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.

Thank you SO much! Vagrant Story never gets arranged often, probably due to the huge amounts of reverb used in the music (which honestly is an absolute nightmare when transcribing). Unfortunately my VSTs (EastWest Quantum Leap) managed to cover up some of the nuances I wrote in, but the overall tone is there. The soundtrack itself was a completely new direction for Sakimoto at the time. Just wait until I share the teaser for the whole album. You're going to hear stuff from Valkyria Chronicles 1 & 4, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, and even Stella Deus. The Hamauzu side will have FFXIII-2, World of Final Fantasy, SaGa Frontier II, Unlimited SaGa, The Alliance Alive, and Legend of Legacy. And speaking of FFVI, that one really needs a proper orchestra album. Grand Finale, imo, had some hits and some misses (mostly due to poor recording and performance, rather than arrangement quality).

Hey there, everyone! I hope you're all doing well, and that y'all had a lovely weekend! Today, I've got an album upload that I'm really excited to show y'all! Not only is it for a fairly obscure album of British TV theme tunes from the 70s that hasn't seen much exposure elsewhere, but it's also the first time that I've truly collaborated with someone to make this happen! The album was purchased and ripped by Tangotreats himself (along with him scanning the covers included in the upload; my contribution was the idea to rip this particular album and paying for half of the purchase), so you know what that means - it's time for a Co-Production post! I've included write-ups from both Tango and myself where we discuss different aspects of this album, so it'll hopefully be an entertaining read in addition to the great music!



A Tangotreats / FrDougal9000 Co-Production

Sixteen Small Screen Greats, featuring Ronnie Hazlehurst & His Orchestra



Composed by Ronnie Hazlehurst, Dudley Simpson, Kenyon Emrys-Roberts, Benson & Lewis, Alexander Faris, Robert Farnon, Johnny Mandel, Wilfred Josephs, and Yannis Markopoulos

FLAC:

https://mega.nz/#!lWRW2C6T!lZz2VA85s_HmM4PkYslzHv3PQ1HtvUtXvge6fnF50dI
http://www.mediafire.com/file/4hkhkerlxn4fzeu/SSSG_FLAC.zip/file

MP3:

https://mega.nz/#!ALwFiCoJ!ioa0E8Q2enaoJOsBAlH72NPM0IAYsxlQ3MeOAPoaGaQ
http://www.mediafire.com/file/vn7bvhbrb786ugu/SSSG_MP3.zip/file

(Included with the album are scans of the album's cover and vinyl sides, along with notes on who composed what since the album only lists their surnames.)



Tango's Thoughts:

"Most of you will probably be eyeing this album suspiciously, thinking "Ronnie who? Who the hell is that? What's this about?" and you might be tempted to skip over it - particularly if you're put off by the dire 1970s cover art... But do give it a try - this is a very fun 45 minutes.

Ronnie Hazlehurst was EVERYWHERE from the late 1960s when he became Light Entertainment Music Director at the BBC until his semi-retirement in the 1990s... but arguably his "golden age" was the 1970s during which he wrote some of the most recognisable, and most popular TV theme tunes of all time. He was known for dropping in musical jokes into his themes - most famously in Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, where the entire theme spells out the name of the show in Morse code. A phenomenal composer, a master tunesmith, and a highly sought-after arranger and conductor, Ronnie Hazlehurst had it all. Though he retired from the BBC in the mid 1990s, he stayed on as composer for long-running gentle country comedy "Last of the Summer Wine" until his death in 2007, writing its iconic theme tune and scoring every episode to picture from 1973 until 2007 and recording it with a live 12-piece chamber orchestra. After he died, Nigel Hess and Jim Parker shared scoring duties recording with the same ensemble until 2010 when the show came to an end.

There's a bit of everything here. Hazlehurst's own themes form the backbone of the album, with Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, The Rise And Fall Of Reginald Perrin, Last Of The Summer Wine, The Two Ronnies, Happy Ever After, I Didn't Know You Cared, and The Other One all making an appearance. Other popular themes of the era are interspersed - Yannis Markopoulos' lovely "Who Pays The Ferryman?" particularly stands out for me.

It's very much of its era... but an era where every TV show had a theme, something you could whistle, something you would remember... Even if you've never heard of any of these shows, Hazlehurst's band is great and the music is all tuneful and well worth a shot.

Technical notes: This vinyl was in very nice condition, except for the eighth track of Side A (Secret Army) which was awfully crackly. The nature of this album - close-miked brass, funky 70s drumkit, and so on, made usual noise reduction techniques difficult to impossible. After careful and repeated listening, a great deal of testing, I decided to scale them right back and work on the worst of the noise manually. In cases where there removing the noise would have hurt the musical content, the musical content won every time. To complicate matters further, the record is tightly filled (25 minutes on side A, 21 minutes on side B) and cut very hot.

The end result is a deliciously dynamic, open-sounding recordng - albeit one which wears its vinyl credentials a little more proudly than I would usually release.

Finally, thank you to FrDougal9000 for his collaboration... it was a pleasure to work on this album!"



Dougal's Thoughts:

"Since Tango largely talked about Hazlehurst, I'll compliment his thoughts by writing about the album overall and the works of other composers.

Something I especially like about this album is the mix of themes from both sitcoms and dramas. In addition to the programmes Tango mentioned above, you're also getting themes from Blake's 7, Secret Army (which is perhaps best known for serving as the inspiration for the farcical 80s comedy Allo Allo), the 1975 version of Poldark, Wings, Who Pays The Ferryman?, The Duchess of Duke Street, I, Claudius and even M.A.S.H.!

What's just as interesting is that these were all created by other composers, which shows off their particular talents while also providing an introduction to their work:

-Dudley Simpson (best known for scoring many Doctor Who serials in the 60s and 70s)
-Kenyon Emrys-Roberts (mainly worked with the BBC as a music composer for their TV projects and library music, including To Serve Them All My Days and the 1977 adaptation of Dracula)
-Alexander Faris (composed the theme to the original Upstairs, Downstairs along with many musicals and operas, and helped to revive interest in Jacques Offenbach's operettas)
-Robert Farnon (composed the soundtracks for 40+ films, along with three full-length symphonies and Cascades to the Sea, among many other classical works)
-Johnny Mandel (a composer and arranger for soundtracks, jazz and pop songs, with Suicide Is Painless being his most famous work as the theme for the M.A.S.H. film and TV series)
-Wilfred Josephs (a very prolific composer with a lot of experience in both soundtracks and concert works)
-Yannis Markopoulos (a Greek composer who worked mainly in classical works)

(Benson & Lewis seems to be the odd duck, since I can't find any info on them besides them composing music for sports programmes during the 60s and 70s.)

This also allows for a mix of genres and moods that'll appeal to different tastes. Many of Hazlehurst's tunes have a strong 70's funk sensibility, while the likes of Farnon's Secret Army and Roberts' Poldark are more classically driven themes with an emphasis on establishing their show's respective moods (though they still manage to feature memorable melodies). Blake's 7 goes for a mix of traditional bombastic sci-fi with synthized instruments along with a more jazzy middle section, Wings features a more intimate performance that enhances its nostalgic theme, and Who Pays The Ferryman? is easily the most distinct of the pieces with its flamenco guitars, complete lack of brass, and its slow build up with just strings and the percussion.

As an aside, I'm fairly certain that the theme songs not composed by Hazlehurst were arranged or performed specifically for this album, since there's elements in the instrumentation or arrangement that don't appear in the versions featured in the shows themselves. (The biggest tell is in Who Pays The Ferryman?, which is played at a slower pace than the show's arrangement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjulErof-_w)

Overall, it's an excellent album that's actually gotten me a bit interested in checking out some of these shows (especially Poldark, with its gorgeous theme tune that far outclasses the 2015 version's theme; despite my general fondness for Anne Dudley's work on that series), and Tango has done a fantastic job mastering it to make for a quality listen. Massive thanks to him for indulging my idea and taking it this far that people will be able to enjoy these classic theme tunes!

I hope you enjoy the music, and that you have a lovely day! :)"

Sorry to go back a bit, but thinking about that TV theme question I can think of fewer examples of the vast gulf between the past and the current state of affairs with more contrast than this:

https://youtu.be/CGufyFt6zQc

https://youtu.be/ILTWNFH4F5g

The first one I can remember humming incessantly as a child and just watching the YouTube video gets it stuck instantly in the old noggin. The second, I haven't watched the new show but two seconds after the clip is over I am unable to hum a note. Of course, it's hardly fair when one example was literally written by frigging Mozart of all people and the other is a meh Bond song knockoff. The '90s show intro is also arguably better directed with more dynamic camera movement and interesting transitions -- match cuts!

I actually tried listening to the '90s music with the modern video and, while it didn't quite work, I was surprised how much energy it brought to the sequence, especially in the latter half. Perhaps an attempt could be made to arrange the Mozart (or another opera composer for the hell of it) appropriately or at least write something more peppy and melodic that still fits.

Thank you Tango and Father Dougal for your work on Ronnie Hazlehurst's 1978 recording and sharing it with us. All the tunes are melodic and the shows have fond memories for me. I actually prefer the arranger's slower version of Who Pays the Ferryman? and his version of Blake's 7. My favourite though, is Wings, which is very touching.

There's more information about the composer conducter here:
https://robertfarnonsociety.org.uk/index.php/legends/ronnie-hazlehurst


Track list

01. A1. Blake's 7 (1978-1981) Dudley Simpson

02. A2. Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em (1973-1978) Ronnie Hazlehurst

03. A3. Poldark (1975-1977) Kenyon Emrys-Roberts

04. A4. The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (1976–1979) Ronnie Hazlehurst

05. A5. Last of the Summer Wine (1973–2010) Ronnie Hazlehurst

06. A6. Pro-Am Golf [Eagle and Chips] (1970s) Benson and Lewis

07. A7. Wings (1977-1978) Alexander Faris

08. A8. Secret Army (1977-1979) Robert Farnon

09. B1. The Two Ronnies (1971–1987) Ronnie Hazlehurst

10. B2. M*A*S*H (1972–1981) Johnny Mandel

11. B3. Happy Ever After (1974–1979) Ronnie Hazlehurst

12. B4. I, Claudius (1976) Wilfred Josephs

13. B5. I Didn't Know You Cared (1975–1979) Ronnie Hazlehurst

14. B6. The Other One (1977–1979) Ronnie Hazlehurst

15. B7. The Duchess of Duke Street (1976–1977) Alexander Faris

16. B8. Who Pays the Ferryman? (1977) Yannis Markopoulos[COLOR="Silver"]

Sorry to go back a bit, but thinking about that TV theme question I can think of fewer examples of the vast gulf between the past and the current state of affairs with more contrast than this:

https://youtu.be/CGufyFt6zQc

https://youtu.be/ILTWNFH4F5g

Ooh, that's actually a fascinating comparison! I like the idea of using a classical work for the theme tune of a show, and I think it works here in giving the show this grand campy air that fits the over-the-top globe-trotting antics quite well. I can see what they were trying to go for with the new theme, but it does feel a bit too generic (I disagree on which one has the better direction, though I admit that's pretty much because I love the effectively minimalist storyboarding and the monochrome with red color palettes at the beginning).

I might attempt doing a theme tune for that one, since I can definitely use a jazzy flair for the globe-trotting thief concept - although I'm strongly considering doing two takes, with one of them being based on a piece of classical music to continue the idea established by the original series.

(I disagree on which one has the better direction, though I admit that's pretty much because I love the effectively minimalist storyboarding and the monochrome with red color palettes at the beginning).

The new show's intro is more stylized; having not watched a single episode, perhaps it fits the show as well as the older intro fits its show. But the campy, high-energy vibe seems to me to be much more exciting and attention-grabbing, especially for a kids' show; the use of classical opera is even somewhat appropriate given the "edu-tainment" goal of the program regarding geography and world history. The camera angles are more varied and dynamic. The older sequence also (sort of) tells a story as the kid detectives collect the pieces of that globe artifact; the newer sequence is just a random batch of Carmen's escapades so far as I can tell. New show has more style; old show has more direction, IMO.


I might attempt doing a theme tune for that one, since I can definitely use a jazzy flair for the globe-trotting thief concept - although I'm strongly considering doing two takes, with one of them being based on a piece of classical music to continue the idea established by the original series.

Jazzy would be nice. It'd be interesting to use a Hispanic classical composer's work as the basis for a theme, but unfortunately I'm hard-pressed to think of examples.

I like the idea of using a classical work for the theme tune of a show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5eAafpheKU

I like the idea of using a classical work for the theme tune of a showhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5eAafpheKU

Wait, the theme tune to the CGI Starship Troopers cartoon is based on classical music? Seriously?!

(Does some research and finds it's based on Beethoven's Sonata "Pathetique", listens to the first part: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqvBJc9IovI)

Oh my God, it is! That's actually kinda crazy, and really cool! I remember watching some of that show as a kid and the theme was the only thing I strongly recall whenever I think about it; no bloody wonder why! XD Man, now I really wanna try my hand at doing a theme tune based on classical music to see how it goes.

(I've started working on my custom theme for the new Carmen Sandiego cartoon, and while there's plenty of work to do in establishing the foundation, I've at least managed to suss out what are crucial points in the opening animation to try and punctuate through the music. I'm actually really excited about this, and hopefully I'll have something to show!)

I'm a big fan of Rosenman's Robocop 2... The "Robocoooooooooooop!" choir is as daft as a box of frogs and I can't say all of it works in the film, but I find the music itself very enjoyable. The fake commercial scores are particularly fun, and Sunblock 5000 is just sublime: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oJzfmWO3CU

It even matches, for me, one of my favourite Poledouris cues of all time - the Delta City commercial in Robocop 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V65-FIIFxvs

The whole thing is firmly tongue in cheek and larger-than-life, of course, but the music plays it straight - and the sequence itself is just lovely, so much conveyed in just thirty seconds, and a lovely SFX moment as well.

Dougal: Great post! ;)

Small question: Tangotreats went to rather a lot of effort on this scans and included them in PNG format... and is kinda sad to see that you didn't include them in the upload. Not that the JPG ones are bad, but I thought it was a good idea to keep everything lossless, not just the audio... Mind if I share the HQ scans separately?

Dougal: Great post! ;)

Small question: Tangotreats went to rather a lot of effort on this scans and included them in PNG format... and is kinda sad to see that you didn't include them in the upload. Not that the JPG ones are bad, but I thought it was a good idea to keep everything lossless, not just the audio... Mind if I share the HQ scans separately?

Oh crap! Sorry about that! I was trying to find your original upload with the higher quality scans, but it turned out you deleted them and hadn't included them in the re-upload, so I ended up using the lower quality ones without realizing that was the case. (I probably should've asked you for them, which is another reason I'm apologizing.) If you want, you can send me the scans and I can redo the zip files and reupload them whenever I've got the time. But otherwise, yes, you can share them separately.

Again, sorry about that, and I'll do my best to correct that as soon as possible!

Thanks Dougal and Tango, I enjoyed it a lot.

Count me among those that really enjoyed Rosenman's take on Robocop, but I enjoy camp when its done well.


@TazerMonkey: Yeah, I'm not a fan at all of the remake (but what else is new). Nobody seems to be interested in music and drama and the wonderful synergy between the two anymore, at least the makers of throwaway media projects, made by people who should know better.

I mean, we can post millions of examples that films and series then and now are like out of two completely different universes but what can you expect when all people of incredible craft and talent left a sinking ship, were castrated or pushed out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0V_uxrDOMLY (Sahashi loves these two Burton/Elfman (at the peak of their craft) Batman scores so much they turn up in almost every work he's done, of course recently in Zi-O)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYj4Aq5fdjk&t=3m12s (as soon as the Zimmer drums hit I bursted out laughing, Nolan is a terrible hack, almost as much of a hack as Zimmer in this case, but most people eat it up because they haven't studied drama and music)


But I just don't bother anymore... I'm more than occupied with another universe now with people who still know how its done (clyp.it/mvylpe5q?token=19f1b0320fef57eff88c027b62e49515).

But with fear of sounding redundant, back to work:

What a cute and nostalgic soundtrack! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaimK_3ohUE)

I could have done without Rosenman's "grumpy old man" comments about how utterly shit he thought Poledouris' original score was... but for me the music's right on the money... and he was right about one thing - Poledouris squandered his "end credits" opportunity but Rosenman seized it with both hands.


Danmachi

Before I get excited... is that the only good track in an otherwise really naff score? Or is this Inai finally figuring himself out?

<STRIKE>Do you know where the whole score could be found, please? I see that it came out about a week ago but have yet to see it surface online.</STRIKE>

AH, never mind, I think I found it hiding in a Bluray rip on Nyaa. :)

Some of it is rather good. When Inai's motor gets running, nothing can stop it... I hope he continues in this direction, I really really do.

[Edit: What in the hell is that weird buzzing noise in some cues? Like track 3. It sounds like a vibrator.]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0V_uxrDOMLY (Sahashi loves these two Burton/Elfman (at the peak of their craft) Batman scores so much they turn up in almost every work he's done, of course recently in Zi-O)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYj4Aq5fdjk&t=3m12s (as soon as the Zimmer drums hit I bursted out laughing, Nolan is a terrible hack, almost as much of a hack as Zimmer in this case, but most people eat it up because they haven't studied drama and music)

Like with Carmen Sandeigo's theme tunes, that's another really interesting comparison. What's fascinating about Batman Returns is how minimalist its ending is: not a lot happens in it, but that allows the music plenty of room to score the scene and really convey the underlying emotions (which, to me, are a hollow melancholy that comes from some kind of loss - I've never actually seen Returns, so I'm just going from what's suggested through the imagery and sounds). I'm not terribly big on Danny Elfman, but I can see from this scene why the man is (or at least was) held in such regard during the late 80s/early 90s if this scene was typical of the kind of music he could create. Honestly, I really wanna see Returns just because of this scene, so I guess that's a pretty good demonstration of the power of classic Hollywood film music.

As for DK3: Bruce Wayne's Double Trouble, oof! I wanted to stop watching almost immediately because of how bland and repetitive the music was. Why does it sound like I'm watching some kind of generic ad for travel insurance or the end to the episode in the middle of a boring TV show that rips off all the worst bits of lost? It's the end of a trilogy and of a story, but with the idea that there's a new beginning, so why not make the point of the music? I get that it's a montage and you can only work with what you're given (I've not seen any of Nolan's films besides Batman Begins, and that was years and years ago, so I don't have an opinion on Nolan as a filmmaker), but I still think there could have been a better musical send-off to these films.

(As an aside, I'm finished a prototype of my custom theme tune for Star Trek: Enterprise, based on Vinphonic's suggestion. It's around 2 minutes, which is longer than I wanted it to be, and I've only put the crucial instruments into place - so there's still plenty of work to be done. However, I'm happy to have come up with something; and even tried some composing experiments that helped build a foundation. Thanks for the suggestion, Vinphonic! :D)

@Tango: Ah, the sound of sustained pipes, in one league with badly tuned short tuba stabs :D



Keiji Inai
VICTOR STUDIO Symphony Orchestra
FAMILIA MYTH: Arrow of the Orion [Silver Screen Adventure]



Sample (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4alTaQ4TK4)
Back to the Silver Screen (https://mega.nz/#!3oZVyIDC!N--tnhN6Wk0qA2xJOm2MVplMQvwe_Pq6KcYgMfFg1r4)

This is a score selection of orchestral cues from all soundtracks of "Danmachi" aka "Is it Wrong to try to pick up girls in a dungeon?" aka FAMILIA MYTH". I label it "Silver Screen Adventure" because the composer wants to be one of the Silver Age Greats and the whole project is aware its a "Silver Screen/Age thing". I choose all pieces with major thematic material, clocking at around two hours of oldschool film music (the film cues are tagged with madeup titles since no information is available atm). The music is performed by a stupendous ensemble by anime standards, a full symphony-size orchestra with hours of recorded music (Warner Bros. budget I guess). Like I already touched upon, WB (a century old company) has firmly established itself within the animeworld and published the series and soundtracks. Its one of the very rare cases of locked-picture scoring in anime, something that isn't done unless the composer and/or director requests it :


Numerous styles have influenced me. I’m a jazz musician, and also as a kid, I just loved soundtracks. One thing that stood out and influenced me as a kid was Jerry Goldsmith. What was it… Papillon!!

Every time there is any sort of source material, like a manga, a game, or any kind of reference material, I will try to read it or play it. If I read it and there is already some form of adaptation, I discuss deeply with the producers and directors to make sure there isn’t too much of a gap between what I make and what already exists and to keep things consistent.

I’ve done the soundtrack for both Bahamut: Genesis and Bahamut: Virgin Soul, which have very different tones, but are part of the same franchise. We tried to keep the tones consistent between the two works. For the first one, Genesis, we tried a different music production method. We did film scoring, something that is not normally done for animations. We would produce images first, and then create the music to go with the images.

The practice of film scoring is common in the United States, but not in Japan, so that was a new challenge I was able to do through the Bahamut works. The tone of the story of the Bahamut series, with Genesis, is rather sad. It’s a very sad story. However, the Virgin Soul story is warm, but with a bit of sadness. It’s about Nina, who’s a very positive character, who finds love, and tries to achieve love with… I don’t remember who it is, but she tries to make it a fruitful relationship. So it’s kind of a warm yet sad story. So the tone of the stories are quite different from each other. However, the world view of Bahamut is the same, so that is why we try to keep a consistent tone between the stories.

In my musical experience, it was a record-making hard work, but fun and, at the same time, it taught me so much. For each and every work that I do, I try to do my best and put everything into each work. So every piece is hard, but at the same time, I’m fine.

Inai also scored the film to picture and pieces like "Arrival of Fellowship and Mystery" really show the strength of this form of music, a story you don't even need a picture for. I wish this approach would be tried more often in the animeworld but the recent work of Hamaguchi and Fujisawa demonstrated you don't necesseraily need it to make "locked-picture-esque cues", you only need your imagination for that ;)

Inai channels the Silver Age greats: Silvestri, Williams, you name em. It has heroic themes, romantic subthemes, Thomas Newman piano tracks and Trevor Jones. Its quintessential Silver Age Hollywood and skillfully made, not a throwback but a genuine addition to the legacy by the way its shaping up. I hope the franchise will expand into another movie and Inai getting his hands on a major SciFi project in the future.

This particular orchestral adventure will be expanded at the end of the year when the other Familia Myth II soundtracks have dropped, the action already takes after Orion and gives some major action setpieces missing in the film to complement the picture.

In the meantime, enjoy this epic adventure from the age of the Silver Screen.

Vin, are we talking about the same noise? I'm talking about this: https://mega.nz/#!lTwDECoA!xh2jpxexlaSA1wyDMbo37d9EConzCS7owWVp9hSzw4Y (Very amplified and run a few times - this is from the very start of Track 3. Am I going deaf? What the hell is that?

It doesn't sound like any orchestral instrument to me. I thought it might be a bag pipe, but it turns up in cues where there's just the orchestra playing.

------------

*looks at trailer*

*notices music*

*watches a bit more*



*downloads movie*

*looks at trailer*

*notices music*

*watches a bit more*



*downloads movie*

I don't know why, but the combination of that reaction and my recalling that you said something about a foot fetish anime some time ago just gave me the idea of a foot fetish film scored entirely to classical music and opera, which is the funniest mental image I've had in some time. (Particularly when I imagined Habanera from Carmen being used for this film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ_HHRJf0xg)

I wish I was in anime; I bet I could get this financed within the hour! XD

Hah, seems like they know their audience...




I thought it was just the sound of something attatched to the pipe (or someone blowing air into a part of it). No idea what else could make that sound (if it is intentional).





