune - and that got me thinking.

Most TV shows (or the live-action ones) either have very short theme tunes or don't really bother with them; while longer ones sound so generic and interchangeable that there's no point even bothering to watch the intro. But what if you tried giving more memorable theme tunes that also helped to establish the tone they're trying to go for?

I've been meaning to experiment more with composing music, so I'm want to try and see if I can do just that - create theme tunes for some of these TV shows under similar limitations to their predecessors (mainly keeping it to 60-90 seconds long), that manages to be both easily hummable and something that sets the tone for what you're about to watch. This isn't to blow my own trumpet, but to see if I can even do it at all. However, there are so many shows out there that I've no idea where to start. With that in mind, I'd like anyone who's interested in this idea to do this:

Suggest a show from the last 10-15 years that I can do. Tell me its overall premise in broad strokes, and what the tone of it is. Based on that information, I'll attempt to make a memorable theme tune that incorporates those ideas to some extent.

I can't guarantee that this will actually go anywhere, but I wanna give it a shot and see if I can do even one theme tune. If I make anything, it'll be a MIDI approximation that's around 60-90 seconds, so don't expect fully arranged/performed songs. Thank you for reading, and have a lovely day. :)

It was used during the movies recap before the 10mn preview right ?

@hater: Ah, that is quite a different approach comapred to his first symphony, I really wish the film scores could have been a little more like his symphonies (also long time no see :))



10-15 years

I'm sorry, we have to go further back in time to find quality TV shows with good intros.

I suggest some stuff from my childhood I still like very much (the intros more than the score or show tbh, except for TaleSpin, which is an awesome orchestral rollercoaster):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4C06rNqK1vo (Superhero stuff)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97QkO7nAn68 (Lighthearted Medieval Adventure)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfoZ1xOBwkw (Arabian Nights)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XJ3HJXxDwc (Gothic Hero fights crime)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xGeSso_45Y (Gothic Fantasy)

Hint: You could easily write a symphony with these tunes.


And since you recently shared a great Pop collection, have another wonderful pop piece by a master of the genre, who brings his old friend with him to Abbey Road.


Perhaps the best recent example of "Japanese Pop Democracy" (https://mega.nz/#!f5IVBSTZ!xCMPtvetPLLzaPrQUtpA0nL9kptfDRMXVpb2GspSKm4)

For me its always a reminder to check every new J-Pop album. Once you build up a tolerance for (and sometimes appreciation for sustaining) high-pitched vocals, its basically wonderland. You can find every oldschool style you desire (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j71RgpfrDk).



As a bonus:



A preview of Sahashi's Zi-O, which releases in September. (https://mega.nz/#!2gRlhIAK!saOtdwXC56x7PNi7ZMSphF8YcqZ9-SaVQp7R2ef0bJM)

Vin: Sorry, but that wasn't what I meant. I'll admit that it was late and I was typing it on my phone, so I more than likely didn't properly communicate my intent. I wasn't asking for examples of good theme tunes for TV shows, though I do appreciate your examples (I've never heard the Gummi Bears theme tune before, and I burst out laughing when I realized how well it would fit a Japanese orchestra's medley of American cartoon theme tunes - it's surprisingly good). What I meant to say was that I want to write theme tunes based on shows that either don't have theme tunes or had very short ones, and that I was asking for suggestions for shows to make theme tunes for, with brief notes on the show's premise and tone to help me come up with something. This is from a much older show and isn't a great example (which is why I'm asking for suggestions in the first place), but a suggestion would be something like:


Jonathan Creek: A detective series where laterally minded man who invents creative magic tricks and a crime journalist solve seemingly impossible locked room crimes, with an emphasis on how the crime was pulled off. There's a regular undercurrent of humor underneath the expected sense of mystery and the occasional gruesome happening.

(Fun fact, the real theme tune for this show was based on Camille Saint-Sa�ns' Dance macabre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6cLMIeToaM)

Hopefully, that will give a better idea of what I meant to say, and I'm sorry for giving you the wrong idea.