@Josh: Sorry for the late reply but I'm really looking forwad to your Sakimoto arrangements. I want to properly comment on it when its done but its very nice you give him the spotlight :)

dora the explorer brings back the debney from 30 years ago.fullorchestral classic light action adventure score with plenty highlights.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7uYqqxpXqA

Guess who was responsible for the orchestration in this Japanese ET knockoff movie from 2000? Just found out about it today. Something worth hunting down if I can find it...

http://www.yasuaki-shimizu.com/en/recordings/solo/detail03.html

weird noise

Indeed, I thought organ, malfunctioning vibraphone motor, bagpipes... but it's going on in cues where none of those instruments are even featured.

Very odd.


Dougal's anime

https://i.imgur.com/M1YKMu1.gif

Actually, I'd enthusiastically crowdfund that... I'd consider giving quite a substantial amount if I could pick the composer. (SOUHEI KANO!)

Who's up for some more music similarities?

Does this remind anyone of a certain JNH score? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9PlXKtva4A

I don't know if anyone here is familiar with Stelvio Cipriani, but if you are you might find this familiar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4NSjyRQS_c#t=1h15m15s

I forget if I mentioned this one before, but this certainly inspired a certain Broughton score https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IYw_8xzkWE&t=7m30s

Some may have heard this but a certain composer is gonna get a lot more job offers after a certain arc:


"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...

We're getting there eventually ;)




Kimetsu no Yaiba [Go Shiina - Score Preview] (https://mega.nz/#!a1YzGAZA!blBIcF05jC6YlWK9cKH-pjY1N-87tuBoL0DJ-_eGqlc)

Remember when Kajiura was also on this show? Me neither...

This entire arc has been Shiina's show... and its another stupendous ensemble for anime, a 64-Piece Orchestra and Shiina uses it quite effectivly and in familiar ways, but the dramatic ways of the story and elements of (Japanese) theater really give it a boost. A powerful orchestral Go Shiina ballad completes it, perfectly executed.

The last time the genre achieved such a moment was HunterXHunter: Sometimes it has wild rides. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3d_k_21QPg) (But I don't think FMA can ever be topped).

The first soundtrack is out in two weeks as enclosure, the ballad will be released as a single.


Some of Kajiura's recent work is not too shabby either: https://twitter.com/i/status/1160843125096501249

IT LIVES AGAIN!!!

I haven't been listening to much in the way of orchestral music lately (aside from relistening to an excerpt from Johan de Meij's T-Bone symphony while writing this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aap-skr3GxE), but I've been working away on a couple of smaller things as of late. I'm gonna post one of them in a few days, but this one was something I was actually working on when the forum went down - it's just a small collection of music, and I'm not going to give it the big damn post treatment I'd usually do for these sort of things. I hope you like it.


Love Quotient/Ren'ai Hensachi - Classical Selection



Composed and arranged by Shiro Sagisu

Performed by the Royal Mirrorball Orchestra

Tracks 1 and 13 are composed by Ken Matsubara

Special thanks to 17love, who originally uploaded the entire soundtrack on here back in 2015. This collection is based on his upload: Thread 193019

FLAC:

https://www.mediafire.com/folder/stmhaqapaeap1/ (https://www.mediafire.com/folder/stmhaqapaeap1/)
https://mega.nz/#!FXhw2YTI!rd03m3F30wWPth2Xuih26nuFhexewu9ri7gbyYFJQJE

MP3:

https://www.mediafire.com/folder/stmhaqapaeap1/
https://mega.nz/#!4Go0CQpa!PQbObHwV2ovPlLjOLLu-tAmQERWs3apKPJpU2jUSAjU

This is a collection of music from the soundtrack to the 2002 TV drama Love Quotient (Ren'ai Hensachi), which was composed by Shiro Saigsu and DJ Gomi. The soundtrack encompasses a fairly wide variety of genres and sounds, but I wanted to focus specifically on the pieces performed by an orchestra, strings and harpsichord, or solo piano, so Gomi doesn't appear anywhere in this. I used to be obsessed with Sagisu's work when I discovered this, and I think it was the last time I fully enjoyed a soundtrack of his. Other soundtracks have had excellent pieces, but I've never cared much for the whole like I did for this. The cues featured in this collection play a big part in that, with gems like the serene Valse Des Trois Affections or the stirring Mon Insomnie Pour Te Manquer, the latter of which is actually an arrangement of MISIA's My Sleepless Nights Are Your Fault.

This collection is split into three parts. The first three tracks are performed entirely by the Royal Mirrorball Orchestra (supposedly with Tomoyuki Asakawa on harp, but I can't find any confirmation for this beyond 17love's upload linked above), while the fourth track is a solo piano arrangement of Valse Des Trois Affections. The final three tracks are performed by a string ensemble, sometimes with an accompanying harpsichord, and rearrange tracks previously seen in this collection or on the album. For me, this album is very relaxing and beautiful, and I hope that you will get something similar out of it. Thank you for reading, and have a great day.

Yep, Iwasaki is still a genius.

https://soundcloud.com/user-507695647/death-bird-for-string-orchestra-and-harp

You know what, this calls for an update:


Taku Iwasaki
BUNGO STRAY DOGS [The Good Stuff]
Studio Orchestra / String Ensemble / Soprano




Yep, Iwasaki is still a genius.

https://soundcloud.com/user-507695647/death-bird-for-string-orchestra-and-harp

Dive into Impressionism (https://mega.nz/#!nopgwI7I!8YoigNh4KvbuDx9H63N_kVtPcPN86ALPI4jEP900_30)

With each and every soundtrack, it moves up the ranks. After OST 4 it might be in my top three Iwasaki scores. With the recent addition he further embraces the musical playground given to him and he wrote a few concertquality pieces, a lovely Aria (made for his waifu), and a few stellar string ensemble pieces. If he had access to an orchestral ensemble again, who knows what he would have done, but something tells me his "Bunmei Symphony" is not yet done. Of course there's the obvious Prokofiev this time but quite a few other masterworks have made it in.

"Dormito Bene" (clyp.it/vpk3ve1j?token=1e9cf66d8b78154daefb9ee3bf6215b1) stands as a shining example of Iwasaki at his best and the whole Stray Dogs Project is very concistent, sound-wise, for Iwasaki. While I don't find much to appreciate in his electronic experiments, I absolutely adore his dive into impressionistic colors and sounds. Here he proofs once again the freedom of the the musical playground he works in. A thankyou also belongs to director Takuya Igarashi (Soul Eater, Ashita no Nadja, Star Driver, Captain Earth) for working with Iwasaki to give us some pretty dope music to listen to.

This will not be the last time we hear of Stray Dogs I feel, in any case Iwasaki is busy as ever, his next soundtrack almost around the corner. He's a cool dude with street cred stomping on any arrogant amateurs daddling around with sampling libraries as well as stiff-upper-lip avant-garde snobs. He's having the fun of his life, working in a crazy industry with crazy people, and it just so happens he's one of them himself.


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)

If you want a glimpse of him at work: https://twitter.com/taque68/status/1149264377507241984

A thankyou also belongs to director Takuya Igarashi (Soul Eater, Ashita no Nadja, Star Driver, Captain Earth) for working with Iwasaki to give us some pretty dope music to listen to.Speaking of Soul Eater, I marathoned the entire show a month ago and was surprised at how much was left off the soundtracks- most of it being the orchestral pieces. As per usual with Iwasaki's twisted attitude towards music, most of what made it on there was the electronics, and so we never got some of the best pieces on album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvFh-LF6fDY&t=1134s

Something that sounds straight out of a Delius symphony and Iwasaki just casually tosses it aside like it's nothing to him.

I's interesting that nowadays, his music is a lot more segregated than before. The Hollywood type banging percussion pieces are just that, and the orchestra usage is more classically-inspired like what we see in the recent Bungo.

You know, I never really finished the show so that is a bit of a surprise how much was left out. Who knows if they will do an anniversary release with the complete soundtrack works, recently they started doing that a lot. If that fails you can always rip it, seems like there is not too much interference with the music this time ;)

I like his recent change very much, an album for those that love his electronics, an album for those who who love his classical style (he is definitely pursuing it more earnestly these days), everybody wins...

Hey there, everyone! I hope you're all doing well! A couple of days ago, I alluded to having something to post on here, and this is it.

Back in June, I posted a string quartet arrangement of the theme tune for Phantasy Star III, inspired by Borodin's Notturno. It was my first attempt at trying to do something for a string quartet, so there was undoubtedly a lot that could have been improved. Thankfully, streichorchester had plenty of suggestions to make in regards to both arrangement and performance notes, which I started work on almost immediately to make sure that I addressed his points to the best of my ability. I recently went back to it just to fix a couple more things, and I think I'm happy enough with it that I'm ready to post it.

So, this is the second take on the string quintet arrangement for the Phantasy Star III theme tune (yes, I decided to split the double-stops in the 2nd violin into two separate instruments to make for a quintet instead of a quartet). I've done the best I think I was able to do with the feedback given, though it's always possible that there are improvements to be made.

Here's the MP3 version of the track (as performed through Musescore, so there's likely still some issues that likely wouldn't occur in a real performance): https://clyp.it/eunsyqro?token=e04ac2823a795d2c7b020124275470d8 And here's the PDF if anyone wants to have a look at the score: https://www.docdroid.net/pUQ5Lt8/psiii-theme-take-2.pdf

I'm really happy to have been able to do this, and to have learned about a few things I never knew about while trying to address streichorchester's points. Let me know what you think, and I hope you enjoy what I've been able to do. Thank you, and have a great day! :)

Hello everyone.
Firstly, I am astounded and impressed at the thoroughness of coverage that so much passion for music can create. It's what drew me here, to make this first post.
As my name hints at, I am very pressed to identify several pieces of anime, film, and video-game music used in the US Food Network 1999 dubbed broadcast of the Japanese show Iron Chef.
Time and effort have revealed some, but not all, and there are always gaps to fill in knowledge.
I have already seen a few posts within this megathread talking about a few pieces identified, but one has always eluded me.
To cut things short: https://youtu.be/W7fgDLZzlaQ

Any recognition at all? I have been looking and translating for the better part of six years, with no luck. Only vague connections to other composers.

Thank you for your attention, and I look forward to being a part of this very passionate community.

Weird, it starts off sounding like Masashi Hamauzu, then veers off into a cheap redux of Leia's Theme from Star Wars... Apart from that, I have no idea I'm afraid...

Yep, a very cute ... score. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma8ZNSwEfDo)

Anyway, this week Suehiro takes the lead after Inai wrote a lovely triumphant reprise of the main theme and a Matsuo-action cue: his string piece in the recent Fire Force episode is in one of my favorite keys, a very warm and delicate one, and the choral stuff is a notch above Goblin Slayer. As predicted his scores get soundtrack releases.

Go Shiina doesn't stop his momentum either as the recent arc will reach its climax soon. I doubt much of it will be on the first soundtrack though.

I also tuned in for the final episode of Gundam Origin on tv... those sneaky bastards :D (the original series will be remade eventually).


EDIT: Speaking of Gundam, here's a little pop album, provided by King Records. You will find these tunes familiar as Sahashi gave almost all of them the symphonic treatment back in 2009, but the melodies were the reason it worked so well in the first place for a master of melody to adapt for the London Symphony Orchestra. I really have a great time with the songs reimagined as a 70/80 pop album. Takayuki Hattori also contributed with a new pop arrangement, his familiar writing is well established:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU_h19Ct-X8



And Tanaka's 20th anniversary One Piece score reprises a familiar tune: https://clyp.it/fgcyj5p1


As a culmination of 20 years, using musical ideas from the past, I wanted to make this “Pirate Expo” more exciting.

At the same time, to fans who have loved One Piece for the last 20 years, I am grateful.

There are around 50 pieces, and of course I made new arrangements of familiar music to fit the screen.

That song, this song, and all the nostalgic music, I recorded the orchestra with much joy.

There's of course “We Go” and “We Are”

There's also "I will be a pirate king" (The first play accompaniment I composed for one piece)


This time, the length of the final battle was long, and it was physically very hard to compose.

To get a close sense of unity with the video, I increased the sense of volume more than ever.

Because it ’s the 20th anniversary of the “Pirate Expo”.


I also want to listen again, so I will go to the theater soon.

I wonder if they can do a “cheering screening”.

I want to listen to the great choir of “We Are”!


Well everyone! !

Please sing the last “We Are” together.

A great chorus with everyone!!

Relaeses at the end of october: https://vgmdb.net/album/88830




More samples from Shin Sakura Taisen:

More orchestra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvhsTLPgFms&t=25m04s

More 90s Mecha: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvhsTLPgFms&t=71m16s

For now, a bonus cd will be released in December, but a full soundtrack release should follow, along with new media projects.

It seems I have missed this, but Hideki Sakamoto had a concert in the Music4Gamer series with the Tokyo Symphony last year. I had managed to find it on YouTube (Piano and Orchestra albums). Another side note, the same orchestra is hosting a 30th anniversary concert dedicated to Yoko Shimomura's music. New arrangements of her music spanning her whole career will be performed. I hope to finally hear some of her older works like Front Mission, Parasite Eve, and Super Mario RPG :). I long for a full orchestra version of Happy Kingdom from SMRPG...

ANYWAY, here is the link below for Bungo and the Alchemist concert.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkHOpInnY7A

Also anyone happen to Kohei Tanaka's One Piece World Seeker soundtrack? I am just getting into his music (I know it's a little late, but rather late than never right?).

Ah, Josh, you've come to the right place then (as I am *a little* into his music). Here you go. (Thread 57893)

I've also done a "starter pack" some years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yX_8BphE-k&list=PLAY2aAj333CrnHjSqyaA57UyQmi-hFDZN

One of the greats of our times.


Anyway, since I am a bit into a nostalgic mood today, I decided to do something in a style of a certain post, when I was very much younger and a somewhat different person (though I have decided long ago to leave everything I wrote up so I can marvel at how sometimes my own thoughts and opinions can change overtime). But I digress, get ready:




Hayato Matsuo
HELLSING [Hell shall sing]
The Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus



Sample (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTzaDyx4m0U)
Into the Depths of Hell (https://mega.nz/#!mp41TYqC!Wq6IOOem-714HI7UdjQ4E1OgUqjU7ZCs-yCF2pqA-Cw)


Major thanks to fedex1 who provided the until now pisspoor sounding Warsaw tracks in pristine quality:
Thread 235200


Similar to my FMA (Thread 173501) post (but a bit different as I am not so much the same person as I was FIVE years ago). This is a musical highlight and closer look at a great orchestral score found on anime soundtrack albums. Operatic in every sense of the word, this showstopper is a powerhouse orchestral score to commemorate one of fictions great characters: Dracula aka Vlad.

There's quite a few scores (and films) around this mythos I love, namely the contributions by John Williams and Wojciech Kilar.
But in terms of sheer spectacle this one is my go-to. Bombastic action in best fashion and tradition, Matsuo commands a dark and brooding action score with elements of opera and christian tradition.


https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/512t8jXmR%2BL._SX338_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
Hellsing is an OVA-series adaption from the manga by Kōta Hirano from the year 1997.
A tv-series was made before the OVAs but it was not adapting the manga faithfully and is its own thing.
The OVA series began in 2006 and was finished in 2012.
Numerous staff members changed over the course of production but Matsuo gave it all unity.


It is a truely ridicolous scenario: Vampires, Nazis, Fanatics, all in a Battle Royale in London. At the core its also a series about what makes a human and what makes a monster and as we know, that concept makes some great drama (& music). Especially the operatic parts, reflect that. There's quite a lot of European myth worked into it, and it all works in the musics favor.
The first piece is a smashing mini-cantata, GRADUS VITA, about the tale of Vlad the Impaler turned Dracul. What follows is a maturly written operatic score with furious marches and bombastic leitmotif action. The motif of Gradus Vita appears quite a lot throughout the score, often very subtle. The other major motif is for the central antagonists, the Nazi Faction "MILLENIUM" which appears in full pompous force in the march "Letztes Battaillon". Overall, the Warsaw pieces are all concert-quality, the rest had to be recorded with a Japanese studio ensemble (I guess time and money). "Castle of the Red Count" particularly stands out both as a musical climax with tension and release as well as how it builds and moves. This is not great anime music, this is just great music.



The music roughly is about a war between Fanatics and Fashists against the legendary Vampire Dracula.
The Anime project is fairly faithful to the myth, a portrayal of the Ottoman Turks and Knights of Wallachia.
Other historic figures like the Crusader Knights of Malta and the SS are depicted accurately.


The highest point of the score is the action, and its great quality and full of thematic weight. "Feuerkreuz, "Marching Overture", "Conductor of the Battlefield" and "Crusaders", they all are among the best action material out there in the world of media. Especially noteworthy is the use of Xylophone which really can give your action just that tiny bit of spice you need. It channels the russian and german greats of the concert hall and the Hollywood greats like John Williams. Even Carl Maria von Weber's "Der Freisch�tz" appears, arranged by Matsuo, for a diegetic moment. In fact the series is full of diegetic music, the grand war scene where the main antagonist waves his arms around, air-conducting, as the Warsaw Philharmonic is in full fury, is one of those moments that make "Great Schlock". Unfortunately, as it is well known, a final cd for the last boxset was not included so some of the action had to be ripped from the source. Its an improvment over previous rips, much cleaner and you can actually can get the full piece inside your head.

Conductor of the Battlefield (https://clyp.it/pmacplnq)

The greatest loss is of course the piece for full orchestra and chorus "No Man of God" which is tragicly cut short. Quite a lot of the endings recieved grand orchestral and choral pieces as well, a highlight being "Song of Demeter", the Greek Goddess, or Matsuo's very own "Funeral March". These were recorded by a studio ensemble and choir however.

Song of DEMETER (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhthZMPDoxI)



The Warsaw Philharmonic score was recorded in 2005 and another session was recorded at an unspecified date.
It was conducted by Lukasz Borowicz & Michal Sworzynskian. Over an hour of Warsaw at its finest.


Overall this is a score any fan of big orchestral action music should have in his collection and a testament to the landscape of creators with great skill, knowledge and taste, working together to make something that will last. A stupendous score and a highpoint of an incredibly gifted composers career. There will be a continuation of Drifters sometime in the future, so Matsuo will definitely fly to Warsaw again to record more of some of the best action music of our times. I'll leave you with the words from the man himself:


It’s important to use full orchestras on anime projects like these and also game productions of today. The orchestra brings such an epic scale to a piece of music and enhances the atmosphere of a game or anime scene closer to the desired specifications and if its a full symphony orchestra, magic strikes the recording.

Today’s samplers are very advanced and are much better than before. Because of this, they are often compared to orchestras and sometimes used instead for budget reasons. However, the comparison has also enabled many to open their eyes to how a live orchestra sounds so much better and can portray a variety of emotions that samplers simply cannot. I love dark and emotional orchestral music very much, so in this regard, Hellsing was the perfect series for me. The Warsaw Philharmonic can perform all sorts of music, but they are very much suited to the dark sound for this music, hence it was a pleasure to record with them. I'm looking forward to working with them again in the future.


And as a little bonus, my favorite bit from "Der Freisch�tz", performed by the Staatskapelle Dresden and Rundfunkchor Leipzig, conducted by Carlos Kleiber: Hunter's Chorus (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NR5XZ5B02a8)

when I was very much younger and a somewhat different person (though I have decided long ago to leave everything I wrote up so I can marvel at how sometimes my own thoughts and opinions can change overtime).
Isn't that an interesting thing to do? I too changed so much and marvel at my old posts. We've both been on here so long, a ton of nostalgia could be dug up. On that note, thanks for Symphonic Legends in 5.1, and being the #1 source for my music and providing good reads for years!
On the post's subject, this world needs more Matsuo music. There's just not enough. It'd be great if he got a job like Miyazaki where he's tasked a new soundtrack for a huge series every year. Why does IMAGINE have so many great composers? Some specific business model, or coincidence?

I'm really grateful for your words but I like to think of that as a collaborative effort :)

Well, in the case of FMA my opinion didn't change so much in fact, other than my appreciation growing stronger over the years. Just the way I would present and would go around it would be a little different. Nowadays I know exactly what I love and why I love it, down to the tiniest detail, and vice versa. It's a long road until you can say that with confidence as an absolute I believe. I can only say listen to everything there is out there, read everything, watch everything, play everything, whatever you need for inspiration, and know what makes it tick, especially the stuff considered "classics" or "great". You might not necessarly agree with its reputation but in many cases its worth doing. It can even enhance the most guilty-pleasure you have...



As to why IMAGINE has great composers? Because they are music professionals ;)




What's a music professional?

Well, can you write a score like Hellsing when asked?

...

There you have it!


Or in a more elaborate answer: Its a company for composers who want to master composing, orchestrating, arranging - across a huge variety of styles and idioms; competent control of an instrument; experience playing in and with live musicians in multiple contexts; who have interesting life philosophy and experience; a working understanding of drama, dramatic structure; extensive familiarity with the repertoire of great pieces of music and literature; balls, talent, social skills, and an unstoppable work ethic and emotional fortitude. For starters (Mike Verta™)

Someone has posted a genuine FLAC version of the Music4Gamer Otani concert.

It appears to be genuine, but there's still the problem of this being one of the poorest quality recordings ever made.

Still very much worth the upgrade though... it turns what was for me a pretty unlistenable score into something decent.

To make ourselves feel better after a pretty disappointing July anime season, how about something completely different?



EUGENE Z�DOR (bonr JENŐ Z�DOR)
Orchestral Music



Budapest Symphony Orchestra M�V
conducted by
Mariusz Smolij

https://mega.nz/#!ECZE3YTL!ZicSBLU6RHvuNLjyuUl3gagqzD6wIOuL8wqd77-fZOI

Recorded in Studios 6 and 22 of Hungarian Radio between 2010 and 2017

Excerpts from Naxos releases 8.573274, 8.572549, 8.573529, 8.572548, and 8.573800

You've probably never heard of Eugene Zador (1894 - 1977) - but you've heard his work, even if you didn't realise it. Born in Hungary, he emigrated to the US at the outbreak of war and was fellow Hungarian Miklos Rozsa's favoured orchestrator for some twenty years. They collaborated on on some of Rozsa's most famous scores - El Cid, Sodom and Gomorrah, King Of Kings, Ben Hur, Moonfleet, Julius Caesar, Quo Vadis, Ivanhoe, Madame Bovary, and Spellbound to name just a selection. The debate over just how much Zador influenced Rozsa rages on, as it does in all composer/orchestrator relationships, but one thing's for sure... his solo style has more than a little in common with Rozsa's. Zador descrimed himself as existing precisely between Verdi's "La Traviata" and Berg's "Lulu" - but perhaps it would be more useful to say that if you enoy vintage Rozsa (and who the hell doesn't?) you should find plenty to enjoy here.

If you imagine Rozsa as the extrovert, communicating with grand gestures and big themes, Zador is very much the introvert... This music is a lot less "on the nose" - and Zador did not have Rozsa's sixth sense for writing instantly memorable, powerful melodies (though there are definitely some fine, sweeping melodies to be heard). Perhaps it's not as easy to enjoy as, say, Ben Hur - but this is very meaty, occasionally angular, interesting, exciting, and sumptuously orchestrated music that deserves attention.

Naxos should be applauded for their commitment to Zador - they have released five generously filled CDs of his orchestral music since 2012, which remain to this date Zador's only commercial releases. Zador was quite prolific, and there remains much music unrecorded - so I hope this series is ongoing. For now, however, this compilation pulls together some of my favourite pieces from across the series so far, ordered to make a satisfying listen. Sound quality is unmolested from the original CDs, all of which are my own personal rips. Recording quality is a little variable, and the orchestral playing is occasionally a bit scrappy (it's still Naxos, after all) but as far as Zador goes, it's this or nothing... so I really can't recommend these bargain-price albums highly enough and if you enjoy this, I urge you to hunt down the rest of the discs in the series.

The album kicks off with "Festival Overture" - a ten minute Rozsa-esque showpiece. "Elegie and Dance" shows Zador's quieter side; a lovely pastoral interlude. "A Children's Symphony" is pure Hollywood, beginning slow and serene and expanding out into an expansive sweeping melody and a busy farmyard scene. "Five Contrasts" is a tight and angular, but breathtaking fugue. "Fantastica Hungarica" begins with a sumptuous French Horn melody which passes to a double bass in an evocative mini-concerto for the somewhat underappreciated instrument. "Biblical Triptych" is a potrarit of Paul - a dark, brooding piece that draws to a majestic conclusion. "The Plains Of Hungary" is a portrait of the Hungarian countryside. "Dance Symphony" is peaceful but sensuous. "Variations on a Hungarian Folksong" channels Richard Strauss. "Cs�rd�s Rhapsody" brings out absolutely everything in a thrilling rollercoaster of orchestral acrobatics, colourful melody, and classical brilliance - with a grand, larger-than-life cinematic finale that will blow the roof off.

Enjoy! :)
TT

Alright, now that Zi-O has finished its run, Zero-One is up next. Go Sakabe is its composer. It'll be interesting to hear how the music will sound for this one.

I've never heard anything by Z�dor before (heck, I hadn't even heard of the man until your post, Tango), so I'm gonna download that there and give it a listen while I'm working away on other things. Hopefully, I'll enjoy it!

Actually, that reminds me of something since you mentioned how he worked with Rosza: the morning after I first listened to that Hollywood Sounds concert you posted a few weeks ago, I woke up with a theme stuck in my head that was clearly inspired by the music from that concert. I managed to record that theme by singing it out, and then managed to work on it over the next few days. I originally worked on it with an orchestra in mind, but I ended up arranging a version of it for piano since I have an easier time creating music there. Since I don't have much else to talk about at the moment, I thought I'd post what I was able to create. Thanks for indirectly inspiring this, Tango, and I hope y'all like it well enough: https://clyp.it/1bagwbly?token=939156f1ab0368651a369bfa95948f60

@Tango: Speak for yourself and your untouchable taste, others got plenty (https://clyp.it/a1oqj4pv) to enjoy ;)

Thank you very much for this compilation. The man who orchestrated "King of Kings" was easy to spot. I must confess there's countless of these "unfamiliar, bet you never heard this composer" orchestral albums from the 20th century with grandious, pompous introductions and walls of texts why its great... yet from the very first minute I can't connect with any of it and ultimately feel these people are just living in their own circle of academic fluff, forgotten for a reason, while Mozart and Beethoven, Wagner and Mahler still sell tickets to this day and are admired around the world.
You will be happy to hear this one is an exception to the rule and its a lovely and passionate introduction to a vital component of Rozsa's "Music Magic". But it still proves that there is a certain something (talent/gift/genius) in a composer who can smack you from the very first note and doesn't let go of your ears until you crave for more, that Rozsa has, and which Zador lacks. Absolute confidence, strong personal style, overwhelming emtion and guts to show it to the world. From Rozsa to Sahashi, its a common trade among my favorites. Nonetheless, his music has value as only this mastery and style of music in a technical sense, contributed to the "Golden Age Hollywood Sound".

It's less about technical mastery when it comes to music that will last in my view. That said, I can appreciate technical mastery, and here it is aplenty. (No wonder, lecturing in Vienna when it was the musical center of the world and being friends with B�la Bart�k). Some wonderfully crafted music lies in there. I especially like Plains of Hungary, Variations on an Hungarian Folk Song and the Rhapsody, which feel the most personal to me.

But above all else, its a highlight of a vital component to Rozsa's phenomenal musical gallery, and it shows that sometimes a unity between composer/orchestrator is greater than the sum of its parts. Williams/Spencer spring to mind.

To bring it to todays music I enjoy, a good example would be Go Shiina again. With the help of very skilled professional orchestrators, his music can really soar, unlike anything he does as a solo artist.



On another note (but related to this subject and my posts above), I found an interesting interview from Tanaka's East of Eden concert which was held last year:


25 years have passed since I became involved in Kabuki Den, which has the charm of games and anime, but in the meantime many new composers have appeared in the world of games and animation. How about that?

Although it would be an anime story, Kenji Kawai first came out and I though �Oh, it's a young one with great attractions�. But then came Yoko Kanno... and her appearance stroke me with excitement.

From that time she worked on Nobunaga's Ambition, everyone in the industry thought �This child is amazing�. I was going around the industry saying �Yoko Kanno is good, Yoko Kanno is good� (laughs).

I was advertising to the extent that she said, �Don�t say that yet! I�ll make my debut!� (Laughs)

Speaking of games and anime, Matsuo-kun is of course another talented composer who belongs to the office now. "His music is good", I thought when I listened to his work on the SNES.

I contacted the distributor directly to make an inquiry. "I don't have credits, but who is doing the music", they couldn't tell me that. After that, when I examined it on my own, Sakimoto-kun (Mr. Hitoshi Sakimoto) and Matsuo-kun were working for Dr. Sugiyama-sensei. I became more interested in it, so I actually went to see him, but when I was talking, I was really headhunting, �Wouldn't you like to come in and work with me?� (Laughs)

I think its obvious my intuition was correct. After all, talent is noticeable to the ears.

As I always say, talent is fair. A talented person is usually seen by someone somewhere, and that person always has a good job in the end. Regardless if its music or something else.

Is that talent still born?

Well... It �s difficult to answer that question. ...... Depends on the subject and the person. However, in the case of music, it can be understood by listening to it. �Oh, a little different, this person�. Recently, I'm interested in MONACA's composers. I already drank with 3 of their people. In that way, I'd like to see more talented young people who want to go to see me. Now, I'm hoping that someone who threatens me appears. Like someone who is good at both hot-blooded feelings and beautiful feelings like me. I'm talking about anime and games, but I'm looking at young composers these days, and there are many people who write beautiful music, but there are few people who can write music that feels hot.

That's because I shake people's emotion with overwhelming music. It depends on the person of course, but for example, � Evangelion � (Mr. Shiro Sagisu) does not go that far. He's fashionable. �I feel like I can�t do it because it would be too similar to the work you do". He's definitely putting more rock into a piece than I do.

Besides, Konno-kun (Yugo Kanno), who is currently in charge of � JoJo �, never dares to shake emotions. It suits any piece of work in my opinion. But I'm so deep into the work I do, there's only one work that fits the music I'm doing at the time.

The world of Tanaka is eccentric, everything. The personality of the people coming out in the music is mostly biased, isn't it? The visuals are mostly unique. Have you ever seen a merchant like Torneko in Dragon Quest? That's me (lol)
Often I think to myself while playing a lot of games, �If this game had great music, it would have improved.� You're a gamer and composer (laughs).

25 years have passed since the release of East of Eden, and I am very happy that you still love Kabuki Den. I understand that I was able to write music that left a great impression. This time the concert was realized, and it was a very rare opportunity to play Kabuki Den songs along with various RPG works. I hope you don't forget the thrilling sensation. The work �Kabuki Den�, both Hiroi and I, was a blast of the creator's policy and soul. That's why I think it still remains in your heart. So I would like to continue to be involved in such works in the future. I would like to be involved in a work where the real policy of the creator is exploding before your eyes and everything from the art to the music just smacks you.

@Tango: Speak for yourself and your untouchable taste, others got plenty to enjoy

Yes, there are tiny fragments that aren't entirely hopeless - hence me saying "pretty disappointing". ;)

As ever, I'm delighted that you're finding something to enjoy in the recent season; for me, it's a disappointment - no standout work, no young composer debut to knock your socks off, not even a surprise "Endro"... but the year has had a few nice surprises so I'm still open-minded - but I remain convinced that the glory days - the golden age of orchestral anime music - is in the past.

Regarding Zador... I can't help but agree... I went in with fairly low expectations and was relieved to find not a third-rate Rozsa, but an interesting composer in his own right with something to say. Zador doesn't have the Rozsa magic... there's no escaping it... but I still find a lot of value in it.

You mention the Spencer/Williams relationship... boy, I wish Spencer had composed more... it would be fascinating to hear what Spencer on his own sounded like, but what little career he enjoyed as a composer was pretty much over by the 1960s and even then was limited mostly to television... Something definitely shifted in Williams' style after Spencer died, but it's difficult to put your finger on what or how. Hook in 1991 was, to my knowledge, Williams' first score without Spencer and there is a different feeling, but it's not earth shattering. (Then again, Williams started working with Alexander Courage sporadically in the 1970s and after Spencer died, Courage continued until the mid 1990s, so there's a little continuity there... By around The Lost World, the Pope / Neufeld era, "new Williams" had fully taken hold.


grandious, pompous introductions and walls of texts

Sounds like me... ;)

Well, I definitely know a thing that's in the past when it comes to that subject, and it ain't the music ;)

Who knows, maybe you're right, maybe you're wrong, I made my case so sincerely and emphatically over the years, it would need a stupendous brickwall to miss my points. Yes indeed, I have plenty to enjoy and appreciate. That's just meself. I am certainly convinced we have different philosophies and tastes for the music we enjoy, and it becomes shockingly evident when even stuff you love (Orville S1, Last Jedi) leaves me completely cold after a few listens. I'm pretty sure that's vice versa.

We're all wired differently, but its fine. I think a juxtaposition of the things each of us enjoys can make the world a more interesting place, and the more people join in, the merrier.

Afterall, you found your place and calling and I did too :)


Sounds like me... ;)

And myself, come to think of it... oh noooo....


Regarding the composer/orchestrator, more example pop into my head:

Elfman/Walker - Without Walker... Elfman was dead to me. And I believe she was a better orchestrator than composer.
Sakimoto/Matsuo&Kameoka - Compare Romeo X Juliet to his usual game work without Matsuo or Kameoka. Its good but not special.
Hamauzu/Hirano - FFXIII - nough said

or my best example: Uematsu/Hamaguchi - Without this duo FF lacked a certain "magic".



Speaking of Hirano, he actually scored a new show in october.

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/zoids/images/d/d3/%E3%80%8C%E3%82%BE%E3%82%A4%E3%83%89%E3%83%AF%E3%8 2%A4%E3%83%AB%E3%83%89%E3%82%BC%E3%83%AD%E3%80%8D% E6%96%B0%E3%82%A2%E3%83%8B%E3%83%A1%E3%83%86%E3%82 %A3%E3%82%B6%E3%83%BCPV%E6%9C%80%E9%80%9F%E5%85%AC %E9%96%8B%EF%BC%81/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/335?cb=20190727040400

He also had an overseas concert recently. I'm not expecting too much from ZOIDS but it's nice to see him return.

EDIT: Same director as Drive Head, but everything else seems similar () to Broken Blade, especially the synopsis ("Empire", "Republic", "Great War"). I'm still betting on the former (also am I seeing things or is that Patema.... Patema!.... PATEMA!!!). But he also directed the Uchū Senkan Yamato 2199 movie (which I like a lot, it also has numerous direct Star Trek references and is basically an animated episode) and he requested this piece from Miyagawa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JiX5HrWO74 Let's see what it will be...



@Father: That's good, being competent at the piano and creating ideas with it is a skill you need to have, naturally. Over time you will know what instruments/sections of the orchestra will be ideal for the keys you play. Like starting the melody with clarinet, then an oboe takes over and then perhaps a horn. Rythmic motion can be celli+basses (in octaves or in unison). After a little time you have this "score building" toolbox in your head and the hard part becomes choosing the best possible option for your piece. But more important than the "sound" is the "structure" of your piece. How its constructed is far more important than how it sounds. If the structure is intact, you can hardly fail.

Speaking of Hirano, he actually scored a new show in october.

He also had an overseas concert recently. I'm not expecting too much from ZOIDS but it's nice to see him return.

What a coincidence! I read about Hirano concerts right now and want to wright about it too!

In addition to other countries he also will visit Russia in 2020, and I'm so happy about it. For me it had been just a dream to hear his music live, before this news. At last the dreams comes true! :)

Tips on composing and creating music

I was born in Shingu City, Wakayama Prefecture. It's really very rural, so there wasn't any place where I could get professional education about composition and the theory of classical music. So, at that time, I was in a situation where I could not learn authentic classical music as long as I stayed in the local area. I think that this background has influenced my way of life, whether self-study or anything else will open the way for me to go.

First of all, you will be shown a screenplay, character table, storyboard, etc. at the stage of the offer. There are various genres such as human drama and suspense, but the creators have a desire to make something good. When I feel such a thing strongly, I am inspired. Whether it is an extreme story, a genre, or a story, you can resonate deeply with the enthusiast's enthusiasm or sympathize with it.

The thing I'm trying to do at that time of work was to sleep. I try to sleep for more than 7 hours. If you are writing music intensively, your head may be awake and you may not fall asleep. If you don't do this and write too much roots, you will have to make it the next day, which is inefficient.

You also have to wear some “self-study method”. The method is to analyze and imitate the person you are longing for. At one point, I thought, “How can I learn the Sonata Allegro style?” At that time, I counted all the measures in the American composer Samuel Barber's piano song and learned the composition. I learned from that feeling.

I in my early 20s I was greatly influenced by Toru Takemitsu. The part that I felt sympathetic to him was that Toru Takemitsu was self-taught and a composer in the absence of academic education. I gained the courage to be a successful musician but not an academic graduate from the University of Music.

Although I entered a good music school, there was a complex in that it was late to start a specialized music education. Toru Takemitsu was a person who dispelled it. So, I wanted to know his self-study methods and ideas. He had a reputation for being a reader, so I started imitating it and reading books. It's a result of longing for longing, or a straightforward feeling of youth (laughs)..

- Nvm

What do you people think of Yugo Kanno's work for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind? I see there are at least three volumes of soundtrack released for that one.

I was also wondering if the fine folks of this thread compiled a list of highlights and essentials like they tend to make (Most recently there was a solid compilation for Bungo Stray Dogs).

Or even better, I am hoping for pieces in the same spirit as "Il Mare Eterno Nella Mia Anima" from one of the older entries that Taku Iwasaki scored. One of Iwasaki's best operatic pieces so far. One of my most played cues too!

What do you people think of Yugo Kanno's work for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind? I see there are at least three volumes of soundtrack released for that one.The best theme of any of his work on Jojo, with a climactic finale, but the brunt of the music is quite mediocre, the same zero-cohesion mess of electronics and combinations of sound that are no longer tied to genres of music but rather what Yugo has laying on his sample library while drunk. It's interesting how you brought up Iwasaki's Jojo aria- Yugo tried writing one for Golden Wind and it amounted to 30 seconds of a wailing woman... points for trying?

Some day I should compile together Iwasaki's massive collection of arias and mini-operas, because they are unmatched in Japan. I'm getting quite tired of seasonal anime fanboys only recognizing his opera work only on Jojo (which appeals to a fanbase not far removed from that Rick and Morty) or whenever he makes his hybrids like in Gatchaman or Gurren Lagann (which they don't recognize because of the underlying quality of the music itself, but rather "kewl epic combo of opera and dubstep!!!!" to which their small minds probably associate with some garbage like Lindsay Stirling or whatever recent Sawano cesspool). The closest anyone has come to Iwasaki's quality of opera are a handful of pieces in Yuri on Ice by someone who considers Iwasaki his mentor, and the other by the actual superior Kanno (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv-noCU1ykk), with a Warsaw budget. And even the dramatic composition of Kanno's aria pieces are lacking when compared to the average Iwasaki one. It's as if she uses the voice as just another instrument in the orchestra rather than writing around it (most notably in pieces like "Arcadia" from Escaflowne), almost like a bad habit carried over over from her preference for choral writing.

The most underrated of his arias remains the one he wrote for a counter-tenor on Black Cat:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_04Nzgx4Zo

He did work with a counter-tenor recently on Ulysses, sadly he didn't write any full-fledged opera pieces for that.

del

The most underrated of his arias remains the one he wrote for a counter-tenor on Black Cat:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_04Nzgx4Zo.

Thanks for sharing!

If you do end up making that compilation of Iwasaki's Arias and mini operas I'd be most appreciative. I never would have known about the above mentioned aria from JoJo if it wasn't for some of those amazing compilations that were posted here in this thread.

Yugo is consistent... 10 minutes I really enjoy on the recent Jojo soundtracks and the rest is simply uninteresting, its not even worth listening through once. There's four cues on the last volume that are an alternate take of Psycho-Pass and I enjoy a ten minute suite of it but only Stardust Crusaders has music I enjoy more than ten minutes of. In my book Suehiro is the better choice these days and he grows his beard very quick. Grancrest War could have been such an opportunity, and there's a few moments where the old Yugo shines through, but in general, he sounds too much like everyone else out there now diddling around with sample libraries and electronic underscore and no interest in drama.

What do you people think of Yugo Kanno's work for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind? I see there are at least three volumes of soundtrack released for that one.


Golden Wind's music evens out to about the same quality of all the JoJo TV OST's really; which is to say, it's fine. Decent to good. Really nice themes and decent development of said themes, evocative use of effects and genre tropes, fun leitmotifs for all the most memorable characters, simplistic action tracks and a whole lot of filler in between. They're all like that, Iwasaki's work included, and I feel like Kanno's style fits the series the most naturally in context. His cellular, straightforward style makes for tracks that perfectly match the constant rise and fall of JoJo's peculiar and demanding style of action storytelling, evoking the victorious highs and sinister spookiness of the plot in equal measure and often combining the two extremes.

My favorite GW pieces are the ones where Kanno lets his jazzy side cut loose, so basically all the iterations of Giorno's theme. Fierce Fight, Showdown, Favorite Song and Traitor's Requiem rock. Ascendence is brief but gorgeous and The Right Path is one of my fave orchestral pieces in awhile. Part 4 is still my favorite of the JoJo scores overall, Josuke and Kira's themes are an awfully high bar to clear.

A BladeLight52/Vinphonic Co-Production

Toshihiko Sahashi
ULTRAMAN GAIA
Studio Orchestra / Remaster CD-Box


Sample (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RijiyCuG6s)

Three Fists of Ultra (https://mega.nz/#!XioCVQCR!1s1aCI-tsjajX9hRMudS9gW5GWahsA03eQZH52hNhRg)

This is an orchestral/instrumental selection from the new remastered soundtrack box of Ultraman Gaia. Bladelight bought it and I packaged it, a two hour selection of one of Sahashi's defining scores of his career. As a bonus I let some of my arranged pieces from almost eight years ago on there, which I arranged from the movie score. Good times... in any case, he deserves a rep for this one.

Toshihiko Sahashi was transforming from his early 90s style into a force of nature at the end of the decade and no score showcases this transiton as much as Ultraman Gaia. Especially when you compare it to his next entry, Ultraman Mebius, which is post-Gundam. Granted, I prefer Ultraman Great over Gaia as my favorite Ultraman score but nonetheless this is sheer Sahashi power channeling the glorious 80s with vigorous and enthusiastic force. Not to say its short on symphonic pieces either, pieces like "Aerial Base" or "Catch Light's Dawn" are Sahashi working his orchestra good in best fashion and tradition of operatic/classical scoring.


Ultraman Gaia is the third Ultraman series of Tsuburaya Productions' "First Heisei Wave",
created after the 15-year long hiatus of the Ultraman franchise.
Tatsumi Yano scored the first two instalments, Ultraman Tiga (1996) and Ultraman Dyna (1997)
and Toshihiko Sahashi scored the third one, Ultraman Gaia (1998).

In regards to previous conversation, Sahashi has what his predecessor in influence and sound, Tatsumi Yano, lacked. Don't get me wrong, I really really enjoy Yano (more from him below), but there is a certain genius missing in Yano's Ultraman scores that draws me back to Gaia and Mebius.

That said, he wrote some real bangers:

Ultraman rocks (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNjRCaJP-Vo)

Sahashi was writing hot-burning action par excellence and in pieces like "Violent Fight 2" with its frantic use of Bongos, Guitars, synth and brass, really is some sexy music. Not to mention, Sahashi's melodic genius, from Gaia to Saintia, from Madams to Everyone's Demoted!!, from Agito to Zi-O, he's just a master of melody. His themes never leave your mind, they stay like few else can.

In addition to the TV series he also scored the movie with the same energy and lovely themes, which are getting some glorious reprises at the end. Its one of the many examples that technical aspects of music are secondary, academic knowledge is secondary, what matters is how you can make your ideas enter peoples minds and let them stay and how fun (and challenging) you can make it for the musicians who perform your music.

Sahashi's music always makes my heart skip a beat on occsasion (recently "I want to cheer for the man who are working hard" from "Everyone's Demoted!!), like Mozart (similar compositional style on occasion aside), he knows exactly what is needed and makes the orchestra completely his own paintbrush, usually painting a very warm, optimistic and heroic picture. "Photon Stream" for example isn't that complex in comparison to other orchestral artists, but his music is for the heart, not the brain.




Appendix


Tatsumi Yano was a great force for Tokusatsu in the 80s and 90s, he scored numerous shows and also some anime on the sideline. One such score was for an OVA project in 1995:


Tatsumi Yano
Ikusa Girl Iczelion
Studio Orchestra



Sample (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGtZoOITe1c)

Now that's what I call Henshin (https://mega.nz/#!6jg2kA5T!Sy7lw2c0nJzjion9sAtHFL3_5mQKDt7U5endyv-DnPk)

You can hear his plueprints in Iczelion for Ultraman which Sahashi would reprise on numerous occasions.


This dude wrote some cool music

If someone has his Sentai scores (but anything really) in high quality, please let me know.



It's hilarious that Sahashi is now the only one who shys away from being a composer who enjoys traveling overseas and giving concerts. Even Hirano does it these days, Wada does it with great joy and burns for the medium like never before (his own words), Yoshihiro Ike gets a prime concert in the US, Tanaka gives a new One Piece Symphony run across Europe, Oshima recently gave numerous concerts in Japan and even the US, Akira Senju enjoys himself some exposure with Shiina and Kajiura, Toshiyuki Watanabe has numerous concerts together with Yamashita and Keiichi Oku, Nakagawa gets concerts, Hisaishi is wanted all around the world.... and the list could continue endlessly...

Why be the only one left-out... ironically his music would work the best in concert to excite kids young and old. I was surprised theres still a cult-following for Steel Angels... Gundam Seed is insanely popular, Hitman reborn is popular, Ultraman is popular... you would think concerts would be thrown at him left and right... yet nothing, absolutely nothing... wth???

Ahhhh Yamashita and Mitsuda really sound nice working together! Too bad it is only three tracks (main themes from both games and final battle for CT) but Mariam Abounnasr does excellent work here as well! Samples of all of the tracks are up for the Chrono Orchestra set :D

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

I am honored to share the wonderful music with you guys.

Out of all of the music composers, Mr Sahashi is the one that fits my overall music tastes, giving people an idea on what kind of music I like.

It's why I made it my mission to collect CD's that might contain hidden gems that are somewhat forgotten or not as popular.

Thank you all!

Side note:
If you're wondering about the fades in the tracks "A Yearning for Gulliver & Adventure 1" and "Fight On Until The Very End 1", that was me. Those tracks unfortunately had synth sections that weren't melodic or consistent. It felt like two different tracks merged into one. I tried my best to make sure that the tracks play smoothly.

Sample (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RijiyCuG6s)

Excellent use of harp.


Sample (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGtZoOITe1c)
Excellent use of winds.


https://www.jp.square-enix.com/music/sem/page/chrono/orchestra/
More excellent use of harp. Seems expensive though.

I gotta step up my wind and harp game.

check out all the works of belgian composer bert appermont.love it !