A preview of Sahashi's Zi-O, which releases in September. (https://mega.nz/#!2gRlhIAK!saOtdwXC56x7PNi7ZMSphF8YcqZ9-SaVQp7R2ef0bJM)

Sweet. I plan on purchasing the whole set: the 2-Disc TV series, Heisei Generations Forever, and Over Quartzer.

@Father: Apologies if I somehow mistook your intention for the idea but I'm afraid I'm not well-versed in (western) TV shows of the last 15 years. I can however give you a "classic" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5J-FOalYVCk) (The Age of Space Exploration is starting and Men's long-lasting dream of conquering the stars begins, your move chief)


@BladeLight: There should be enough in it to make a nice little album out of it. Not Sahashi at his best by any means but its really fun and I feel he's brushing off the dust on his coat with his recent work.

And the new preview for Chihayafuru very much suggests it was worth the long wait, one of Yamashita's very best scores continues: https://twitter.com/chihaya_anime/status/1157260506492805120

Maybe he's also involved with the new RotTK XIV (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzowNLFFNfE)


From this week of TV shows, Inai makes a big impression with his new Orion action style (clyp.it/tvzfb3w4?token=67c4328d5f67280e6fb9536fca7f3c07).
Its an action piece which features the Main Title in "battle mode" (He seems to be a student of Matsuo in trying to stick close to Williams without actually being a copycat). I feel his scores for Familia Myth paint one big picture, as the movie score is missing a "Main Title" and "End Credits" piece but Inai already wrote it for the first season and the spinoff. Familia Myth II will have more climactic action pieces to support the film score nicely. You can probably make one epic adventure score when all the soundtracks have dropped.


Another bit of big news is that Hideaki Anno is making his own Ultraman film (2021), its been his dream since childhood and you just know who will be his composer(s) of choice (see a few posts above) ;)

Another bit of big news is that Hideaki Anno is making his own Ultraman film (2021), its been his dream since childhood and you just know who will be his composer(s) of choice (see a few posts above) ;)Man, I can't wait for more reused music from 50 years ago without a modern recording, a mountain of e-guitars layered with Sagisu's usual London choir chanting, and the occasional Eva theme rearrangement thrown in for good measure to tie together the Annoverse.

:awsm:

(you forgot the five minute Warsaw awsm orchestra and a movie worth watching part but I give you this round)

On a more humurous note, the madman Iwasaki actually did it, he wrote an Aria for his waifu... truely a man with bizarre taste in Tim-Burton-esque crazy women (in this case its just a side-character in the show, based on a 19th Century Canadian Poet and Writer). The man says it, his music tells it (its sung in German and describes her character). How can anyone even compete with this level of dedication...

Sahashi / Zi-O

Uh, wut?

This is really good...

If much more of this happens, I'm going to have to admit that Sahashi may, in fact, be back - not in one-off little "remember the old days" scores but fully back as a regular composer of orchestral scores that genuinely add to his musical tapestry.

I hear some penny-pinching in some cues... but this is Kamen Rider?! Always traditionally behind Sentai in musical quality... and here we are in 2019, where Kamen Rider receives some of the best Sahashi we've heard in ten years, Ultraman gets a promising (if not outright good) score after a decade of dismal disappointment... and Sentai gets one of its weakest ever. You never really know how things are going to pan out.


@BladeLight: There should be enough in it to make a nice little album out of it. Not Sahashi at his best by any means but its really fun and I feel he's brushing off the dust on his coat with his recent work.

100% agreement, with perhaps even a little more positivity from me than from you!


Anno on Ultraman

*sigh*

I can almost hear the tired-out Evangelion knockoffs accompanied by naff four-part choir singing corny lyrics now. If we're really lucky, half the score will be tracked from 1960s Ultraman scores. (Thinking Godzilla here...)

"Ultraman, he fights with rubber dinosaurs! Ultraman, he wears a papier-mache mask! Ultraman, he is a man who is ultra!"