They're all like that, Iwasaki's work includedWhile all the Jojo soundtracks had boatloads of filler, Matsuo and Iwasaki were both far more cohesive with their musical choices, which is quite impressive considering both of them only had 12 episodes to work with compared to Kanno's 3 whole seasons with 40 episodes each, which even in themselves are not consistent with their musical identity aside from a couple theme arrangements. And when it comes to sheer quality of orchestral writing, absolutely nothing Kanno has written can compare to Iwasaki's work on Jojo. Nevermind the Italian aria, but something like the brass-and-percussion in the first 30 seconds of Burning Colosseum are at a tier above any note Kanno has contributed to Jojo. Kanno has zero excuse since he has a much higher budget, larger orchestra, more episodes to work with, and complete control over the Jojo "sound" since he's been at it for 3 seasons now. But there is no progress. All he wants is to use it as a platform to mimic Iwasaki's electronic experiments, except without the same sense of purpose.


tracks that perfectly match the constant rise and fall of JoJo's peculiar and demanding style of action storytellingAre you kidding? Jojo's music usage remains generally terrible across the board, with the horrible habit of spamming the main theme of each series in each fight. The most embarrassing moment was during the Ghiacco car chase where the Golden Wind theme gets played twice within an interval of like 3 minutes. And then you have quite a few pieces that were only used maybe once for 15-20 seconds like Trish's theme. The music usage is awful and Iwasaki's complaints about it aren't without merit, though I would say the same about how most anime are scored.

While all the Jojo soundtracks had boatloads of filler, Matsuo and Iwasaki were both far more cohesive with their musical choices

Ehhh, nah, I don't see and can't agree w that. Especially not about Part 2, which was this messy hodgepodge of crazy styles and genres of extremely varying quality. Part 2 also felt like it never shut up, bc they'd just blast track after track and Iwasaki always writes to impress and blow you away, and one blaring theme after another in obvious succession got obnoxious. The series's scoring habits haven't exactly gotten more sophisticated, but my point is that Kanno is better able to write to the show's needs. His tracks are just as varied in style and the rise and fall of his action and tension cues are really simple and predictable, allowing them to fit more cleanly into the action. I'm not interested in comparing any composers, I just think Kanno's scores serve their series better in-context by being a lil easier to slide into the background.

I don't buy that he's trying to mimic Iwasaki. That's just how action anime tends to sound now.




Are you kidding? Jojo's music usage remains generally terrible across the board, with the horrible habit of spamming the main theme of each series in each fight. The most embarrassing moment was during the Ghiacco car chase where the Golden Wind theme gets played twice within an interval of like 3 minutes. And then you have quite a few pieces that were only used maybe once for 15-20 seconds like Trish's theme. The music usage is awful and Iwasaki's complaints about it aren't without merit, though I would say the same about how most anime are scored.

That's been all scores outside of movies for the last decade and change. I love gettin the JoJo kickass theme every fight! It is there to be used at the moment of an imminent asskicking! The repetitive use of the music speaks to my point that Kanno's music is better built to be used repetitiously. Kanno reminds me more of Sawano in that he gets a lot of mileage out his instrument choices and effects work, which in context can make up for his (very unlike Sawano) bone-simple writing. I always enjoyed his villain themes throughout GW in-show, matching not only each new enemy and the general mood of their encounter but the action of their actual fights.

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

Samples sound outstanding, only 2 days left...

If someone hasn't listened to it yet, the new Ni no Kuni score has some nice Hisaishi moments: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdAX-h5OxPQ&t=26s

While it doesn't hold a candle to the game scores (its more advertisement for the games I feel), I find much to enjoy, especially the new lyrical theme, the ballet-esque pieces and the final piece. He uses a lot of music from the games , even to a fault I feel, but its a minor complaint from my side. If you enjoy his synth elements, he actually uses them again.

The first Ni no Kuni game also gets a remastered version for Switch, PS4 and PC soon, so if you want to experience the perfect "Hisaishi/Ghibli-art" combination, feel free to check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvBchBHO0Y0

Well, that's my biggest Hisaishi disappointment of all time, I think - but I'll take what I can get from the almost-retired-from-film-scoring master...

Barely any original music, Hollywood slamming over every substantial cue, naff-electronica overlays almost everywhere, a small orchestra, and more than half the tracks running less than ninety seconds. Perhaps five minutes of music of genuine interest and a handful of lovely moments - passing impressions of the old Hisaishi, but overall... wow, it's really tough to find something good to say about this. I wasn't expecting too much, but this is just very, very sad... a big shame.

Thanks for the pointer, though... I hadn't even twigged that this one was released. :)

Ah, classic Tango. Glad to see you're still as good as ever :D

You know, actually I kind-of agree with Tango on this one ;) (I don't think Hisaishi has ever truely disappointed me).

Compared to what the Ni no Kuni series delivered so far, this is not up to standard. But my expectations and excitement were already lowered the more I saw of the movie and its just one big ad, but there's enough lovely pieces I enjoy, so it gets a pass (Children of the Sea is still a movie I will go see).
For the record, I don't have anything against any music and sound tools a composer uses in his pieces so that's not my issue but it is a stylistic departure from previous entries.

I wasn't disagreeing or mocking him. I was just lightly joking :)

Can't have you guys thinking I've gone soft. ;)

Testing out some new woodwinds: https://jeremyrobson.com/wildarms.mp3

Not too impressed with the flute, but the bassoon staccatos are nice. I mostly need legatos though.

https://jeremyrobson.com/3x3eyes.mp3

The oboe is frustrating to customize, the clarinet too mellow, and the flute too thin. Overall probably a waste of time and money. :(

@Ponyo: I was jumping in on the fun :)


On my plus side, I will definitely make me an orchestral selection album from all the Demon Slayer soundtracks once they are out. I really enjoy everything about it but it will be interesting if a pure orchestral album can be made from just the orchestral tracks: Should be fun (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucH8ndILZ4w).


@streich: If I may ask, what are you using as a woodwind library?

I recommend anything by "sample-modeling" (for woodwinds its "audio modeling") or if you want a cheaper/more recent/efficient alternative there's the recent "Infinite" series by Aaron Venture (just winds + brass for now but strings soon, also it has an euphonium!):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PUghfk63yM (sample modeling + audio modeling)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9BsdVQZiCc (sample modeling brass, Dogs of War)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_JvDeZE4sM (Infinite brass, intro is lost in space, a thrilling SciFi score by Broughton ;))
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuxSabvEjC0 (Infinite woodwinds)

Wind/Breath controller is a must with brass/wind instuments imo (perc and strings are keyboardfriendly). My philosophy is to stay away from categories like "patches" and just play the instrument.

My advice (in general for any musician/composer) is getting the Infinite Orchestra once its released. Granted it will be around 1000$ (3000$ for 88keys, wind/breath controller, string pad, drum pad, Virtual Sound Stage 2, Altiverb and a DAW+Sibelius or Dorico) but its an investement thats worth doing and you won't need anything else ever again for orchestral virtual instruments (at least for a few years).

I purchased the Fluffy Audio wind bundle on sale, and it's frustrating because there is no major improvement over the Xsample wind libraries I've been using for almost 20 years (even back in the Gigastudio days Xsample was considered low-tier), not to mention the free VSL winds that came with Kontakt 5.

The Sample Modeling and Aaron Venture winds sound a lot better, but my goal isn't to write virtuosic improvisations, so I don't really want to pay for something where I'd only use 10-25% of the functionality. Give me a nice legato (with a vibrato controller) and that covers most of what I need.

I have LA Scoring Strings and Cinematic Studio Brass which are great. It will be interesting to see what Aaron Venture does for strings since there's a new string library released every year. It seems most just buy a few of them and augment them as needed, especially when you have options like Soaring Strings.

Here is the Broughton excerpt I quickly recorded using CSB at three different articulations (plain, marcato, muted) https://jeremyrobson.com/tombstone.mp3

This is out of the box with very minimal modulation. To me that is amazing. It's probably the best library I have now. I think I should have just waited for CSW which many speculate will be dropping around Christmas.

Spitfire Audio have just announced a new library and it's a biggie - the BBC Symphony Orchestra, recorded in Maida Vale. Not a bunch of session musicians in a small studio drowning in verb, but a full classical symphony orchestra recorded in one of London's best-sounding concert and studio spaces. A dizzying variety of microphone placements, including the Decca tree... so you can achieve a classical mix with proper room ambience.

https://www.spitfireaudio.com/shop/a-z/bbc-symphony-orchestra/

The samples are jaw-dropping... give Admiral Benbow a try. It was made with a Beta version, but already there are moments in there where you can almost suspend disbelief and think you're listening to a live orchestra.

And it's affordable.

If this is as good as it seems to be, I'll cancel my EWQL Composer Cloud subscription...

@streich: Yeah, there's plenty of good options for each playstyle. For me, Infinite Brass+Winds does the "other stuff" just fine. It can be layered with musical sampling or other section libraries like CSB.

Regarding strings, sample modeling recently released an ensemble library: Sample (http://www.sample-modeling.com/Demos/STRINGS/Little_Magic_Flower_Torsten_Kamps.mp3)


@Tango: Oh! It's very likely I will use it for layering with Infinite Orchestra (once its out) and Berlin Perc. I'm curious how the harp will turn out. If it has the performability of Infinite Sampling/Sample Modeling/Musical Sampling, I will be jumping on that, otherwise it will be a great backbone.





Anyway

It seems logical to me to use this new library as an all-in-one orchestra, rather than chopping and changing it around and trying to mix it with other sampled instruments recorded by different companies, in different countries, by different musicians, with different sampling methodologies... but of course libraries have specific strengths and weaknesses... I'm hoping this one has enough strengths to enable it to be adequately used like that.

The thought of making a symphonic recording out of a harp recorded in Japan's Sound Inn, a string section recorded in Canada's Queen Elizabeth Theatre, flutes recorded in the Konzerthaus Berlin, oboes from the Concertbebouw, brass from the UK in Maida Vale and percussion from the USA and trying to digitally smoosh it all together into a coherent sound... makes me feel slightly dizzy... ;)

If this is as good as it seems to be, I'll cancel my EWQL Composer Cloud subscription...

I'd wait for the walkthroughs since demos can't be trusted. That way you can hear what it's like out of the box. The thing I'm wary of most is how much time has to be spent "fine tuning" samples, or if you have to rewrite entire sections of your piece because the library just can't handle it. More time playing around is less time composing. BBC does sound good so far, and I don't own anything by Spitfire yet. I was this close to ordering their studio woodwinds earlier this year at the intro price but their walkthrough sounded iffy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXJgqAviGOg

Well, in a perfect world this library would encompass every instrument used in an orchestra, and every instrument in general, as well as every playstyle, from big band to romantic period, but thats not possible (no Chorus, no Euphonium, no Wagner Tubes, no Mahler Hammer, no Waterphone, and yes, no E-Guitars, no Drum-Kits etc.).

For me it must also be playable like a musician with virtousic solo instrument performances... but most libraries are just "sustains, staccatos, legato patches" and I'm no fan of that. Granted if your on a deadline/working thats the way to go, but I don't like it but alas its the standard.

Mike did a pretty good demo for playbility of virtual instruments: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx52-2YJC-g

Layering is totally justifyable because no matter how much I play "make-believe", it will never be a real symphony orchestra sound, ever. So whatever I need to make it sound "authentic", and like real musicians playing together in one room, playing your music, works.

For example I'm a fan of using 60-80 instrument slots for each player of the orchestra (and then more slots for a band ensemble and keyboardists in the same room) and section slots for layering, sketching or simple unison writing, all seated accordingly in VSS2, one instance of Altiverb for the room ambience and each section group sends its audio signal to all the other "players", depending how far away they are from each other to simulate them playing together in the same room. I will use them dry or make the "sound" of the other stuff close to a "unifying standard" like the BBC recording, same with the choral stuff, which for me is SoundIron (Venus, Mars, Voices of Rapture) because individual Soprano/Alto/Tenor/Bass sections.

You can only go into detail with sample/audio modeling, musical sampling and Infinte stuff for "authentic performance", everything else is "convincing sound".

I'm very pleased they added a feature of the sound of other sections affecting each other and all the other little details, which might win me over, but like Streich said, it all depends on the walkthroughs and if their own player/library supports virtuosic performance.

Of course nobody wants to use a gazillion instruments from different libraries but there is no "single-solution" on the market right now aside from my method, even with BBC out soon so the best option for me is to use as little as possible. One thing you cannot underestimate is how little RAM Infinite Brass+Winds uses.

The real nightmare starts when you want detailed and playable ethnic instruments and Guitars, Drumkits and synth sounds. If you're not filthy rich its not worth all the money so just use the EastWest stuff.

If they also record a choir in the same room (BBC Symphony Chorus) and other instruments (more brass like euphonium, more perc instruments, ethnic instruments and band instruments) and an option for playing it out of the box with tools like breath controller + keyboard (no damn keyswitches or single articulations!) then I will consider to use it solo.


Of course you could also just get Sibelius/Finale/Dorico and Noteperformer 3 if you don't want to spend much money and just write with a piano/pencil: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXFO3QBGx0U
Get Altiverb for it though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QC1GKNxqrM&t=4m18s

Spitfire Audio have just announced a new library and it's a biggie - the BBC Symphony Orchestra, recorded in Maida Vale. Not a bunch of session musicians in a small studio drowning in verb, but a full classical symphony orchestra recorded in one of London's best-sounding concert and studio spaces. A dizzying variety of microphone placements, including the Decca tree... so you can achieve a classical mix with proper room ambience.

https://www.spitfireaudio.com/shop/a-z/bbc-symphony-orchestra/

The samples are jaw-dropping... give Admiral Benbow a try. It was made with a Beta version, but already there are moments in there where you can almost suspend disbelief and think you're listening to a live orchestra.

And it's affordable.

If this is as good as it seems to be, I'll cancel my EWQL Composer Cloud subscription...

I have been contemplating the switch myself after seeing this advertisement on my FB feed. The fact that it doesn't run on the PLAY engine and works with any DAW is already a plus.

One thing you cannot underestimate is how little RAM Infinite Brass+Winds uses.

What are the numbers? CSB and Fluffy Winds are around 1 GB per instrument (articulations are keyswitched). LASS is 250 MB per instrument for legato, and each additional articulation is 40-60 MB per instrument. Sometimes you can unload specific mic positions to save RAM as well.

~60 MB of RAM per instrument for brass, ~40 MB per instrument for winds

more specs on the site (https://www.aaronventure.com/infinite-brass)


Music is like a language. If you were to try stringing together pre-recorded words to form a sentence, you could make it work every once in a while, but mostly it'll sound weird, inexpressive and all around fake. So why are we approaching music that way?

Every phrase is played differently, and every player will perform it in their own way. With Infinite Series instruments, you can perform any phrase in an infinite number of ways with your own personal response to the music—right on your keyboard.

Infinite Series is a collection of next-generation realistic virtual orchestral instruments for NI KONTAKT offering unparalleled expression and playability, multiple mic positions, flexible instrument positioning for variable and custom section sizes, and extremely low resource requirements.

EDIT: I noticed Strings are coming in 2019 and Percussion in 2020, so forget what I said about the Berlin stuff, wait until the Infinite series is complete and you will have a complete, expressive virtual orchestra at your fingertips which can perform any way you want to play. A virtual orchestra for musicians, not programmers. If I want the "real sound" which I feel is the one thing the Infinite series (still) lacks (but which could change with updates), I use layering. Probably matching this to the BBC Orchestra for both authentic performance and convincing sound.





Well, that certainly was a little escapade :D
I think its time for me to do some business... how about some more music surprises:



Takayuki Hattori
Seven Meetings, No Side Game
Studio Orchestra



Sample (https://clyp.it/lm01ctct)
Shadow of the C�DEBREAKER (https://mega.nz/#!Cz4xDYKS!4L8zrKdT1SUJzPKiOBlYtqEXXQ47IN-PQlg3Cm7ntr4)

This is an orchestral selection from Hattoris TV series from 2019. What do you know, Japanese corporate business dramas apparently do get some nice music. You want Hattori in C�DEBREAKER mode writing long, developing cues, here is your score. Be warned, its still Hattori in his postmillenial style who loves to play around with electronics, afterall these orchestral cues were from a pretty mixed body but I think its clear he does every electronic touch with intent (call-answer, accentuation). This is a real meaty collection and its down to a minimum by his standards (think Sahashi's Group Demotion) but if you don't mind it (like myself) you will have quite a lot to appreciate: Dark-brooding textures, mysterious and thrilling Hattori with shades of absolute orchestral brilliance. The orchestration in "Big story" or "Red Warriors"... wow.

Enjoy!

That sample is very Hollywood-sounding. I'm getting Thomas Newman vibes, Danny Elfman, maybe a little James Horner (The Chumscrubber) and Williams (Catch Me If You Can).

Honestly, Hattori's mastering might be the worst in all of Japan. Barring the machine gun percussion, there's almost no dynamic range and it sounds almost sampler-like as a result. The orchestra comes across as being smaller than it actually is. Really unfortunate.

Um, what? https://nextshark.com/larry-clark-japanese-composer/

^I think I know where this conversation would be going but I'm going to hold off for now. But to those who said before that this sort of thing is impossible in Japan, well...

That's hilarious! But...

"Appropriated music" / "The need for diversity in music."

- They are so fucked in the head


@Zipper: I thought its common knowledge many Japanese composer use pen names or change their composer names. Joe Hisaishi is a fake name/persona yet we're all using it like he really exists. And there's a fair share of ghostwriter scandals and plenty of uncredited work we know belong to someone other than officially credited...

And there's a fair share of ghostwriter scandals and plenty of uncredited work we know belong to someone other than officially credited... Well, I was thinking of a certain Japanese composer with spotty credentials frequently brought up in this thread who some said years ago may have had her music ghostwritten from someone established in Hollywood like Bruce Broughton. It was partially a joke, but this new story makes you wonder if such a scenario is more real than some would like to think about.

I don't think pen names are a problem, but to invent an entirely different identity like this guy and masquerade as a different person from another country is the kind of thing most artists wouldn't do unless there was an underhanded profit involved, and that's exactly what happened here. Why would an white man with an accomplished career want to masquerade as a female Japanese composer of all things? If he wanted to fill the "diversity" quotient there are far more popular examples.

Well, I think that's ridiculous (for various reasons) but I can see the funny side of the possibility of it being true, isn't John Williams a huge fan of that certain someone... what if... ;)


On another note:


Not even a surprise ENDRO



Masato Coda
KONOSUBA
~Give Blessings to this Wonderful Music~
Studio Orchestra and Chorus



Sample (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2qB4Kgs3R8)
Now on the Silver Screen! (https://mega.nz/#!OnBFXS7R!2uRDhUwWxmExK_TCXxyP40CStmRqzT8aAHMeHSMO0JM)

An update of my Konosuba collection, incorporating the recent film score "Legend of Crimson", which is a full-scale action score where Coda channels the Silver Age and various of his favorites (he is a fan of Kanno, Sahashi and Amano among others) with numerous long action cues (sounding very Elfman-esque). I would advise to listen to it all in one session as the TV scores are vital in establishing themes the movie score kicks into overdrive, including a nine minute musical climax in which all themes are woven together to form an impressive action piece that teases and teases the main theme but is skillfully holding it all back for a big finish. Numerous long action cues are on the film soundtrack but some had to be "build" from various mini puzzle-pieces from a staggering amount of 70 cues. I think only the very trained ear will even notice the "transitions" and I had fun once more solving a music puzzle ;)

For those that just want the film tracks, I've tagged them accordingly with an "F" but I advice to listen to the whole body. Coda is on a roll and this film score in particular reminds me so much of Television and film scoring from the 70s and 80s. As somewhat generic as the TV scores are, I adore the "sound" Coda was going for and its for a show that allows and puts importance on music both for comedy as well as drama. Its one of those anime projects like "Girls und Panzer" where veterans of the industry and very passionate skilled enthusiast are having lots of fun and genuine care with the material (and I love anime eroticism when its done right). Overall the score is not yet in "Kotobuki" territory, but Coda is getting there. A season 3 of Konosuba is in production I believe and he also continues a show this fall:



Evolution of his Monster Hunter/Superman style (https://www6.nhk.or.jp/anime/special/special.html?i=5533)

Enjoy!

Hey everyone! I am now going to continue a part of my career that had taken a backseat in the past: writing music reviews. I used to write for Square-Enix Music Online and then VGMOnline.net (albeit briefly). Now I will be self-publishing my own articles on my website. Here is the first one which is a solo piano album by pianist Benyamin Nuss called Fantasy Worlds, which is quite a nice collection of Final Fantasy music ranging from titles across the franchise and each is divided by composer with each section marked by an original composition by Nuss. It's very good to say the least!

https://joshbarroncomposer.com/home/blog/music-review-fantasy-worlds

On the profession of the Japanese Music Artist

To understand the Japanese composer sphere, its best to let go of the notion that its in any way comparable to other music industries of past and present despite having similar parameters.

First, a composer is not a "job", it's a "profession". You're not a "film composer" or worse "media composer", you're a "BGM Artist" or in the special cases below an "Orchestral Fusion Artist". You're in one league with the profession/artistry of "illustation" and "directing" and for a project that needs to be scored, its a "collaboration" more than it is anything else.

You're protected by various institutions and associations to leave your profession up to you, you're completely trusted and beyond guidelines and a "BGM Menu" request with things to include, you're free to do the job and express yourself in anyway you see fit.

It doesn't matter if your composing "free-style" or "to the picture", what the music will sound like, if its orchestral or not, a mini-tone-poem, a Golden Age colloseum race, a fusion-rock extravaganza, or an electronic schizophrenia, is totally up to the composer.

I also want to emphazise again that electronic tools are just that, "tools", and if a composer finds it "cool" then of course he will use them, including "machine gun drums" and "bass drops". Remember, its important to understand that these are "music artists" not "they hired me as the composer guy because they needed some music". A Japanese BGM soundtrack is best approached as a music album. Granted, you can form an "oldschool" film score out of it sometimes, or a mini-symphony or sometimes they even write that with intent, but in general, these are albums full of music with a mix from every possible genre and artist, from Phil Collins to Metallica to Goldsmith to Korngold. They are pure expression and artistry of musicians.

On that high note (with a little delay, I wanted to let the train not stop after KONOSUBA, but what can you do...):





Here's more from the world's greatest orchestral fusion artists.

Kohei Tanaka
ONE PIECE [20th Anniversary]
Studio Orchestra and Chorus



Sample (https://youtu.be/lbC99ux0bKQ)
More and yet more... MUSIC!!!!!!!!!!!! (https://mega.nz/#!qiRlBQyS!mkH15tlvtMNgjGLfuSXCrGPHpn4EmGF7Kgs5HLYHwZM)


On his greates roll since 1998


Everyone,

Thank you so much for showing your love for World Seeker and Stampede. One Piece is really popular, isn't it?!

To make this "Pirate Expo" more exciting, I used both my "hot-burning passion" and "orchestral beauty".

This song, that song, I recorded all the new and nostalgic music with great joy.
For the theme of "Stampede" I increased the sense of volume more than ever with dense and loud music and lots of big drums.

Since its also the "20th Anniversary" of One Piece I rearranged all the beautiful themes like "Luffy's Theme", "We Are!", "I want to become the Pirate King" and many more.

It was really fun.

His orchestral fusion (https://clyp.it/zekdjbyw)

I figured the score to WORLD SEEKER and STAMPEDE where two sides of the same coin (same musical ideas and style) so I combined them and they work "too perfect" for each other to be a coincidence ;)
This is a merge of Gravity Daze and One Piece with a glorious "Colosseum" cue and lots of hotburning rock. I don't know how you can shred with a pure orchestra but he does it like its second nature.

Some of you might remember that I once talked about a Sakura Wars Project in Germany that was unfortunately cancelled. Well turns out they incorporated that idea into Shin Sakura Taisen, and sounds like Tanaka's got to score many Sakura Games in one.


I'm pleased with the results, naturally its him at his best when it comes to all things Sakura Taisen, and we have the best theme

Sakura Wars VI ~Victoria �ber Berlin~ (https://twitter.com/i/status/1171969523253006336)

He will give a stage performance for the game at TGS very soon, always a hero of the people. And a new anime project for it is dead certain... so certain it was just announced as I put the finishing touches to this post ^^



(and after that there's Gunbuster 3...)




Toshihiko Sahashi
Kamen Rider Zi-O
Studio Orchestra



Sample (https://youtu.be/xsvOI_W2Bcc)
It's about Time! (https://mega.nz/#!HvJBhSID!Z5F2_7pWPOVkU-WmXHNPUTrNxsa4xoG1MYnpPQoK0Ps)



The greatest weapon of any composer... he also wears a Zi-O Hoodie :D




Merging the Future with the Past

When I went to a meeting with Mr. Shirakura (producer Shinichirou), he seemed to be intimate with Indian movies, and the story of the Indian dynasty came out. And while I was talking about it, Zhou was �king� and Indian music might be good. And Shirakura-san said, �Please give me a curry flavor� (laughs).

I haven't made Indian music a lot, so I started with research on Indian music. If you look into the scales, you know that each has meaning. This scale means "high tension". After that, I was playing with the sounds of Indian instruments such as sitar and tabla (Indian percussion instruments). The Indian scale was very bright, and it was a great fit in the sense that Zio didn't want to be a dark story.

Originally I'm a mechanic lover, but when I saw that visual, it was like a modular synthesizer. Futuristic and colorful. From there, Timemagine's music is a mix of mechanical modular synth phrases and Indian music.

I always do experimental things so I wanted to make a different sound. As for the theme, I use �musical instruments that remind me of the future when I hear them now�. The synthesizers of the early 1980s, Fairlight CMI and Synclavier, were over 100 million high-end synthesizers, but the sound was �the sound of the future�. This is a good timejacker. I think people have different �futures�. 2000 is now a past, but it felt like a distant future for us. That's a hint. I'm using a lot of the sound source that makes me feel the "future of the past". Even if the same sitar is used as a sitar around Sougo, the sitar used in Timemagine uses the sitar sound source included in Synclavia, and the tone is different even in the same sitar. And for some reason it sounds like the future. So Zio may actually be very geeky music.

When Zio and SOUGO confront each other, I use a little of musical technique. It is something that Bach used a lot, but it starts from the same sound and flips like a mirror that uses the opposite sound. So it's a similar song but it has a different atmosphere. It's a very interesting sound because it's done with Indian music. At first I thought about a completely different style, but I also put something in common between the two. On the contrary, the music when Woz did �Celebrate!� Had an exaggerated image like the movie �Cleopatra�. After all it is a king's follower.

Now, when you think about it, Zio was interesting. Thinking about what the future is. If you don't think deeply when making music, you will start having the same sound as everyone else. Machines and synths used by professionals are almost the same, and the sounds are being organized more and more, so there is a sort of categorization of �sounds like this in these situations�. Now the synth is so advanced that cool phrases come out in one shot. It's cool to use it, but I realized it's the same sound everyone else uses. I didn't like that, so I thought a lot what to do to make it "my own".

It was hard but it was really fun.

His orchestral fusion (https://clyp.it/xhlrlg0h)

This sounds like Gundam SEED, just when there was recent news of the SEED movie project not being dead... conincidence? I think not :D


There's cerainly room to continue that universe. I wonder how long it will take to be revealed.

He has a few projects in the works and no intention of ever laying down his pen (just like everyone else working in the industry). Like Sugiyama, a musician doesn't retire, he gets taken...

BladeLight will provide you a lossless encode very soon, so I will update it when he shares it.



Tatsuya Kato
Kiratto Pri☆Chan
Studio Orchestra



Sample (https://youtu.be/-6kSjj8Ikzw)
Idol Fantasia♪ (https://mega.nz/#!Pv5gzIYT!afILiDGNIG1JTKU7N2KbT6D2pcgXS8x1qE--9_8OYTI)


Tatsuya Kato... the Maestro!

His Orchestral Fusion (https://clyp.it/jb3fsem5)

I guess being trained by Haneda, Saegussa and Koroku is not for show. He can be a wonderful composer when he wants to be.
I combined two scores that again, like WORLD SEEKER and STAMPEDE work "too perfect" together to be a coincidence. Finally, another scores that on its own fails to get off the ground, can be properly seated to great effect.
His fusion finally has some balance with the brass and in general an Idol show rarely gets symphonic music of this caliber. Just if you want more Endros (a unit for quality?).


Kato and Fujisawa. These two have a bright future. Many more projects coming soon.





TGS Report



Shin Sakura Taisen (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GBYEhQghGw&t=1m)



Trials of Mana (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XT6iTDRxxI)



Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djbUjzrWYjQ)



WAR OF THE VISIONS (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sx4iwNFLDsg)

Vinphonic, this is great! Thank you so much

Am I missing something? Stampede's score isn't out until October, isn't it?

Made me chuckle. Which table would you want to sit at?



(personally I think Miklos Rozsa would have been a better fit at the Herrmann-Korngold table than Steiner)

(And would also added a table for Alex North, Elliot Goldenthal, and Leonard Rosenman)

I'm fairly indifferent to most of these composers, so I'd probably sit with Hermann, Steiner and Korngold and just ask them some questions for a while.

(If Rosenman were at one of the tables, I imagine he'd start a fight by individually pointing at every composer and criticizing them like a smug high-schooler, at least going from what I remember reading about him tooting his horn all the damn time. "Crap, crap, mediocre, crap, crap, not very good..." :P)

@tango: Well, how did you get a Sahashi score months before its supposed to be out ;)


Regarding the TGS report, its difficult to say how much of Trials of Mana will be orchestral, but an "arrangement" cd will be bundled with the collectors edition so I hope they recorded at least half an hour.

War of the Visions was the Abbey Road session with Elements Garden: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=95&v=M0LCdIi51Gs&t=37s

Three Kingdoms 14 was scored by Hideki Sakamoto. A full preview can be listened to in this video, most likely recorded in Budapest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeuyZFJr_h8&t=19s

An online vendor accidentally released it before the scheduled date... Did that happen with Stampede??? Where can I go? I had a kinda good feeling about the score... even after the crushing disappointment of World Seeker.

Pri Chan is... well... I can't quite wrap my head around this being Tatsuya Kato. Of course, 90% of it is rubbish... but there's that other 10%... and some of it is real gold. The orchestrations are splendid. There's one cue that's blatantly plagiarised from Brahms... but this is a step up for Kato... As with Fujisawa, I don't see a sudden change occuring - I predict that regular Kato will be back and normal service will be resumed... but we can be under no misunderstanding about his capabilities any more - if the proper, thematic orchestral score makes a comeback in Japan, Tatsuya Kato can be a big name. He can handle form, he can write a melody, and he can orchestrate... incredibly well.

I'm less enthused for Konosuba - cues like "Battle with the Demon General" are clearly the work of a game composer who isn't adapting well to the demands of anime. The cue is nearly five minutes long, but it spends 90% of its runtime spinning its wheels. It tells no story, and develops nothing - it just rumbles on and on and on then it's finished. Ancient Magic Scroll is rather good, but short. Confronting The Demon King isn't too bad, but most of it also feels like it's just filling time. Likewise "The Most Powerful Mage"... it's trying really hard, but I'm just not feeling it. "This Great Cantata Of Passion" is a really thin-sounding version of Carmina Burana... The action music is heavy on ostinato, but very low on drama.

Some of the sexy jazz cues are fun, but Hirano does that kind of thing better.

Koda, who is three years older than Yamashita, really should be doing more than this by now. Still, there's something about him I like...

Very disappointed with Zi-O - I don't think I appreciated quite how heavily you had to edit this to extract 10 minutes of good music... Almost every cue is polluted to some extent with electronic noise, ghastly 80s synthesisers, or patronising, borderline-racist "curry flavoured" music. The so-called "fusion" tracks sound like cast-offs from Gundam Seed with a smaller orchestra and bland melodies. Nonetheless, it's Kamen Rider... so the good stuff is still noteworthy. Still waiting for Sahashi's triumphant return to anime, but this is a step in the right direction, I suppose.

Interesting about the Gundam Seed movie... but I'll believe it when I see it. It's been "coming soon" since 2006...

Everything's a real mixed bag.

Now I'm off to listen to Aquarion...

That's a better reaction than I expected tbh :D


Its on OTOTOY and even iTunes I think. I'm quite loving it but I suspects its one of those "glorious moments BUT..." scores for you. For me its up there with his best film scores (Movie 6 and 8), especially if I combine all the orchestral cues from both World Seeker and Stampede and "Pirate Expo" is among my favorite cues from the franchise. My only gripe would be its too much like Gravity Daze (which I absolutely love) but not enough like One Piece. On the other hand, this means its more "fun" for me and the action might be my favorite from all the movies (and thank god Tanaka returned and not you know who). But I always say his heart beats more for Sakura Taisen (evidentely by the TGS preview) and that's where he puts all his energy into.


@Zipper: I would sit at a table with Johnny, Jerry, Erich, Miklos and Ron. And there's two tables I would throw over ;)

I got the score, and you're right... some great moments but it just doesn't hang together and, as almost ubiquitous in "orchestral" scores today, there is this constant obsession with covering almost every cue in electronics, schizophrenic genre-hopping, Hollywood-cliche slamming banging noises, or all of the above. But Tanaka still shows himself as a fine orchestrator, and overall I think the movie score is better than World Seeker. Pirate Expo is excellent; a theme and variations, three minutes of symphonic joy that tells a story, and doesn't take any lazy shortcuts. This is what Tanaka is to me; he's just so good at doing this stuff, and it frustrates me to the end of the earth that he rarely does it.

This Tanaka needs to come out more: https://player.vimeo.com/video/215999547

All that said, I always felt that the best parts of One Piece came from Hamaguchi... but the first TV score is now twenty years old.

I've always got optimism for Sakura Wars. I'm not encouraged by the samples we've heard so far, but if anything's going to get the best from Tanaka, it's this franchise.

I want a table with Poledouris, Williams, and Goldsmith. I'd also stop for a chat with Zimmer... it wouldn't be a cordial chat, but I'd get a lot said before Security arrived to throw me out...

And there's two tables I would throw over ;)Just two? I would considering doing so for four of them. :D

I love that this could somehow escalate into the world's biggest cafeteria brawl. If that does happen, can we all agree that the FF in FFshrine now stands for "Food Fight"? XD

As an aside, I thought I'd write about this since it's been on my mind for a few days. Last year, I somehow managed to organize a collaborative Christmas album between myself and a few folks on the internet (https://jimsjams.bandcamp.com/album/a-present-from-us-to-you). It was a pretty fun time and it introduced me to a couple of folks (I'm even doing some of the music for a game by one of them), and I've been thinking of doing another one since then - particularly as something to send off this decade and look forward to the next one. However, I don't have as much drive to do this as I did last year, so I'm thinking of just asking folks on here and one or two other people if they want to contribute to what's ultimately going to be a smaller album. I'll probably do a couple of arrangements myself (one of which I wanted to do last year but wasn't able to figure out in time), and see what happens from there.

If anyone wants to join in on the album, either reply on here and message me. There's no particular requirement beyond doing a song related to Christmas; it can be an original song or an arrangement of anything that you associate with that time of year, and you're happy to arrange and perform it however you like. As long as you're having fun, that's what matters. :)

Can I have another go please? :D I'll really do it this time...

Of course! :) Anyone's welcome to join in if they want to.

(Quick explanation for those who don't know, Tango was originally going to do a track for last year's album but wasn't able to because of how busy things got on his end of things.)

I would add a few school desks and put people in it like: Dimitri Tiomkin, Elmer Bernstein, George Duning, Franz Waxman, Nicola Piovani, Jerry Fielding, Maurice Jarre, Henry Mancini, Alex North, Ernest Gold......

Here are the tracks for One Piece Stampede in case anyone purchases the soundtrack early:

Disc 1
01 Beginning of the Worst Ambition
02 Pirate Expo Theme
03 Pirate Expo Opening!
04 Buggy Appears
05 We Are! ～STAMPEDE Ver.～
06 The Worst Generation ～The Rookies Appear～
07 A THOUSAND DREAMERS ～STAMPEDE Ver.～
08 Luffy’s Decision
09 He Who Can Not Forgive, Fight! ～STAMPEDE Ver.～
10 The Battle Begins ～Men's Competition～
11 Quiet Tension
12 Premonition of a Crisis
13 Buggy Rides in Tone!
14 Collapsing Danger
15 Bullet Appears ～Quiet Fear～
16 Uncertain Disturbance
17 Bullet VS The Worst Generation
18 Bullet's Overwhelming Strength
19 Serious Luffy
20 Everyone’s Battle

Disc 2
01 Bullet's Claim
02 Zoro vs Fujitora
03 The Seven Warlords of the Sea ～Extraordinary Warriors～
04 Medium-Sized Bullet's Overwhelming Strength
05 Serious Usopp
06 Festa's Device
07 Suddenly in a Pinch
08 Fear and Despair
09 Festa's Conspiracy ～Bullet’s Strongest Start～
10 A Long-Cherished Dream ～Festa's Ambition～
11 Garp's Sorrow
12 Memories ～STAMPEDE Ver.～
13 Overture of the Final War ～Preparing the Navy～
14 Stand Up, Luffy!
15 A United Front
16 The Combat Starts ～Fighting Together 1～
17 Luffy, A Reliable Man 〜Fighting Together 2〜
18 We Go! We Are! 〜STAMPEDE Ver.〜
19 Broken Festa
20 I'm Gonna Be King of the Pirates! ～STAMPEDE Ver.～

Here are the tracks for One Piece Stampede in case anyone purchases the soundtrack early:

...20 I'm Gonna Be King of the Pirates! ～STAMPEDE Ver.～

For whatever reason, when I read that track name, one of the lyrics from the infamous rap intro for the 4Kids dub of One Piece popped into my head ("I'll be King of the Pirates! I'm gonna be king!") and I very briefly thought that Tanaka had done some kind of arrangement of that theme tune. I'm kinda sad that isn't the case, because it would utterly hilarious if nothing else to see him take a crack at it - it would likely be ridiculous but also fairly good.

And for anyone who hasn't yet heard the infamous One Piece rap, here you go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSe8D2wfGKI

@tango:

Well, if you're at least optimistic about SW, imagine my enthusiasm (and general Tanaka fan devotion):


Can you imagine his joy

He recorded Shin Sakura Taisen with a 70-piece Orchestra, including various "Opera" songs like "Iron Star"(heard in the TGS preview) and much more. Originally I was sceptical about various changes tbh but they pursue it earnestly with some of the biggest names in the industry contributing to it.

The more things change... (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhM7i48VkA4) (the diegetic moment was a nice touch)

I am particulary glad those "big" names will give the series no doubt global exposure and many more people can hear and enjoy Tanaka at his best. I suspect they will remaster the old titles as well.

Shin Sakura Taisen is a "media assault" and has a new Manga, Anime and Stageplay in production and they plan to make it a game series again. From its very conception the series was born from Tanaka's music (if you look up its history) and is still a wet dream project for any composer. Its almost unbelievable how enthusiastic he is for it.

Tanaka was organizing many fan events himself and gave it his all in the concert hall. Since his next anniversary concert is in the works I imagine he will give an evening to Sakura again:


Finally! As the E-Mail from SEGA arrived with "Sakura Revival", I cried.
Then and now, I always love Sakura.

Thanks to all Sakura-Fans who revived the dream!
I'm grateful to each and everyone of you.

For everyone involved in the production, I want you to inherit the "Sakura Ai"-Baton.

Together we will make the "continuation of the dream".

Thank you all
And please expect it!

I was doing some research into how Kohei Tanaka's music helped birth the idea for Sakura Wars (basically, he and series creator Oji Hiroi first worked together on the OVA for Tengai Makyō: Ziria, and Hiroi liked Tanaka's work on that OVA so much that he wanted to create a game focused on the theatre for Tanaka to compose music for - really fascinating story and I thank Vinphonic for piquing my curiosity enough to look into it), and I found out that the man was responsible for arranging the opening and ending themes for Dragon Ball: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mmbc8E6rAmM and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5k0LOlWlzX4

Goddamn, no wonder Tanaka's considered the face of anime and game music in Japan - he's been everywhere!

(Quick edit: I also found he arranged some of DB's insert songs, including the fist-pumpingly good theme for the Red Ribbon Army: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmplZojOZJY)

I am massively, massively disappointed in recent Tanaka because I don't think it comes even close to showing him at his best. Kohei Tanaka at his best can rival 1970s John Williams for sheer symphonic prowess, orchestration skill, construction, development, and melody... and what do we get? Pop songs, short cues stuffed with electric guitars and drum kits, "they're-here-then-they're-gone" melodies that just play and go away, and scores that try to ram in so many different genres and musical styles that they end up as a huge, sprawling, incoherent mess; a musical migraine.

But... Kohei Tanaka is a genius. Of that, there can be no doubt. There's bad composers, good composers, excellent composers, and I consider a very select top tier of excellent composerss who also have that special something that makes you feel like they were just born to be a composer - like music for them is as instinctual as breathing in and out... Yoshihisa Hirano has it. Joe Hisaishi has it. Yasuo Higuchi has it. Souhei Kano has it. And Kohei Tanaka has it.

@Father: Yep. that's why its close to his heart. I would even go one step beyond and say much of the series was done to his tastes ;) Again it shows that being simply a great musician isn't enough, you must have great people around you who value you and your work and Tanaka was very blessed in his early days as a game and anime composer. Today he's highly valued, to the point of being the highest respected member of the production, judging by the "Tanaka-sensei" devotion by staff and fans.


@Tango: :) I definitely can see it from your perspective of writing more "symphonic" music like the old days... a score like Galaxy Express or Sakura Wars The Movie (thanks for the courtesy btw) is long overdue, but Endride was just three years ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83oHJS1pLVg

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

https://clyp.it/4r2orzgg

He will do the full symphonic score again when the opportunity and his desire to write it align... and I'm sure we both have our hopes what that opportunity will be ;)

But its vital to understand that his character is not exclusivly a "symphonic film composer". He is a (formerly soundchip) game composer, a rockband composer, a lounge composer. In short a "fusion artist". Since his very first scores he loved to experiment and put guitars and drums into his work, and synth sounds into his symphonic pieces. What your hearing now is really his 80s/early 90s persona coming out, in my opinion:

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysGnH8YZxB0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZgTIXYAWHo

A good pop tune is good music, a good symphonic piece is good music, I just so happen to find him exceptionally good at "music" in general, and that includes the whole package and his whole persona.

And I'm sure it's no secret what I think of his recent game work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1kgizg3lhc

Let's hope he can make everyone happy soon enough.

Oh Iwasaki...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaOvH13zS-Q&t=43
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqbwV5BQKbY

This is some ultra-niche stuff even within Herrmann's repertoire to be playing tribute to. Everyone and their mother in Hollywood can quote Psycho and maybe the love theme from Vertigo, but Iwasaki? Yeah, why not go with the most obscure motif in one of the already more obscure Hitchcock films- with its orchestration still intact.

For anyone who doesn't know, Metallica did a concert 20 years ago with the SF Symphony called S&M. Well they just performed S&M2, and I attended, and I was surprised they played music from Prokofiev!

Yep, this could be Go Shiina's greatest year in my book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9870RFTY-8

@Zipper: Well, you just can't compete with how hardcore the top Japanese musicians are about their craft. I bet he knows every note Herrmann ever wrote in and out. I also believe he understands him as a musician on a level better than anyone else alive.

Anyone have this? [url]https://vgmdb.net/album/84022[/url
I'm also looking for recommendations for old action rock-orchestral music like you'd see from Tanaka in a Gundam anime, though I have all of Tanaka

I also believe he understands him as a musician on a level better than anyone else alive.It would be believable. Iwasaki seems to sympathize with Herrmann to a degree beyond just his music. As a composer, it's almost as if he wants to "pick up where he left off" with Herrmann's ideals. They both demand complete musical independence (Iwasaki going so far as joining one of the few truly freelance music offices in Japan, Office Without), full control of orchestration and conducting, don't care for the orchestra as a cohesive unit, embrace close-mic and separate instrument recording, see music only needing to be as complex as its dramatic needs, and are more interested in presenting their interpretations of unique/exotic music to their audiences from sources outside of what is traditionally heard either in the concert hall or the general public (for Herrmann it was with obscure-at-the-time composers like Ives and even the Beetles(!) before they became famous, for Iwasaki a plethora of different cultures from America rap and Jazz to Indian dance to Middle Eastern) than writing their own "orchestral" music. They also focus more on sound design and elaborate tonal harmony with strong impressionist influences than any desire to write catchy themes or rhythmically complicated modernist music, though they are capable of it. Obviously, Herrmann's music is completely different in its dramatic grammar from the 50s and more embodied in its use of larger orchestral forces and more tailored to fit the needs of scene-to-scene action rather than the anime industry standard of music libraries like what Iwasaki works with, but it must be remembered that he was a huge proponent of using electronics and artificial sound mixing and synths long before they became catchy decades after his death. Not to mention their similarly fiery temperaments and lack of tolerance for fools, whether it be their staff or peers, which similarly seems to give them a somewhat scary reputation among said peers, though are generally revered by younger composers in their respective industries.

I think many people would not be able to recognize just how absurdly talented Iwasaki is as a composer if they only listen on the surface level to the electronics. For the longest time, I wasn't sure why someone like Iwasaki could appreciate Herrmann on the same level as Zimmer, when they were worlds apart in their talent and approaches. Most normal orchestral music aficionados would see Zimmer as being boring with his repetitive and simple music, with the barebones percussion slamming rock nonsense as a result. But Iwasaki is not a "normal person"- he saw Zimmer's approach as a breath of fresh air, and introduction to a new and "exciting dramatic language" (Iwasaki's words) that he considered truly modern without being rooted in the tradition of European classical composers or modernist/minimalist concert hall wankery. Iwasaki's interest in Zimmer is a genuine one, not like the rest who merely copy him to have a job in Hollywood or because his music is easy to imitate. And before Zimmer, he saw the same thing in Herrmann. So he uses them both in his music. He would gladly slap RC percussion and string ostinatos over Herrmann's elaborate woodwind and horn interludes-that's how Katanagatari was written. I recall a few months ago, while Tweeting about his first work on Kenshin, Iwasaki said that part of his impetus for writing that score was due to his frustration with western scores at the time (i.e. Waterworld) for "the banality of the simplified 8-beat percussion loop usage and the tendency for over-orchestration that doesn't synchronize with it". And who was the one composer who complained the most about over-orchestration prior to Iwasaki? Yep.

We all know Iwasaki has been on a Junkie XL binge recently, but last month Junk himself posted a video (https://youtu.be/4wgjj8nwmFk?t=87) on how he wishes he could meet someone alive with the mindset of Herrmann, and learn how such a person would use modern music tools to approach sound design in this day and age. It's unusual how opposites attract.

For anyone who doesn't know, Metallica did a concert 20 years ago with the SF Symphony called S&M. Well they just performed S&M2, and I attended, and I was surprised they played music from Prokofiev!

God, S&M. That's a hell of a throwback for me; I had that album ripped onto the Xbox 360 - albeit with some issues, mainly the arrangement of One cutting out just after the second chorus - and used to play a bunch of games with that album playing in the background like Project Gotham Racing 4 and Dragon Ball: Raging Blast (say what you will about the 360, but one edge it had and continues to have over all other consoles is how easy it is to play whatever music you like on a USB or ripped from a CD without having to futz about with Spotify or turn off the in-game music; definitely helped make certain games a lot more enjoyable for me these last few years). Fun fact: I remember writing down a list of my favourite things as part of a social skills class in my secondary school's Special Needs unit, and I wrote down S&M without clarifying that it was the name of a Metallica album. So there's just a list of otherwise normal(ish) things for a 13 year old to like, and then S&M in the middle of that. Lovely. XD

Holkenborg is right about the early decades of film music being criminally overlooked. But there's thankfully a batch of composers who listened carefully and have the necessary skill to take after the composers from that era. Its one of the reasons (Neo-)Hattori is at the top of my favorites and the new Yamato series (next series coming fall 2020) a great throwback.