But, yeah, there might be a few minutes of Warsaw, and since almost nothing is being recorded in Warsaw any more I'll take what I can get.


Coincidentaly, I listened to "Three Choral Suites" of Rozsa's Music just recently...

Ooh, what a good idea!



MIKLOS ROZSA
Three Choral Suites
Ben-Hur * Quo Vadis * King of Kings



The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra
Mormon Tabernacle Choir
conducted by Erich Kunzel

https://mega.nz/#!wS4VSCja!ocTvz34NNT4fR4QehJ3DDaJAk3GDPo_3sypnuEVHyrg

My FLAC rip, with full scans included.

This is the good stuff, folks. These are three glittering concert suites, constructed lovingly from three of Rozsa's most magnificent scores. The arrangement of these suites was actually Rozsa's idea - he started working on the project during his later years but sadly passed away before he could finish it, so with the encouragement of the composer's son Nick Rozsa, the work was completed by a group of Rozsa scholars - including the great Christopher Palmer, super-orchestrator Julian Kershaw, and conductor Erich Kunzel.

A gorgeous, sumptuous recording to top it all off.

There's really not much else I can say. This is what film music is all about for me. Rozsa made it all sound so easy...

Enjoy! :)
TT[/QUOTE]

I can almost hear the tired-out Evangelion knockoffs accompanied by naff four-part choir singing corny lyrics now.
Sagisu must be a fan of Rosenman's RoboCop 2.

:rofldata:

Funny how there's a discussion on Shin Ultraman's music based on what happened with Shin Godzilla on today of all days, because it was three years ago today that I first started posting in this thread to inquire more about people's thoughts on Shin Godzilla (and Shiro Sagisu in general). There's something oddly poetic about that, and how that discussion has led to me becoming a regular reader and contributor to this forum, along with encouraging me to take a college course to learn music theory/terminology and how to better play and create music - a course that I've now finished as of yesterday.

It's weird to think how this thread has helped me to appreciate composers I'd never cared for, check out previously unknown games, shows and movies, made new friends both online and offline, and become a hell of a lot more competent at creating and playing music that I might actually have a shot of getting into a four-year college course for music. I can't articulate how much that means to me (mainly because I'm very bad at doing so, and being tired today doesn't help), but I really do mean it when I say:

Thank you all. You've made the last three years more awesome and amazing than they would otherwise have been, and I hope you'll continue to do the same for the next however many years I'm still around here.

As an aside, I was planning on doing a post today, but uploading's a bit slow on my end of things at the moment, so I'll try to get to it over the next couple of days. Look forward to it! :)


@Father: Apologies if I somehow mistook your intention for the idea but I'm afraid I'm not well-versed in (western) TV shows of the last 15 years. I can however give you a "classic" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5J-FOalYVCk) (The Age of Space Exploration is starting and Men's long-lasting dream of conquering the stars begins, your move chief)

Ooh, I like that idea. I was actually spending the last half-hour coming up with some ideas for it, but all I've got so far are some broad concepts to help me figure out how I can put the music together once I've figured something out. This'll probably take a while, but I'm looking forward to it.

(In general, I've been on something of a music composing spree this week, having come up with a pop rock song that I really dig, a chord structure for a Japanese fusion/City Pop-styled number, and even the start of a classical piece based on a melody I had in my head when I woke up - the latter of which was definitely inspired by the Hollywood Sounds concert Tango posted last week. Hopefully, I'll be able to think up something substantial for this!)

Any helps to find this rarities will be appreciated.