Infact, here's more from another composer who wonderfully encapsulates the early decades of film music. Recently she has been on a rose-coloured and beautiful impressionistic dive, but here she is perhaps at her most ferocious and relentless, a nice contrast to her recent works, both pulsating action and melancholic drama, a masterfully crafted work as you have come to expect from her. She is as ever incredibly busy around the world with numerous new projects, some anime&game related, others for NHK and comissions. Her recent anime film work did not get a release (so far) but there's certainly more in the works to look forward to, so without further ado:




A nextday/Vinphonic Co-Production


Michiru Oshima
Beyond the Point of No Return
Kazuki Yamada conducts the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra



Recording Video with Oshima Apperance (September 6, 2019 at Suntory Hall, Tokyo) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwDw4L7hkMg)
Audio File (https://mega.nz/#!rrgXGCbK!zMuLA1HUtk2c1JtNrbVPDV2ebEbaNS2MVGMAnZ6V1oE)

here she is perhaps at her most ferocious and relentlessHmm... I'm not sure it's going to beat out her efforts on Godzilla anytime soon in that department. Though having Moscow certainly gives that an edge.

I also just remembered that Yugo Kanno had his 2nd symphony released on disc a few days ago, which reviews also claimed that he moved away from his J-Drama melodies into more impressionist and at times more ferocious modernist terriitory. Might be worth a listen for the novelty of Yugo going outside of his comfort zone, even if the results end up being questionable.

I also just remembered that Yugo Kanno had his 2nd symphony released on disc a few days ago, which reviews also claimed that he moved away from his J-Drama melodies into more impressionist and at times more ferocious modernist terriitory. Might be worth a listen for the novelty of Yugo going outside of his comfort zone, even if the results end up being questionable.
there is only 1 review on Amazon right now
"It's better than the 1st but you still can't call it a symphony" 3/5

^I was talking about reviews from Japanese music critics that came out when he performed it at a concert months ago, some of which he linked on his Twitter (if you want to dig through it)

Found the Ni No Kuni movie soundtrack onilne https://mega.nz/#!ZiIDjCjK!-AozpJpG0X07QVFL5xGzXfB-9IezGAY0CUVx3OMpH0U
Creit sittingonclouds, a fellow shriner

I have the Yugo Kanno symphony, I'll post it tonight. :D


YUGO KANNO
Symphony No. 2 - Alles ist Architektur



Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra
conducted by
Sachio Fujioka

MP3 only for now. Digital download. No booklet, no covers, no nothing. English track titles.

https://mega.nz/#!4eZX0AhR!fJRkY460zLGxlv2VnTOa48dk8OTXXNLxKd17-WqlBRc

Well, it's different... Yugo Kanno is continuing to develop, but he's still Yugo Kanno and his heart still beats to the rythym of a film score, not a concert piece. Stylistically it's all over the place - this is a meandering, overlong mess... But, dammit, it's earnest, honest, tuneful, undemanding, and a really enjoyable listen. The common theme in reviews seems to be "It's nice but it's not a symphony" and that's right on the money. I enjoy the individual movements a whole lot better if I think of them as standalone tone poems. It doesn't work as a symphony, but it works pretty well as "Four Pieces For Orchestra" - because that's what it is. The title of the piece is "Everything Is Architecture" and the movements each paint a picture of the styles of four different, very unique, architects. If you approach it like that and forget the grandiose "symphony" description and the cynical application of a German title for instant cultural relevance, it's quite satisfying.

Kanno has not lost his style and every note sounds like him. He hasn't gone full-on "squeaky gate" - this is still the Kanno we know, tonal and approachable.

The recording is fairly good (nothing special, but nothing terrible either) and the performance is perfectly proficient.

All in all, definitely worth a listen, definitely better than No. 1, and definitely still not a symphony.

Enjoy :)
TT

Well, thank you very much :)

I consent to this notion. I will add the fourth movement is my favorite. Its very quickly changing gears/styles as if to underscore various stages of architecture, from design to reality, by various artists/craftsmen but its all been rewarding.


Well, it's different... Yugo Kanno is continuing to develop, but he's still Yugo Kanno and his heart still beats to the rythym of a film score, not a concert piece.

Fully agreed and its obvious that the world of media entertainment is his home. I think this calls for a complementary post:



Yugo Kanno
When Art Meets Entertainment



Sample (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PD57LYY1As)
YUGO! YUGO! YUGO! (https://mega.nz/#!b5EgGY5I!xJxk_oIFziY2JISEOwjeUHxmpqDfjltL3UAEtb25c-w)

These are 32 Tracks and three hours of music from one of the most prolific composers writing music for Japanese Entertainment, and one of my favorites. A carefully selected "album" with the side of Yugo I can connect with, not the sound designer personality, but the traditional music craftsmanship. Its all very skilled music, highly tuneful, and occasionally full of dramatic operatic energy. I've newly arranged some of it. The best of the best he has written over his prolific career. Think of it as a complementary piece to his symphonic albums. I made it since I want an album of his best purely orchestral stuff for study and because of a personal request ;)

Yugo, like so many of his peers, demonstrates his personality as a "music artist". His concert works are just as much an expression of his mind as any entertainment project he wrote music for. With reservations however, as he is very eager to work with a "sound design" philosophy on anime and drama. However, when he uses an orchestra in a traditional operatic sense and is not occupied with experimentation or fusion, he can very well join the pantheon of the top Japanese music artists of this craft. When the time comes to fully concentrates on writing an operatic leitmotif score for a project that demands it, he will knock it out of the park, I believe, but until now he is happy with being an artist that partially employs an orchestra in an operatic sense and otherwise has fun venturing onto the side of sound-design.


Yugo Kanno scored very "distinctive" projects and was given the honor to score a Gundam show by none other than anime legend Yoshiyuki Tomino.
He also made a name for himelf as the most prolific and prominent "J-Drama" composer.
He also helms the composer company "One Music" and guided Kenichiro Suehiro, both colleague and rising star in the anime music world.

He not only made himself a big name, he also enjoys the glamor a little, as a "BGM" composer you can very well be celebrated (see Tanaka's fan cheering at TGS) and Yugo's concerts have a dedicated fanbase. But he never comes across as arrogant or a secret prick (like so many other "composers" I could name ;)). He's honest, goofy, humble, quite talented, just loves music and earnestly works for his profession.


Yugo is also a prominent host of "special" concerts of his music
and recently has a "symphonic" concert in the works performing his anime and drama music
as well as music from his symphonic albums.

Recently I became very frustrated because he is working on so many projects it has thined him out and I was beginning to fear the sound designer is overwhelming the musician, but as I've worked on this album and listened to his new concert work, it all lessened my disappointment considerably. He can be a wonderful listen when he wants to be and I'm sure he will do another Shaolin Girl soon. On that note, I wonder if the five new Gundam compilation films will have new music recorded as they called in different animators and rerecorded the voice lines. I did not catch Yugo mentioning something about it on twitter but it would be neat if he could "revise" his Gundam a little, you know, less sound design, more music ;)


So, Tomino... to "fix" the mess you made, how about in addition to more coherent plot,
better pace, new artists, new animators, reworked animations, reworked voice-acting and god knows what else...
you actually demand a score to picture like your old space operas and let Yugo record in a hall. That would make me happy, thanks!

Wishful thinking aside, I don't know how the end this post right now... so have some cute eyecatchers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3Yo4ryp6bk)

Thanks for keeping the thread alive everyone. I wanted to pop in and point out that I am really loving the music from Dragon Pilot, now on Netflix. Anyone found the music?
https://vgmdb.net/album/77748
The show is a blast and I am really digging it. I've mostly been streaming tons of classical music lately because it is so easy on Spotify with premium. Enjoying digging into the greats further.

MP3 only for now.
FLAC: https://mega.nz/#!ul43CSYb!GZCCn6dnXZcbj8jpzWuF_L9Drxo2ppqdU4isxtLhbIw

I had the FLAC, I just wanted to encourage people to buy the thing and then maybe release the FLAC in a few months, but thanks... :)

Yeah, this is very much Yugo Kanno still in his comfort zone. I'm not sure what some of those initial reviews were hooplaing about with the supposed modernism in this, the only trace of that can be found in the second movement. John Adams was mentioned, but I think he was aiming more for something like Alex North's docking piece (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-8wtu5w504) from A Space Odyssey, right down to the string finale. What's interesting is that Yugo took a what was supposed to be minimalist approach that usually highlights rhythmic dynamism like the aforementioned example and somehow forced one of his signature melodies into it. The focus ends up being on the melody rather than the rhythm, which is mostly relegated to the background. So essentially, what it sounds like is the usual Yugo uplifting J-drama piece orchestrated by John Adams. If I'm going to be blunt about it Asakawa impressed me more in a mere 30 seconds with his take on minimalism (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhAERGA5YIc) than the entirety of Yugo's 10-minute-movement. There's just not enough conviction. The remaining movements fare much better because it's just Yugo Kanno being himself, rather than pretending to be something he isn't.

Ultimately, I don't think the format or medium matters much here, regardless of whether or not Yugo wants to classify it as a symphony. Because whether it's a so-called symphony, film soundtrack, seasonal anime sound library, or J-Drama, Yugo's orchestral music is always true to itself without a single air of pretentiousness to it. Rarely does he truly experiment or go outside his comfort zone, and the handful of times he does like with the Golden Wind Aria or Alex North soundalike, he falls on his face. And as mentioned before, even his electronic outgoings seem more like fun and games to him than someone who takes it more seriously like Iwasaki. Still, even though I and others have ribbed him for his liberal application of J-drama tropes throughout all his scores, I think it's important to remember that it's not Yugo that sounds like the J-dramas, but the other way around, like Korngold with Golden Age Hollywood, or Henry Mancini and elevator music. Regardless of the quality of his music, I respect that. And I don't expect that aspect of his music to change anytime soon.

It isn't orchestral, but I am venturing out into jazz :). I have always thought Mitsuda's music translated well to jazz. This piece from Chrono Trigger easily fit into that category. I am hoping to finish this soon as I am releasing it as a single as part of my effort to release a steady stream of monthly content.

https://soundcloud.com/josh-barron-composer/at-the-bottom-of-night-from-chrono-trigger-preview

Speaking of Jazz, Michiru's BEM has some cool freestyle jazz (done by a different artist group SOIL&"PIMP"SESSIONS) as well as a little appetizer for her fantasy score for a show starting next week (soundtrack confirmed). I've also included some cues from Kokkoku to flesh it out more, have another artist album:




MICHIRU and SOIL&"PIMP"SESSIONS
BEM



SOIL&"PIMP"SESSIONS (https://clyp.it/wb34pl5p) / MICHIRU (Sample) (https://clyp.it/ocnyrxux)
A Job for Two (https://mega.nz/#!msF1TQRA!RBJHeUyCtCDSbRVGoxy0EpsTu3uBhbuQgUq70aOdYJ0)



Likewise, Fujisawa wrote some nice music (enclosure) for Iseaki Magician and has two shows starting next week (with more personality/care/budget): https://clyp.it/4souillt




KOEI BGM Division
Atelier Ryza



Sample (https://clyp.it/f4oyeg4x)
EnticingVisuals (https://mega.nz/#!L8szTKRA!e8N081cjHw-YuF4TeQhzdFWar5hHfOfrK-jwDF_xepk)
Another small goodie. This is my personal selection of all live ensemble pieces.
A real surprise I must say. Up to this game I had no interest in any of the previous music from the series but this is quite the change (in addition to a boost in other art departments, inspired by a classical arts). KOEI, like SEGA and NAMCO, has quite the talented BGM Division, as we all know. This time its a live ensemble and lighthearted,"Happy-Go-Lucky" orchestral music with some beautiful textures. In short, what a cute little score.

This piece in particular would be one of those tunes so easy to arrange for the OGC Concerts back in the day, a symphonic variation almost writes itself: https://clyp.it/x3sqidjx

In the past I was highly critical of "looping" game music but at the end of the day, its just another "form" of music if done right, and considering the series its from, I ain't gonna complain this time.

I also posted it because a former member of the KOEI BGM Divison wrote a little game score called Super Mario Galaxy and another former member also has a show this fall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=Qz0FJ33W41U&t=2m27s


EDIT: And right on the money, Fujisawa's new Isekai show is another Endro with wonderful music so far, what better way to start your show than with a Golden Age Fanfare :D
(if you want a full on episode of Golden Age sound, check out the finale for Pokemon Sun & Moon, from the sound of it all of IMAGINE gave it their all.)

BTW, I finally got a hold of Kamen Rider Zi-O's soundtrack. This includes the TV series, and the two movies, all entirely lossless. I've already sent Vinphonic the FLAC files. Once he's finished organizing and arranging the files, he'll uploaded them.

Thank you! Is it possible that you would be willing to share the original files? I really like to enjoy the album experience of such things, and it's increasingly difficult around here of late - with most recent uploads being fan-"remastered", including random tracks from other scores, or moving tracks around to create a different album experience. I think there's always a place for such projects and a lot of them have been at least partially succesful in their aims, but that they should never replace the core of music sharing... If not, no worries... but for my archival mind it would be really appreciated. :)

Looks like Yuki Hayashi is the new Pok�mon anime composer.

https://youtu.be/bcLScW_4RpU

@Sirusjr: I really liked the show as well (always nice to see you :)) Here's Dragon Pilot (I believe I shared it last year):



Taisei Iwasaki
Hisone & Masotan
Studio Orchestra



Sample (http://picosong.com/w9SNr/)

Download (https://mega.nz/#!o6BXSC6K!KsJYs9nCrmtXQGtYH6w6zJ2FZNMptpujGzDbEmPL7Cw)


@BladeLight: Sorry BladeLight, I sort of forgot to add your own music selection :D https://mega.nz/#!euhTCSRS!LIJunzsYGz6JgO_o5PL5FUQSFExC4Z_hKpZTkvJfUrE (give him a rep for this one pls)

@Tango: If I remember right, I already gave an elaborate answer why I'm doing what I'm doing but maybe I should post a disclaimer that everyone is encouraged to share the original album if they so desire or add their own thoughts. I'm just sharing my personal album/highlight because 99% of what I "highlight" is readily available on the net. There's numerous places now to get formerly obscure anime&game soundtracks (just go to hikarinoakari or nyaa) and all I'm doing lately in that regard is "fishing" good/interesting music from dozens of albums readily available and highlight/create the best musical experience (for me, others, hopefully everyone) and toss the ball for music discussion/ music celebration and a little campfire atmosphere. Unless its a symphonic album that flows like a symphony / symphonic film score, I will defile any Japanese music album in existence without mercy or remorse ;)

In the case of my recent Hattori share and many others, its only the orchestral cues I bought from digital stores (and 90% of Japanese music is basically "library" music so I see no issue combining music from a single mind but different soundtracks). I am not willing to listen to an album of music that doesn't flow for me or is full of "interference" from the stuff I like, that drives me nuts. I'm always about putting the music first, you know, trying to uphold making this a special place and not just "share an album - say thanks - ok, bye". That said, I would really prefer to be just a cog in the wheel, and just keep adding additional notes and alternate takes on the music out there (and contribution of others). I'm essentially doing what I've done since 2010, I never really changed in my habbits, maybe in my music tastes... (and this forum is as anachronistic as it gets in the digital age, so it suits me fine) ;)

@xrockerboy: Nah, we thought that about One Piece as well, and it was just a short interruption until it went back to IMAGINE, I also wonder if that means Miyazaki and friends are busy with something else... like Tanaka was too busy to score Film Gold because of Gravity Daze 2 (not that it matters, Pokemon TV music doesn't get released anyway...) On that note, to my ears Wano does have an original orchestral score with a real, small ensemble (a statement of Luffy's Theme I haven't heard before) but I guess a soundtrack release will give the definitive answer.

@Tango: If I remember right, I already gave an elaborate answer why I'm doing what I'm doing but maybe I should post a disclaimer that everyone is encouraged to share the original album if they so desire or add their own thoughts. I'm just sharing my personal album/highlight because 99% of what I "highlight" is readily available on the net. There's numerous places now to get formerly obscure anime&game soundtracks (just go to hikarinoakari or nyaa) and all I'm doing lately in that regard is "fishing" good/interesting music from dozens of albums readily available and highlight/create the best musical experience (for me, others, hopefully everyone) and toss the ball for music discussion/ music celebration and a little campfire atmosphere. Unless its a symphonic album that flows like a symphony / symphonic film score, I will defile any Japanese music album in existence without mercy or remorse

I remember it well - I'm not disputing what you said, merely asking if it would be possible for the original files to be shared, for the benefit of those who prefer to make their own decisions about the presentation of an album or any tweaks they may want to make to the sound quality, or simply prefer to listen to it as it was released. ;)

What particularly bothers me is when someone takes a lossy source, fiddles with it, converts it to FLAC and then doesn't explicitly say what they did.

I've enjoyed a great many of your albums... some of them, by their careful editing, have rescued scores I find unlistenable... I simply don't think that they should be offered as the only option. We are not here to serve our own egos, we are here to share music. Yes, the old adage ("If you don't like what I'm doing FOR FREE, **** off!") definitely applies, but in this world where less and less is getting released and more and more is being buried in the middle of torrents of unwieldly Bluray rips... I feel like we could all be doing more of the "public service" - that is, helping these albums get out there as they were originally made. You didn't used to have to go on hunts to download a simple CD rip from here. That you have to increasingly often as everybody on the planet (not just you) is making their own "fan albums" and not uploading the actual albums, makes me feel like music sharing is more about "I did this amazing album" and less about "This music is amazing".

I know that you have your reasons for posting the way you post and I entirely respect that; but hopefully you don't expect people to stop asking for alternatives?

A thousand times agree about you wanting to do something about the "Download, KTHABAI!" mentality... It makes me mad and you deserve all the applause in the world for encouraging others to be enthusiastic with your enthusiasm. You should hopefully know by now how much I respect you and the work you've done. :)

My rant was really a general critique about the way sharing on this site has gone recently... in no way intended as an attack on you.

And in no way thought of as such :)

You see, that's what I was saying, those albums I share are the only things that remain on my drive. By the point I share them here I don't have the original source anymore (too much space). Granted, I should share the option for those that want to archive, make their own albums, I just felt it was unnecessary most of the time when the original album / cd is usually just a click away these days (if you know how). But taking your thoughts into consideration, for bonus cds / Blu-Ray enclosures rips I will post the original source if I can :)

Looks like Yuki Hayashi is the new Pok�mon anime composer.

https://youtu.be/bcLScW_4RpU

That’s very disappointing to me. I don’t know how everyone here feels about him but the MHA score does nothing for me.

Huge downgrade.

Sorry I haven't posted much as of late. I've been fairly busy getting back into the swing of things with college (which I might write more about some other time since it's late over here), and I just generally haven't had much to say in regards to whatever's been posted or discussed at the moment.

However, I wanted post something in reply to what Tango said, largely because I am one of those people who's posted personal compilations (and done the converting of lossy format to FLAC on occasion, I'm somewhat embarrassed to say). Though it's something I do every now and again in between proper album uploads, I wasn't aware how prevalent that whole scene had become at the expense of uploading all of the music from any given soundtrack or album, and that is a genuine shame. While I do understand it in relation to this thread and trying to keep things on topic by focusing on orchestral music, it carries the unfortunate suggestion that other types of music from the soundtrack aren't as worth preserving, which is especially tragic when they often do just as much for people as everything else. (Personal example: I absolutely love cheesy 90s rock arrangements of game music from the likes of Kukeiha Club, and will happily listen to any good R&B album.)

While I'm not the only person who does this, I do still have some responsibility in deciding what to post and how to post it, so I'm going to try to post entire albums in future instead of just select collections (unless they hold some kind of personal sentimental value that I want to discuss alongside the collection, like my Shiro's Songbook Orchestral Selection post). And just to clarify, I'm choosing to do this because I agree with Tango after considering his points and want to improve on trying to share music, because sharing music for everyone to check out and enjoy should be what we're doing - no matter the genre, music is music and deserves to be listened by everyone in its entirety, warts and all.

There are other threads on this forum and other sites that offer full download links. I see this as a place to discuss music first, and sharing done to start or further a discussion. I'm sure many people would love this thread to turn into nothing but a quiet music vault due to their fear of having their opinions held under scrutiny, but this isn't the place for it.

One of my pet peeves is when someone dumps an album on here with zero context to any prior discussion and then doesn't bother to justify or discuss it at all. Thanks for the link- but why should the rest of us care when even you seemingly don't?

Why not do both? There's nothing mutually exclusive about discussing music AND sharing full soundtracks/albums. Yes, there are plenty of places to go to get full soundtracks, but it can't hurt to make this place one of them a bit more often. :)

There are other threads on this forum and other sites that offer full download links. I see this as a place to discuss music first, and sharing done to start or further a discussion. I'm sure many people would love this thread to turn into nothing but a quiet music vault due to their fear of having their opinions held under scrutiny, but this isn't the place for it.
Chiming in to correct you on something as a moderator: you're dead wrong about the bolded bit. This thread is still in the "Download Links" forum, so, some sharing must happen, if you don't want anything to happen to this thread. I'm sure we have an understanding.

In short: discuss music as much as you want, encourage it being discussed, even, but the Shrine isn't against mere links dumps… What you think this thread is about is irrelevant, you're not a member of the Staff and you don't get to make the rules (I know I'm coming off as arrogant, but I'm just stating a fact).
While this thread can be moved to another subforum all about discussion of "video game, anime and other music", there's a fact to consider: sharing/posting of download links is only allowed in the "Download Links" forums, so, this thread will have to be deleted, if it comes to a point where it needs to be moved elsewhere.

I'll admit that I was a little disappointed when the soundtrack for Cho Mashin Hero Wataru (Tomoyuki Asakawa/Toshihiko Sahashi) was shared by some of you guys here, but there were lots of tracks in the three albums that I like missing, especially the third album. Instead of asking you guys for all songs in the three albums it was released on, I bought the third album. At first, I didn't want to say anything about it to you guys because I didn't want to come across as needy and ungrateful. But now I'm a little more confident. As much as I absolutely love your remasters and compilations, Cho Mashin Hero Wataru is one of those exceptions where I like all of the tracks in the three albums with only two tracks that I'm not a fan of (Tracks 13 and 16 in Album 2).

In short: discuss music as much as you want, encourage it being discussed, even, but the Shrine isn't against mere links dumps… What you think this thread is about is irrelevant, you're not a member of the Staff and you don't get to make the rules (I know I'm coming off as arrogant, but I'm just stating a fact).
While this thread can be moved to another subforum all about discussion of "video game, anime and other music", there's a fact to consider: sharing/posting of download links is only allowed in the "Download Links" forums, so, this thread will have to be deleted, if it comes to a point where it needs to be moved elsewhere.It's amazing how spectacularly you misinterpreted the context of my post. Nobody is physically stopping anyone from sharing music, and if you really think I encourage such a thing you should read what I write more carefully. My point is that people who post links in this thread, say nothing, and then are upset that they don't get responses or type of responses they want to their shares (usually the aforementioned "Thanks, thumbs up!") should think about -why- that is. If they provide zero context to their shares, what is the basis for getting the members of this thread to be positively interested? You've monitored this thread for years, I'm sure you've seen more than a handful of times this has happened in the past. People can share without describing all they want, but that really doesn't change this thread's dynamic, which has always been the discussion of music first and foremost over merely sharing. That's the culture, not the rule. You could move this thread to any other subforum and this would not change.

Why not do both? There's nothing mutually exclusive about discussing music AND sharing full soundtracks/albums. Yes, there are plenty of places to go to get full soundtracks, but it can't hurt to make this place one of them a bit more often. :)The point is, much of the music in this thread is going to be based on the orchestra, as the name suggests. So I don't really see why someone would be upset or surprised when the music shared in this thread shaves off the non-orchestral portions. This isn't quite the same topic as what Vinphonic is doing with his remastering work, but a point of contention against this thread that's been brought up a few times before. I talk about Iwasaki all the time, but notice how I rarely bring up his more electronic soundtracks like the recent Cop Craft in this thread. There are other threads for that type of music. And really, since Japanese composers tend to have a billion genres in one disc in almost every soundtrack they write, having the focus be on the orchestral portions is what makes this thread stand out from something like the old-school or general anime soundtrack thread.

As for discussion, I consider it the standout of this thread compared to many others that simply follow the pattern of "sharing and thanking". But more often than not there are always a handful who complain about this being "elitism" because they don't want what is shared to be scrutinized. But what makes this thread stand out to begin with are the in-depth discussions, and it's been that way for 900 pages. Like I said above, music that's shared here ought to be done with the readiness for it to be scrutinized- that's how it's been since the beginning of this thread.

Those are fair points, Zipper, and I genuinely appreciate you bringing them up. It's easy to forget those aspects and consider different perspectives on these types of things, and I'm happy that you're there to remind me of them whenever needed. Regardless of whether or not people need to do this or not, I still feel it can't hurt to post full albums if the music can't be found elsewhere, and I'll at least do what I can to address that issue while keeping it on topic for this thread (and in fact, I'm going to see if I can find anything in the odd charity shop or two today, since that's how I found the Spirit of Ireland album I uploaded a while back). I do agree that the discussions are the best bit about this thread, and it's the reason I still come here after three years despite barely touching most of the links/uploads people do post, so I definitely wouldn't want that to go away. :)

I'll admit that I was a little disappointed when the soundtrack for Cho Mashin Hero Wataru (Tomoyuki Asakawa/Toshihiko Sahashi) was shared by some of you guys here, but there were lots of tracks in the three albums that I like missing, especially the third album. Instead of asking you guys for all songs in the three albums it was released on, I bought the third album.You didn't have to... all 3 albums were shared years ago in this very thread long before the compilations were made. And in the Old School Anime soundtrack thread, it was shared as well. I think there might even be a few standalone threads that had all 3. The links might have been dead, but you could have always PM'ed the original uploaders.

That's another disadvantage of trying to use this thread like a sharing music library- it's not exactly the most well-indexed like some other threads.

Just finished playing Batman Arkham City and decided to compose some 90s orchestra music in the vein of Elfman and Arnold. I even threw in Zimmer's motif and gave it more color along with some nods to a very famous and often quoted composer. I would really love some feedback from you all as I regard your opinions highly.

https://soundcloud.com/josh-barron-composer/sets/tales-of-the-dark-knight

@xrockerboy: Nah, we thought that about One Piece as well, and it was just a short interruption until it went back to IMAGINE, I also wonder if that means Miyazaki and friends are busy with something else...
it looks a doctor who situation where they're trying to take the series in a new direction. this is a mainline series which will air for 2-3 years, not a one-off movie. kunihiko yuyama, who has directed everything pokemon since 1997, is no longer the director. i guess shinji miyazaki is out a job just like murray gold.

just because something is long-running doesn't mean composer can't change. doraemon was with shunsuke kikuchi for 20+ years before switching to kan sawada. and now after 10 years, it's switched again to takayuki hattori.

@Josh: I will give one soon, I promise, but since I'm occupied right now, it will most likely be PM.


@callisto: Hmm... you're right of course about lifelong composer projects being one in a million. Williams+STAR WARS is an enigma in itself.

I also hadn't checked Miyazaki's twitter, and with the switch in directors, it looks like its going to be more than a one-off affair (but nothing is yet written in stone, they could just as well give numerous composers a shot at Pokemon with a new contract deal):



Thank you for the many heartwarming messages!
See you in the future

I am looking forward to the new pokemon TV series ♪

Personally, it's hard to guess if the work for X/Y and Sun & Moon will get released.
However, I think there is a chance even with a small probability.
It will lead to a record of Yuyama's wonderful works.
I expect it.


But recently he has done projects outside of Pokemon, just listen to his wonderful contributions to Shin-chan: https://clyp.it/fngkz5ym

He is a veteran but far off from laying down his pen. He also did (is doing) some work for NHK recently.

There's Shin-chan and possibly Princess Connect where he can make an appearance and lots of other soon to be revealed projects. Recently IMAGINE composers are having lots of projects in the works so I expect to see his name somewhere.

And Sun & Moon can be a wonderful send-off for his work on Pokemon, Episode 140 alone has enough material to make me smile. If it gets released and he ultimately does not return in the future, he will always be "The Pokemon composer".



Now, to the other, rather unfortunate side of the issue, I don't know if the new Pokemon will have Hayashi with matured skill (at least he seems to impersonate Miyazaki somewhat in the PV before his trademark noise) but if not then he is very much the Japanese Giacchino: Desperately wanting to sound like his predecessors he admires, but ultimately lacking the necessary skill to follow in their footsteps. Precure being a shining example (Takaki even returns ALL THE DAMN TIME for the series, so why not take the helm again).


In more pleasant news, the most unlikely thing to get an orchestral anime concert:



:D

If a series is (semi-)popular these days, it not only gets a sequel project right away but very likely an orchestral concert down the line. I'm looking forward to Inai expanding his musical ideas with a new OVA, movie, season 3 and orchestral concert for Danmachi (75% of these things are already announced).

he is very much the Japanese Giacchino: Desperately wanting to sound like his predecessors he admires, but ultimately lacking the necessary skill to follow in their footsteps.Now that's not fair, Giacchino, like most Hollywood hacks, is able to hide his ineptness behind a massive army of orchestrators. If anything, the closest equivalent to Giacchino would be Tatsuya Kato, who seems to do the same. If nothing else, I respect Hayashi for presenting his music out in the open as his own music.

I don't think these two have anything in common either.

Kato was trained by three of the most skilled (and also favorite) Japanese composers of all-time and always pocesses the skill to master an orchestra, he just liked to write other music and bury it under a wall of electronics. Hayashi and Kato are leagues apart in terms of skill with an orchestra (and Kato himself is leagues apart from my favorites but he's slowly ascending):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6aVp5GFuhE&t=32s (If you want to see him conducting live to thundering applause)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Pw1vXpHdVg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VohQY2BmCo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6kSjj8Ikzw&t=10m50s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vYJwDDM9xg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7gvK7OORgc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qleZ1z068k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhNy9L2BT_k&t=1h22m38s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65E25gOYQ10&t=29m20s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SWMWLqKG4Y

Just a little selection of why he always had the skill since Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere.
And training young composers by have them "assisting" and them helping out with a busy schedule is not hidding behind incompetence. Ever since the first scores he used an orchestra he demonstrated some understanding of the craft.... and his early music was skilled in other areas too and fun at the time. Hayashi on the other hand... was (is) an amateur, and I mean that NOT in a negative sense, I'm just stating a fact. He's just not skilled enough (yet, from what I've heard) to write for the orchestra like Takaki for example. His Jazz work I do enjoy.

But I do think he can develop: https://clyp.it/e4jimjnj

One day he might be, and I hope Pokemon gives him that opportunity to grow :)

Good points, but I don't agree. Kato did not study classical or contemporary music composition- he studied under the "Film Broadcasting Music Course"- which is essentially the same as Evan Call. And it shows in his music, which once you strip the orchestration, does not sound classically informed or structured. It mainly consists of numerous fanfares, showered to the brim with flourishing orchestration, and then followed up by barebones melodies that go nowhere and then get cut off without any real sense of development. In that sense, it's also quite Giacchino, and to a lesser extent, Masaru Yokoyama. Like Giacchino, I also have a hard time detecting any real signatures with either his composition or orchestration, which even Hayashi has, as rudimentary as his sound is. I've also said this before, but having skilled teachers doesn't guarantee skilled students- just ask Bear McCreary or Marco Beltrami. Even Goldsmith once chimed in on this topic and talked about how Rozsa's composition course was less than useful to him.

I'm not sure where you read that he has a lot of orchestrators and assistants to teach them (which is the first I've ever heard of such an instance happening in Japan), but going by the merits of his music, it sounds very much to me like he has yet to really assemble any sembleance of a music personality and is primarily relying on his assistants. Which is nothing to be ashamed of (ask Mitsuda or Uematsu or Sagisu or Shiina), but it certainly reflects in his music more than others.

You make some good points yourself, but I think its difficult to say that with certainty when he never wrote a full Endro but the heart of PriChan is classically informed to my ears as were some of his pieces before that. I can detect a signature style he likes to employ, but time will tell I guess if he follows up PriChan with something substantial.

And on that note, I know Kato has done the very same thing once upon a time, its pastiche, but that music in a school comedy still is something: https://clyp.it/1lyoqouq

Of course, both of his scores are Bonus Enclosures... but with helping hands we can manage this problem ;)

This is an old-school wall-of-text... it wasn't intending to be but I've been out of action with the flu since Friday and a lot of discussion happened while I've been away, so here we go...

Uploads / Recodes / Sources, etc

I feel patently silly for complaining about something that's given for free, so I'm relieved you (Vin) read my words the way they were intended. :)

Not everybody is as dedicated as you are... once upon a time, I used to be one of those guys who could find pretty much everything with ease... but I took my foot off the accelerator and now I don't know where to look any more, I don't know what to search for... and I'm not really in "the world" as much as I used to be...

But this thread, for all of my tumultous relationship with it and feelings about the industry it has grown to predominantly represent, is the best place on the internet for finding this sort of music. It always has been, right back to the day it started and grew from "here's a few of my favourite tracks" to a full-blown speakeasy about every aspect of orchestral music from composition, arrangement, orchestration, through to the more philosophical points surrounding it.

I always think that we need to be meticulous - in naming our sources, in explaining what work (if any) we've personally performed on an album before uploading it, and in trying to upload the best quality material we can.

What we do here turns up everywhere. If you're a prolific uploader, or even a part-time uploader, Google your username every once in a while and see how wide our net is cast. I've seen discussions on 4chan, of all places, praising work done right here in this thread. Our rips and transfers find their way into compilations, they turn up on Youtube, they turn up on other sites. Very rarely to we get credited, of course, but that's the nature of the online beast - there is little honour among thieves, it seems... but there is some, and I get a big kick (and yes, absolutely, an ego boost) when I see something I worked on turning up on another site five or ten years later and people praising the work. I don't care about the credit... that the stuff we do is passed around is credit enough.

Because of that, we adopt a burden of standards; we love the music we upload - and I think we also want, through our uploads, to try to inspire others to love it too. The fruits of our efforts, like it or lump it, sometimes end up in the great "online archive" as the sole representation of a particular album. Every time someone listens to a stereo version of "Syrius No Densetsu" they found online, for example, it's 99% sure they're listening to the work of myself, Herr Salat, and through us the dozens of other people here who worked to create this environment. Those people are listening to something which happened because this thread and the people in here existed; music bought us together, discussion about the music created alliances and friendships, and the goodness of people resulted in things which are very hard work to get done, done well, and given to the community. That's a big deal and we must get it right. We must represent the whole work, and we must be transparent about what's a recode and when we've edited tracks or affected sound quality, and I think we should spread our sources if we possibly can - every time we re-upload something, that's contributing in some way to its continued availability. (Of course, sometimes, there's no choice but to do a recode or a recode is the best of bad options - but to not say that's what you've done... I feel like that's a dereliction of responsibility - we understand it, we care about it, and it's our duty to uphold those standards... Even if we have to talk down our own work occasionally. I've uploaded recodes, and I've always been very transparent about why I did it, why it was necessary, why it was (I thought) the best option to present the music. I started doing this because I've seen well-meaning posters get flamed from here to Hades for converting an MP3 to FLAC and claiming it's lossless - but I continue to do it just because I believe in getting it right.

Discussions versus Download Repository

This thread has indeed always been about discussion, with the downloads naturally arising from that. That's the one thing that's remained constant since the very beginning - post something and talk about it. I've passionately resisted (and will continue to do so, and I will stand arm in arm with my worst enemy on any platform to do so) attempts to turn it into a link repository. As The Zipper said, there are no shortage of places to do that... and of those threads, how many of them are still here and still thriving eleven years later? We do not agree on much lately, but we agree on that I think - any bunch of idiots can post a zillion download links, but the reason this thread has prospered is because of the discovery aspect. "Oh, yesterday you were talking about the euphonium, here's a disc of euphonium music that you'll probably like!" and so on.

At the same time, the "special presentation" upload with masses of information and meticulous presentation from the poster is still a relatively rare thing - and I wouldn't want to discourage people from posting good music just because they don't have the time, knowledge, or skill to turn it into a golden deluxe post with loads of research, or if they fail to connect it to a previous discussion.

I've posted albums in the past to provoke a new discussion - and I think that's just as valid as staying on the topic posting music we talk about.

I feel like most of the time, the balance is good... There are times when I really would like a little more discussion to arise from something, but there's a time and place... Sometimes I'll post something and nobody says a god-damn thing, but the post is randomly bumped five years later and finally a conversation is had. It's worth the wait, and it's this thread's "serialised" nature that enables that to happen.

And long may it continue.

Hayashi on Pokemon

Well... it had to happen sooner or later - and you could hardly say that Shinji Miyazaki never had the chance to explore his full potential in the Pokemon world; it's completely dominated his career as a composer for more than twenty years... and judging from recent scores, it seems that he was getting quickly tired of it (that said, the last series has had some good material...) But Yuki Hayashi? That's just one step behind replacing him with Sawano... and it seems to be a new "trend" - to kick old composers off long running shows and go with completely new musical styles... and invariably, the new musical style is less symphonic, less classically-informed than the one it replaced.

I have no real attachment to Pokemon... It seems like one of those franchises that's running on fumes now. I don't hold out much hope. I tend to think that one composer settling into a franchise and staying there for decades doesn't do them many favours... Hopefully Miyazaki gets to stretch his muscles a little more now, but we will see...

My instinct is that this change is "for keeps" - not like Hayashi's brief stint on One Piece, but more like a "Thank you, Mr Miyazaki, for your work the past twenty years... farewell."

Hayashi versus Kato

To me, there's no contest - I don't think either of them have developed to their fullest potential yet (or worked on a show where they would be able to showcase it) but my instinct is that Kato is the superior composer. So far, we only have moments to go on, but I detect a very musical brain working in some cues - Bambina Flower stands out for me in Pri Chan... and we discover in Masamune-kun that he can write a melody with shape, and assurance... I think the guy is worth listening to and anyone who was born in 1980 and riffs off Brahms in a fully orchestral action cue in a dumb show about pink-haired aspiring pop singers... Well, he has my attention.

By comparison, Yuki Hayashi just makes me feel uncomfortable... like his lack of raw musical ability is coming across in the actual DNA structure of the music.

I thank you all as always. :)

I think classical pastiche is quite different than having a classically informed musical style. Kato certainly does write quite a few classical pastiches (particularly with his waltzes), along with the occasional wink to 50s Hollywood and Broadway, but like Giacchino, they come across as more like winks and nudges to days of old rather than an integral part of his musical language. And much of the sound of those pastiches is only convincing due to the work of the orchestration choices. This piece is the best example (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSDDJe2IRkM). It's a droning repetitive mess, devoid of any thoughtful composition, but oh boy does it hide itself behind some colorful orchestration. Something like Fujisawa's Endro did not come out of the blue, much of the music was a culmination of what he had done prior with his scores like Houseki no Kuni, albeit with lower budgets. If Kato ever did get his "Endro opportunity" with a larger orchestral budget, I don't have much confidence that his output will be remarkably different from what we hear today. If anything, like Giacchino's Rogue One, I would expect his deficiencies to become even more audibly obvious.

Also like Giacchino though, I won't deny that his heavily-orchestrated pastiche moments give me some thrills. That Love Live intro fanfare was enthralling and almost convincing- but the rest of the piece goes nowhere. I would take an hour of Yugo Kanno over an hour of that.

Pastiche can be a sign of skill, or at least influences, depending on what is imitated. But Kato doesn't really do much outside the box of what you would expect from a guy who earned a degree in film scoring. Brahms, Broadway, and Imperial March aren't that far from your typical Hollywood temp track. But when someone like Sawano wrote a 30-second pastiche of Goldenthal's Sphere? That leaves much more on the table to speculate.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Pw1vXpHdVg

Genuinely great piece, unfortunately all credit goes to Ravel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKkeDqJBlK8

I know ;)

It was just to show his close relation to the classical realm (Nagato Yuki-chan also had other nice classical arrangements), as were all the other examples. I feel that Kato is a genuine composer that can write music that resonate with people beyond a simple power chord structure. Lets make time the ultimate judge.



EDIT: Seems like Funk is back in the house, Takezawa's Kemono Michi and Mizutani's Isekai show are a merge of classical fantasy orchestra and funk.

Mizutani's Isekai

Oh yay, the fake brass is back.

I thought I'd write a very quick post to follow up on something I had planned on doing a few days ago, of going into town and seeing if I could find any interesting albums in charity shops to rip and post online. Well, I luckily stumbled across one that'll hopefully be interesting to check out, but I also wanted to tell you the story of how I got it. I went into a used CD/bookstore I've passed a few times over the years, and the old man who runs it asked me if I could help him with something. He needed to reattach the bell to the door so it can ring properly whenever people came in, and I was tall enough to help him do it without needing a step or anything of the sort. He even remarked how I was "just the man he needed for the job", and was so thankful that I helped him out that he let me have any CD of my choice for free (we were the only people in the shop that morning). So I took a look round and eventually found the CD I'm planning on posting in a few days, and we even chatted for a small bit about one or two things in the meantime. It's really cool how things like that can happen sometimes, and it made finding this CD even more interesting than I would have previously expected! :)

(Also, Tango: that long post of yours might be my favourite thing this week. It genuinely brightened my day on what's otherwise been a bit of a trying week in my corner of the world, so thank you so much for posting it.)

@Vinphonic: I'm sorry about this slightly random question - but I recently came across this immensely insightful thread on VGMDB.net that you had contributed to (https://vgmdb.net/forums/showthread.php?t=19548) and was intrigued to read about Pacific Theater of Operations's orchestral compositions. Was there ever clarity on whether these pieces were used in the games, either the PC-88 (via the Koei Soundware system) or the FM Towns version?

I was thinking of reviewing the music for my blog, but wanted to see first whether the orchestral pieces are used as in-game music or not. Many thanks!

20 years ago, on this day, two anime were released at the same time, both containing some of my favorite scores in animation:

Steel Angel Kurumi by Toshihiko Sahashi

Dai-Guard by Kohei Tanaka (w/ Kenji Kawai)

I've been waiting 20+ years to hear this: http://jameshorner-filmmusic.com/may-2020-spectral-shimmers-and-a-forest-passage-in-concert/

@teufelsbratscher: Yes, they were used "ingame", making it the first non-arcade, full orcherstral video game score:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OC4ualzO38E (the first piece sounds similar to Judge Dredd by Alan Silvestri)


I also continued my investigations about symphonic music in games and found some interesting arcade games from the mid 80's with orchestral stuff. The oldest fully orchestral cue I could find is from a game called MACH 3 (1983, composer unknown). Now it's clearly the oldest orchestral music anyone could find in a video game. I guess my searches reached a final goal... But who knows ? ^^

https://youtu.be/Qm5u4ErDPF4?t=1706


@BladeLight: That reminds me, did the second OST for Dai-Guard appear anywhere?

https://vgmdb.net/album/26077

If not I'm playing with the idea to buy it, if its reasonable. My most hunted treasure still is Keiichi Oku's Ashita no Nadja OST 2 (for a reasonable price).

https://vgmdb.net/album/73970

@BladeLight: That reminds me, did the second OST for Dai-Guard appear anywhere?

https://vgmdb.net/album/26077

If not I'm playing with the idea to buy it, if its reasonable. My most hunted treasure still is Keiichi Oku's Ashita no Nadja OST 2 (for a reasonable price).

https://vgmdb.net/album/73970

Both soundtracks are on Ebay and Amazon Japan. In fact, Dai-Guard is one of my treasure hunts too, since I can't find them in FLAC Lossless or 320 kbps. I'm thinking about it.

I'm watching the 1st episode of Zoids Wild Zero right now and Hirano's work on it... It's just... The Wonders that defy my powers of description!! His music adds so much depth into the scenes! I won't reveal any spoilers about it (music and anime), cause you need to see and to hear it by yourself!!!

And sadly I can't send you a link for the first episode, cause I'm from the different country and watch this on a site wich may not be worked in your countries. YouTube have only a videos with bad sound for now.

The only I can say for now is that Yoshihisa Hirano Is Back! And this time it could be said without any shadow of doubt. It's so huge, guys... So Huge!!

So everyone who likes Hirno's music and loves epic mecha battles, must watch this anime right now!

Urrrrrrrrrrrh, some of this is Hirano like he was ten or even fifteen years ago... there's a lot of slamming going on... but I'll take what I can get nowadays...

TTo me, there's no contest - I don't think either of them have developed to their fullest potential yet (or worked on a show where they would be able to showcase it) but my instinct is that Kato is the superior composer. So far, we only have moments to go on, but I detect a very musical brain working in some cues - Bambina Flower stands out for me in Pri Chan... and we discover in Masamune-kun that he can write a melody with shape, and assurance... I think the guy is worth listening to and anyone who was born in 1980 and riffs off Brahms in a fully orchestral action cue in a dumb show about pink-haired aspiring pop singers... Well, he has my attention.

By comparison, Yuki Hayashi just makes me feel uncomfortable... like his lack of raw musical ability is coming across in the actual DNA structure of the music.
the difference is in their education:
- hayashi is self-taught and didn't have a formal music education
- kato is classically trained, went to school specifically for film scoring, and was an apprentice of shigeaki saegusa

kato is classically trainedHe wasn't. As I've mentioned before and what you crucially alluded to, Kato was trained on film scoring, which is based on neither classical nor contemporary composition. That being said, he does carry on his mentors' conducting hobbies... just like Giacchino.

@Vinphonic: Fantastic, many thanks! Was a bit surprised about the 'non-arcade' designation, but then remembered Laserdisc games... Those soundtracks seem to be hard to find as rips (maybe they are impossible to rip?), but YouTube is reasonably helpful.

nvm

Well, the Film Scoring program at TCM appears to be fairly substantial...

https://www.tokyo-ondai.ac.jp/en/degree.html

I can't find much more (in English) that goes into more detail, but it sounds like it's more involved than playing some pads on a keyboard. I think it's safe to say Kato has more classical training than, say, Hayashi... who taught himself to compose while studying Gymnastics, sold a piece of music to the gymnastics team, and then joined Hiroyuki Sawano's music production company... :)

@suro-zet: A five minute cue with Hirano in a symphonic mood straight out of Real Dive or Silk Road Boy. Did not expect that :D (though I suspected the director is a good guy). The only real problem is a soundtrack. Did the previous Zoids series get a release somehow?



Newsflash

The more I hear of Plunderer the more I am intrigued: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=av_YvIpKOo0


Another rise of the tried and true "make a long-running franchise out of everything": Taku Iwasaki's Irregular gets a new season (I love me some more Ballerina variations and perhaps another Vespertine Bloom), Date A Live gets a new season and a spin-off show (which looks a tier-above the tv series) so perhaps Sahashi and Sakabe will collabortate at one point.


And if anyone missed it, Go Shiina's CODE VEIN:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyu9qDRpWRs

The soundtrack is in the video game download section in lossless. Some orchestral material in the game did not make it on the cd (a gamerip might appear) but all major themes were included. Full of larger than life moments that are among his very best.

A making-of video featuring Shiina:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vjr4Utz89ws


And more samples from VARIOUS DAYLIFE, its Square Enix, so a soundtrack should be assured: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ib83nOp264

Hirano's scores usually find their way to release eventually... though I don't think the other ones did... though, I dunno... this has got "release" written all over it... I'm pretty hyped about this... the big cue in the first episode was spoiled by Hollywood slamming, but Zoids usually run for 50 episodes... lots of opportunities for multiple recording sessions? :D

I think it's safe to say Kato has more classical training than, say, Hayashi... who taught himself to composeA safe bet, but I think the better comparison would be to Evan Call, because on paper they hold the same degree. And yet unlike Kato, Evan Call has some fruit to show with Violet Evergarden, which while not a home-run, demonstrates his competence in the basics of writing themes and orchestration. Now Berklee isn't exactly the school that it used to be when it comes to training film composers, but if Evan Call can do that much, what is Kato's excuse?