Music Of Japan (Enjoy Easy-Listening Famous Melodies Of Japan)
Label: Nivico ‎– JV-1140-S, JVC ‎– JV-1140-S
=================================

Tracklist:
+++++++

A1 –Koichiro Miyata, Royal Pops Orchestra
Kojo No Tsuki

A2 –Kohachiro Miyata, Royal Pops Orchestra
Akatonbo

A3 –Shizuko, Toyohisa, Victor Recording Orchestra
Hana

A4 –Shizuko, Toyohisa, Victor Recording Orchestra
Habu No Minato

A5 –Strings Emanon*
Mizuiro No Walty

A6 –String Emanon*
Suzukake No Michi

A7 –Shizuko, Toyofuji, Toshiko Yonekawa, Victor Recording Orchestra
Guncan-March

B1 –Kinsho Yoshioka*, Kinei Yoshioka*, Victor Recording Orchestra
Nozaki-Kouta

B2 –Toshiko Yonekawa
Genroku-Hanami-Odori

B3 –Victor Recording Orchestra
Klyari-Kuzushi

B4 –Victor Recording Orchestra
Dojoji

B5 –Victor Recording Orchestra
O-Edo Nipponbashi

B6 –Strings Emanon*
Mari To Tonosama

B7 –Toshiko Yonekawa, Motoo Yamaguchi, Yamaguchi Sadayoshi
Toryanse

B8 –Strings Emanon*
Shojoji No Tanukibayashi

---------- Post added at 09:12 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:48 AM ----------

or at least the following tracks please:

A3 –Shizuko, Toyohisa, Victor Recording Orchestra
Hana
B8 –Strings Emanon*
Shojoji No Tanukibayashi

---------- Post added at 08:59 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:02 AM ----------

Does anybody have this rare album:

「まんが世界昔ばなし」テーマ曲集
宮城　まり子


1 ウバ・ウバ・ウキャキャ
2:52

2 夢をみたの
2:50

3 私を呼ぶのは誰
2:50

4 めもわーる
3:23

5 ママ！ひみつだよ
2:12

6 天使がとおる
2:39

---------- Post added at 09:01 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:59 AM ----------

https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%80%8C%E3%81%BE%E3%82%93%E3%81%8C%E4%B8%96%E7%9 5%8C%E6%98%94%E3%81%B0%E3%81%AA%E3%81%97%E3%80%8D% E3%83%86%E3%83%BC%E3%83%9E%E6%9B%B2%E9%9B%86-%E5%AE%AE%E5%9F%8E-%E3%81%BE%E3%82%8A%E5%AD%90/dp/B00DFX5RZC

I know I've trashed Yugo Kanno's multiple Jojo attempts thus far, but I really couldn't think of a better finale piece for the whole show than this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOlaUBWzZkE

The most appropriate way to head to the Colosseum? With a massive Rozsa-esque fanfare. It also helps that the actual the Vento D'Oro theme is leagues above his older Jojo themes and far more malleable for being used in different scenarios just like we remembered from his themes from the golden days (no pun intended) of Birdy and mid-2000s J-Dramas.


Also, has anyone found an alternative for picosong now that it's been shut down?

Kamen Rider?! Always traditionally behind Sentai in musical quality...

Occasionally, it has its peaks:



Hayato Matsuo
Kamen Rider 555 ~FINAL CALL~
Studio Orchestra



Sample (clyp.it/mtai3sfy?token=e7594aa50e1611b4eea26856d428756d)
Mach 555 (https://mega.nz/#!C5I0DaiL!Yvkns3wjaOEoNb1JnOP3y31B6AMCOzo-wmsJCnKyFLA)

This is an orchestral selection from the movie score. It had a budget while the TV show had none, so I'm still hoping the Ryusoulger movie will be similar.
This is Matsuo straight after Cyborg 009, you can hear the similarities and some blueprints and ideas for later scores.






@Zipper: You can just make an account on clyp.it (https://clyp.it/) or use MEGA/mediafire for now. Yeah, the old Yugo is still shining through in his latest disappointments. I feel Suehiro already is more than capable to be what he doesn't seem to have an interest for anymore on TV shows. On that note, not only is his second symphony around the corner, here's your annual J-Drama drug by Dr. Yugo, you just can't escape tasting the pills once in a while:

Yugo Kanno - "War of the White Coat" Overture [Warriors in white!] (https://clyp.it/xp3101ge?token=0915d66286e009bb1c054deb17fc48e2)

Ooh, I didn't know Matsuo worked on Kamen Rider. Then again, this was in 2003... Let us hope some money appears for the Ryusoulger movie, but given that the TV show had all the makings of a great score - big show celebrating the Reiwa era, a nice meaty subject matter - knights and dinosaurs, and a fantastic composer in Kiyoshi Yoshikawa... and it turned out to be a no-budget, themeless turd... I'm not holding my breath. Then again, perhaps the next soundtracks will save it - the one thing you can say about Sentai is that it's mostly consistent. It could be that the worst music is on the first soundtrack. It's happened before. I've learned to never completely write off a Sentai until you've heard it all... but it's a strange year when I get more from Ultraman than from Super Sentai, and an even stranger when I get more from Kamen Rider than from both of the others put together.

Yugo Kanno: Fairly solid, but this stuff was tired ten years ago... and he's still getting away with essentially re-recording "Attention Please" three times a year. Does not compute.

I am quite late to the celebration of 11 years, but just want to say... THANK YOU. Before coming to this thread I knew only two anime composers (Joe Hisaishi and Yoko Kanno), now I know LOTS more and all thanks to each of you. My skills as a composer have definitely been impacted by this thread and its music curators. I don't give nearly as much as I'd like (mainly because I am not good at remastering/mastering/mixing etc.), but know that the next few releases from me are an attempt to curate music. So to celebrate this thread and its impact, I will share my latest work (not shared or heard anywhere else).

https://soundcloud.com/josh-barron-composer/a-truth-revealed-three-themes-from-vagrant-story/s-lTDqB

This is just a mockup, but the final version will be recorded. I transcribed every single note first, then arranged them into a suite. Also used both string orchestra and quartet to add some color. Anyway, I hope you all will enjoy this. Comments are most welcome :)

Thanks for the nice words, OrchestralGamer. :) I'll certainly have some comments on your new piece ASAP.





Sagisu must be a fan of Rosenman's RoboCop 2.

That would make him probably the only fan of that score.

*Ro-bo-cooop*... Urgh, I cringed so hard when I heard this. This is one of the most offensive pieces of film score I've heard, AFTER of course the insulting abomination that is the score of that very funny comedy, how is it called again, oh yeah, the AHAHAHAmazing Spider-Man 2 (not quite sure if it's a comedy, but I certainly laughed a lot!)

For those who don't know what I'm talking about, watch this review at 9:05 (also watch the whole thing because it's a really good, funny review!)



The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Review - YMS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJUk8ZHckxo

I am quite late to the celebration of 11 years, but just want to say... THANK YOU. Before coming to this thread I knew only two anime composers (Joe Hisaishi and Yoko Kanno), now I know LOTS more and all thanks to each of you. My skills as a composer have definitely been impacted by this thread and its music curators. I don't give nearly as much as I'd like (mainly because I am not good at remastering/mastering/mixing etc.), but know that the next few releases from me are an attempt to curate music. So to celebrate this thread and its impact, I will share my latest work (not shared or heard anywhere else).

https://soundcloud.com/josh-barron-composer/a-truth-revealed-three-themes-from-vagrant-story/s-lTDqB

This is just a mockup, but the final version will be recorded. I transcribed every single note first, then arranged them into a suite. Also used both string orchestra and quartet to add some color. Anyway, I hope you all will enjoy this. Comments are most welcome :)

Man, Vagrant Story. We used to have that when I was a kid, so that's a hell of a throwback (I didn't play that far into it, I recall, but like the opening of Final Fantasy VI where the mechs walk through the snowy mountains, it's such a distinct game that I can still remember it very clearly). As for the arrangement, I think it's quite good - I'm not too familiar with the game's soundtrack or anything by Hitoshi Sakamoto in general so I'm not able to compare, but I think it's definitely solid. I like how there's an ebb and flow between more intense sections and more quiet sections, and I really like the central "theme" that keeps recurring throughout. I look forward to hearing the final version.

Go Sakabe will be the composer for Kamen Rider Zero-One.