From the cancelled Sakura Wars VI project...



Opening Theme "Iron Star" (short ver.) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOsTrOuLJY8)



EDIT: Here Tanaka talks indepth about the composition and shows his manuscript: About the Score: Kohei Tanaka's Iron Star (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba0MU1ewINY&t=4m15s)


Nana-chan, I won't lose to Elements Garden!!!

Just thinkin' about Escaflowne again. Goddamn, what a great score. One of the finest in fantasy media history.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeRixRQ9Po4

Also one of the finest endings to any anime show ever: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKyvVBwxhzM (the series was in no way perfect and cheap in parts but scenes like this elevate it from usual Isekai shows)
Mechs as Knights was never done better and one of the best Warsaw scores for an anime project, which says a lot.
The falling-out between Mizoguchi and Kanno will have the bitter taste of a musical collaboration like Escaflowne never happening again but as "Naotora" has shown I'm still anxious if she will top her 14 minute tone poem anytime soon.
Perhaps someone with extended knowledge and mastery of the english vocabulary can highlight the orchestral/symphonic "BGM" in Escaflowne as the actual albums were quite eclectic and give it a review it deserves ;)



Now, to bring it to this season there's certainly an abundance of "fantasy sound" and Iseakai shows but I wonder if one will appear with as much "class" as Escaflowne. I certainly hope that will be the case. On that note, here's a consise preview from the first batch of shows this fall with upgraded/revised samples to give you a little guide what scores to look out for / hunt / buy in a collaborative effort as enclosures are the rule, unfortunately.



Fall 2019 Anime Season (Part 1/2)


Zoids Wild ZERO (Yoshihisa Hirano)



Score Sample (https://clyp.it/za1wmf1p)

Huge (domestic?) ensemble. Hirano's big return.

Soundtrack TBA



The Hero is overpowered but overly cautious (Yoshiaki Fujisawa)



Score Sample (https://clyp.it/jkoprqli)

Huge domestic ensemble. A merge of Endro and NGNL Zero. With or without electronic tools, its Golden Age writing.

Soundtrack is enclosure: https://vgmdb.net/album/91099 / https://vgmdb.net/album/91100


Are you really the only one who likes me? (Yoshiaki Fujisawa)



Score Sample (https://clyp.it/15zmngx4)

Huge domestic ensemble. This should be similar to Naoki Satos Gyakko-Nine. Also nice funky OP.

Soundtrack is spread across multible enclosures unfortunately: https://vgmdb.net/album/91103



Die Neue These ~Seiran~ (Yasuhisa Inoue and Shin Hashimoto)



Score Sample (https://clyp.it/hjvhgex2)

Upgrade in budget brings this closer to the desires Space Opera sound. By next season it might be just as I imagined.

Soundtrack is enclosure. TBA.



Highschool prodigies have it easy even in another world (Hiromi Misutani)



Score Sample (https://clyp.it/ezfrtjrh)

Delightful classical fantasy score with some funk as bonus, fakey brass but not a dealbreaker.

Soundtrack will be enclosure most likely. TBA.



Azur Lane (Yasunori Nishiki)



Score Sample (https://clyp.it/0zhi42ok)

A merge of classical style and 90s Zimmer/RC. I really dig it. Fans of Octopath Traveler will be instantly familiar with his style.

Soundtrack is enclosure: https://vgmdb.net/album/91115 / https://vgmdb.net/album/91116



Granblue Fantasy: Season 2 (Yasunori Nishiki and Tsutomo Narita)



Score Sample (https://clyp.it/hn5ecuzq)

A lot more classical fantasy than the first season. Brass sounds a little fakey however.

Soundtrack is enclosure: https://vgmdb.net/album/90929 / https://vgmdb.net/album/90931



Radiant: Season 2 (Masato Coda)



Score Sample (https://clyp.it/ay2rcokr)

More fantasy/Monster Hunter style from Coda.

Soundtrack will be commercial like the first. TBA.



Rise Up! Animal Road (Shunsuke Takizawa)



Score Sample (https://clyp.it/2cq3qvut)

A small orchestral ensemble. A merge of classical fantasy and funk.

Soundtrack is enclosure: https://vgmdb.net/album/91065



No Guns Life (Kenji Kawai)



Score Sample (https://clyp.it/15rhwneg)

Some 90s Kawai Jazz and beats mixed with his usual small orchestra and chorus ensemble. Really promising (if you are in the mood for Kawai).

Soundtrack TBA.




Tokunana has some nice jazz/funk by Ryo Takahashi and MICHIRU's Ascendance of a Bookworm is pleasant chamber pieces but I'm still waiting for the orchestral cues from the PVs.
The second batch of shows will have revealed their scores in two weeks. With Kosuke Yamashita's triumphant return! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY7kEfIeeUU)

The falling-out between Mizoguchi and Kanno will have the bitter taste of a musical collaboration like Escaflowne never happening again

Not disagreeing with you, but I'm just going to leave this here.

http://www.jpopexchange.net/Hajime_Mizoguchi_JPop_Exchange_Exclusive_Interview .htm


The composers, Yoko Kanno and I were chosen when the show was planned.. Yoko always had a clear vision, she was perfect as a music director. We had been partners for a long time so it worked out nicely. We both did what we were good at. She came up with the big picture and images, and I expanded those images and worked on the details.

It's interviews like this that just make me more and more dubious of Kanno. Clearly, Mizoguchi did far more work than his credits suggested.

I don't really care about any of these recent isekai scores, but Origin amd Xam'd and arguably Break Blade were the last modern fantasy scores I've heard that were generally trying to ape the Escaflowne sound in particular, and they all have their own successes and flaws. Escaflowne's 90's contemporary vocal tracks, world music digressions and soothing New Age touches still give the score a weird, unique energy that stands out even among those later powerhouse scores. Revenge is just the high fantasy epic powerhouse orchestration of the main theme soundtrack fans salivate for(and bringing the piece togwther w Ravel's Bolero. God, what an enormous flex), but I'm slightly more partial to the spacy, sparse dignity of Vision of Escaflowne. Such a wonderful theme.

Mizoguchi's contributions fill out the score in a great way. The chamber stuff is a lil longwinded, but his slower, more longform and intimate pastoral writing really brings out the more tender, romantic emotions, contrasting greatly w Kanno's
more straightforward melodic writing and huge, lush arrangements. I prefer when she started getting all the work, but the two always made a great team.

Just did a little update (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba0MU1ewINY&t=4m15s) for my Iron Star post.

@MastaMist: Different strokes for different folks (I'm really liking Cautious Hero so far, the rest are nice to have and I'm more interested in the orchestral parts of Escaflowne ;)) I actually think Mizoguchi's Gloria is arguably the highlight of the whole score for me. Despite all the awsm orchestral stuff I still feel Kanno developed a lot since then so nowadays its more "raw" than the fine-crafted art of Naotora. But you could say it leans too much on the classical world at times as in that you can barely say its original composition and more "variations on a theme", the Bolero in Revenge being a good example, but at the end of the day it still is Ravel-tier music in a fantasy anime.

Just did a little update (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba0MU1ewINY&t=4m15s) for my Iron Star post.

@MastaMist: Different strokes for different folks (I'm really liking Cautious Hero so far, the rest are nice to have and I'm more interested in the orchestral parts of Escaflowne ;)) I actually think Mizoguchi's Gloria is arguably the highlight of the whole score for me. Despite all the awsm orchestral stuff I still feel Kanno developed a lot since then so nowadays its more "raw" than the fine-crafted art of Naotora. But you could say it leans too much on the classical world at times as in that you can barely say its original composition and more "variations on a theme", the Bolero in Revenge being a good example, but at the end of the day it still is Ravel-tier music in a fantasy anime.

Gloria and Romance are my fave Mizoguchi tracks period. They're cohesive to the Escaflowne sound while telling a complete story all on their own. I love how both composers came up w their own respective choral themes.

The classical influence gives the score a lot of its fun character, that it reaches and cribs from all over bolsters the story's mythic feel, a fantasy epic scored w convincing orchestral music and Gregorian chanting that sounds like it's always existed. There are echoes of Kanno's songwriting from Nobunaga's later years all over(Wings is a natural growth from Battlefield of Light, w of course a chorus and a bit of sweeping English pomp), and having Bolero's rhythm in Revenge really just brings that whole piece together.

Just did a little update (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba0MU1ewINY&t=4m15s) for my Iron Star post.It never ceases to amuse me how Japanese talkshows always have the interviewers behaving like little children whose vocabulary never stretches outside "eeeeh?! sugoi! kakkoii! tanoshii!" while almost yelling, without asking any real worthwhile questions and leaving the interviewee to have to elaborate all of their work on their own. What an artificial display.

You seem to imply that every talkshow ever and every commercial affair on the screen on the face of planet earth is not an artificial display ^^
All the world's a stage and all that. It's amusing how they try to destroy their vocal cords (I have to admit, his manuscript is a little sugoi!)

Japanese talk show interviews aren't so much interviews as they are the interviewer reacting to the existence of the person they're interviewing. There's no real back-and-forth. It mainly consists of the interviewee monologuing about their work and then the interviewer pretending to be surprised and excited while making a library of background noises and expressions, because in Japan, audiences expect to be told how to feel, hence why every news program has some random celebrity face in the bottom left corner emoting to the news. It's only in this environment that people can be convinced by the hilarious artificiality of Kanno's high-pitched magical girl personality in interviews.

Yes, all talk show interviews are staged to an extent on television, but at least they pretend that there's actual back-and-forth and chemistry between an interviewer and interviewee, and that the interviewer is a human being, not some robot shooting out exclamation points every 5 seconds at random.

...

Another wonderful news. In 2017 it was anounced that Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra performs music from different anime. Among others there was a concert suite from Hunter x Hunter, but there was no clip or full official video from concert and now it finnaly appeared! The video was released a month ago, but I didn't see here any posts about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNif-Y0_7-U&t=151s

Anyway Yoshihisa Hirano with full-size orchestra is something that you don't see every day :) Enjoy this masterpiece!

Happy 20th anniversary to The Big O!

It's Sahashi's fusion genre at his finest. You'll hear notes from Mozart, Jazz and Akira Ifukube, at the same time. I recommend you give the soundtrack a listen if you haven't already.

M. HAMAUZU PIANO WORKS δ・ε・T_Comp1
FLAC, LOG, CUE | SCANS | 116.5 MB | 19 TRACKS | 00:38:52


VGMdb (http://vgmdb.net/album/41443)
Catalog Number: MNMK-0004
Release Date: Oct 09, 2013

Tracklist
01. ε-1
02~18. δ-1~17
19. T_comp1

Download: https://mega.co.nz/#!0MVgwDaZ!W0gYNCPZzylmJL_a7Se8DT-4ubNLVjrsMdgY2aFfEuk (credit to MGRT)

More solo piano. I've been waiting for this one for a while now. Some very lovely music by Masashi Hamauzu (which is 100% original).

Thanks for this! Also the link is still working :)

It seems Pokemon now has the composer for the new anime listed as Yuki Hayashi. Thoughts?

It's amazing what one can find in the bargain bin these days.


FRANZ SCHUBERT
String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, "Death and the Maiden"
(orchestrated for strings by Gustav Mahler)
FRANZ SCHREKER
Chamber Symphony



Camerata Academica Salzburg
Franz Welser-M�st, conductor

FLAC (https://mega.nz/#!YnpQCCLL!91ps9n8ryPWGwajXR0MVYPwneCMFaLNKaAyXnK2n63c)

I'm going to be lazy for my write-up and simply quote from an Amazon review (https://www.anonymz.com/?https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R1LBER0MQFMVJ8/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B00000JJR3) that I think explains things nicely:


"Pairing the early-20th century composer Franz Schreker with Franz Schubert might seem a bit odd, but in fact it works quite well because they both reflect the Viennese style of music-making.

Gustav Mahler's 'orchestration' of Schubert['s] 'Death and the Maiden' string quartet is very satisfying. While it inevitably loses some of the intimacy of a chamber piece, this version exposes the power and romantic depth of this music more effectively than any quartet could. Listen to the quiet coda to the slow movement to appreciate the benefits of added strings. [...]

Schreker's Chamber Symphony is a neglected masterpiece. The opening will come as a bit of a shock right after the Schubert because Schreker dabbles in a bit of impressionism. The luminous texture of the opening, however, gives a hint of what is to come. This piece is full of wonderfully delicate, yet gorgeously rich orchestral textures. However, although the use of the orchestra stamps it as a 20th-century piece, Schreker harkens back to the sweet lyricism of Schubert with many beautiful melodies.

This is music that soars because it isn't burdened with the heavy "philosophical" point-making that makes some some 20th-century Germanic music tough to listen to. [...]

Both pieces are played wonderfully by the Camerata Academica Salzburg under Welser-Most and the sound is rich."

Thank you for quoting the Hamauzu post. I must've missed it back then, but I love his work, so a good find

Sounds like Hirano is knocking it out of the park with Zoids. Soundtrack or riot!




And this will be an interesting composer reveal to say the least.


Recently Banner of the Stars is also getting a little media boost so I'm pretty sure there will be an announcement for it as well. Best timeline.


In other news, Shin Sakura Taisen has many stageplays in the game, one in particular has my interest, a greek/classical tragedy "Danan no Ai/The love of Danan"



One of MANY "cutscenes" Tanaka scored. Needless to say its going to be a jolly christmas for my ears.


Yoshihiro Ike announced he worked on the anime adaption of the card game shadowverse, which appears to be as hot-blooded as Pazudora.




The Recording was unbelievable! I can't wait for you to hear it!

I believe this was the reason for his LA visit.


I'm also surprised to see Bob & Barn back at scoring a video game in their old orchestral style, recorded in Prague again:



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

This should be a lovely return. Soundtrack is out with the game.




Btw, one week left before Kosuke Yamashita's triumphant return! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbgzabaygEU)

Today, an album that I arranged a live orchestral work for is released! All proceeds go to charity to preserve the bat species as well as protect their ecosystems. My arrangement is of The Legend of Dracula from Castlevania Adventure. You can listen to it in its entirety here:

https://sindravaniaprojects.bandcamp.com/track/theme-of-the-legend-of-dracula

And if this album is your cup of tea, please pick this up! Thanks everyone :)

Yu-Gi-Oh! Capsule Monster Coliseum - Complete Gamerip Soundtrack

Ripped by punk7890 (http://forums.ffshrine.org/member.php?u=305684) on https://vgm.hcs64.com/
Conversion, album cover and corrected tags by me.


Preview a few songs in the soundtrack:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF3rQXa4gbU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FVuGxvSf00
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCdfSvjvhR0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17H6weKM1cU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaz5QmDAJKM

Album Info:
Composers: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Susumu Nakamura
Year: 2004
Songs: 55
Length: 2 hours, 30 minutes, 50 seconds
Size: FLAC: 1.09GB, MP3: 383MB


Tracklist screenshot here ()


Spek FLAC checker logs (A couple more are in the download)



Download links
If you can, please upload mirrors and post them in the comments of this thread (Thread 236666).
FLAC https://mega.nz/#F!ZlIxAC6B!Kvj9rm0tswcLjazflIP00w
FLAC Mirror http://www.mediafire.com/folder/033wepab97sox/2004_-_Yu-Gi-Oh_Capsule_Monster_Coliseum_Soundtrack_FLAC

MP3 https://mega.nz/#F!IwASXSIY!ebx_9bzdZ_re7yaUzD_xXw
MP3 Mirror https://www.mediafire.com/folder/ggx40bz20trur/

Looking forward to listen to this, thank you very much!





Hello, good friends from the Internet!

First, I'd like to apologize for having been away a little longer than usual, lately. You see, sept-oct are some very busy months for me. Of course I could occasionally drop by to post something along the lines of "hey, it's me, I'm alive, cheers, see ya, ba-bai", but that would be a little poor, content-wise, right? Right. I've got standards for my Internet posts, you know. ;)

So anyway, now that I've finally got some time to devote to the thread and its rich, ecclectic, and fascinating universe (who knew orchestral music could be linked to so many other topics, including feet and chocolate truffles? ;)), let's get down to business!






Today, an album that I arranged a live orchestral work for is released! All proceeds go to charity to preserve the bat species as well as protect their ecosystems. My arrangement is of The Legend of Dracula from Castlevania Adventure. You can listen to it in its entirety here:

https://sindravaniaprojects.bandcamp.com/track/theme-of-the-legend-of-dracula

And if this album is your cup of tea, please pick this up! Thanks everyone :)

First, massive kudos for contributing to this charity. As a big lover and defender of Nature, I can only admire such initiative.

Now, about the music, this is another good surprise from you! You really get better and better at doing this, don't you? I would say that this piece is nearly undistinguishable from a professional quality one, if it wasn't for the sound quality, which isn't on par with the rest. I don't know if it comes from the recording or the post-processing, but the sound is slightly muffled and muddy. Apart from that it's really well done.







FRANZ SCHUBERT
String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, "Death and the Maiden"
(orchestrated for strings by Gustav Mahler)
FRANZ SCHREKER
Chamber Symphony

Camerata Academica Salzburg
Franz Welser-M�st, conductor

Well, I only listened to the Chamber Symphony only for now, and one thing I can say for sure is that I need to hear more Schreker! (Whom existence I just discovered thanks to this post)

Beautiful! Typically Romantic in terms of construction and colors (even though it's early 20th), the music dives and soars, contracts and expands, accelerates and slows down, following the moods and ideas intended by the composer. This is much more complex and unpredictable material than any chamber music I've heard before (mostly from the Classical period). In fact it doesn't sound like chamber music as I knew it.

The Scherzo is the clear winner for me. Its pastoral, airy, whimsical qualities combined with its overall positive tone makes it a piece that went straight into my favorite music folder, the one where I store all those special, beloved tracks I occasionally discover while listening to an album.

Now let's tackle Schubert!






Another wonderful news. In 2017 it was anounced that Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra performs music from different anime. Among others there was a concert suite from Hunter x Hunter, but there was no clip or full official video from concert and now it finnaly appeared! The video was released a month ago, but I didn't see here any posts about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNif-Y0_7-U&t=151s

Anyway Yoshihisa Hirano with full-size orchestra is something that you don't see every day :) Enjoy this masterpiece!

I never heard of this Thai orchestra before, but these guys are doing some decent job here, especially given the frighteningly complex and furious nature of certain parts. Hirano clearly isn't for the weak or timid orchestra! Very good find, I enjoyed it, thanks!

Also the link to the full concert would be appreciated!

@CapsuleColiseum: That's some surprisingly good music! Thank you very much for sharing.

@Josh: Thanks for sharing your piece. I like it a lot! More comments soon but arthy already covered the bulk of it.

@athierr: Glad having you back sir!


Since I'm in nostalgic mood today (but also love the times we live in now, lets combine the two):






Katsuhisa Hattori
Crest & Battleflag of the Stars



Sample (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1CYGdE_ZgI&list=PL4A53F74B3A8647A7&index=17)
Download (https://mega.nz/#!2sVgwAra!yLqTVg5eNDtYk2fOX71620Y5VheG0a6aCsiCC2RoAhs)
Recently there has been a little media buzz for the series, a Blu-Ray box release, the new manga going strong and the novel release in 2018. In anticipiation of the series revival, what perfect time to look back at an old favorite of mine. An orchestral compilation from the soundtracks. Katsuhisa Hattori contributed a classic SciFi score with elements of Hollywood television across the decades. Jolly bouncy themes, lighthearted military bravado, pan flute and E-Guitars. A highly musical score with classic SciFI conventions and unorthodox elements of various different styles, from Soul to Hiphop. Katsuhisa Hattori's last television score to my knowledge.

Of course no landmark in anime scoring without Tanaka. He also contributed music to the series: Farewell to my love (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ieHUZFm5Ak)
He's also a candidate for composer choice but I imagine he's fully occupied with various projects.

If they continue/reboot the series I'm hoping it goes down the Lupin/Yamato route and not the LotGH path.
In any case, keeping my fingers crossed for more Space Elfs.


I wonder who returns. Katsuhisa, Takayuki or Tanaka. My money's on Takayuki.



Aside from Banner of the Stars, there's quite a few other entries with a high likelyhood of revival in the very near future:



Another old series from the 90s that will definitely have its revival very soon:



Takayuki Hattori and Osamu Tezuka
SLAYERS
For the 30th Anniversary



For the upcoming 30th Anniversary, there's already big events announced. The novels are continuing, a huge amount of collaborations with other media franchises in recent times and a little teasing for the Reiwa anime treatment of a revival of successful nostalgic projects with a new media assault and an orchestral concert as bonus.

So what better time to examine and look back on a series of classical fantasy scores for fun and well-made movies/OVAs from the 90s as well as a fun television series with some pretty good music. Of course all with brand-new illustrations by Araizumi Rui:


Takayuki Hattori
Best of Motion Picture



Sample (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aXHdLd1qrs)
Download (https://mega.nz/#!C0sEzSRZ!3efXMOsDJF6JnG_azhvSLLEXGlbbgcmHBy_x_bot5_U)

Hattori's contributed a wonderful classical fantasy score to the various movies/OVAs with a really catchy theme and variations. I've carefully picked the best of the bunch for an anniversary album.
Ennio Morricone's influence on Hattori and the Japanese scoring landscape can not be overstated, from Kohei Tanaka taking his nickname after the maestro to Sahashi and awhole new generation of composers who start out right now, incorporating many elements of his music into their works.

Hattori's favorite Morricone work (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu2FekMaTQc)

Slayers: The Motion pictures are scores I return to occasionaly for the pure bliss of incredibly skilled orchestral writing with wonderfully catchy themes. Don't miss out on this one.


Osamu Tezuka
Best of Television



Sample (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jzsU0RGiHo)
Download (https://mega.nz/#!HkNWwYRC!JKbJiJmUkTSOAGvxGOh3CZw_tHeWmCFa0_PA747k0Ms)

The TV series recieved pretty oldschool Television scoring from decades past with a heavy focus on brass and winds. Tezuka employs a familiar sound from his other shows and while not reaching the hights of the OVA scores its all lovely and quality orchestral music, again put together from various soundtracks for a special anniversary album. Don't miss it.

Fans of Slayers will have much more to look forward to in the future. I wonder if Hattori will return for the revival. I imagine so since he is among the most high profile composers these days, scoring Gundam, Godzilla and Doraemon. I'm pretty sure his return is quite certain when Tezuka has been out of the game for a long time. I can only imagine what Hattori can do now with his incredible orchestral skills developed to its fullest potential in combination with one of his catchiest themes. In any case I hope you enjoy it all.


See you next year!

Crest & Battleflag of the Stars: great main theme! It never gets old, and this post is a good occasion to give it another listen. Thanks!



Slayers: ha, excellent idea to make a special homage post on it. I didn't listen to much Slayers before, and this has to be repaired now!



Little personal anecdote on Slayers: some years ago I tried watching the anime. I downloaded a few episodes of the english dubbed version, and I almost immediately gave up on watching it, because I nearly COULD'NT UNDERSTAND A WORD of what the main character (I think she's called Elina Inverse) was saying! Her voice was ridiculously distorded, artificial, and sounded kind of retarded. I don't know if those who are responsible for dubbing animes in english think that animes are exclusively watched by kids or morons, but it certainly seemed as they do.

Happily, I later tried watching Slayers in the subbed version - where the heroine talks perfectly normally - and I could at last feel like I wasn't taken for a kid / idiot while watching this. Since then I generally avoided dubbed versions of animes because the voices are sometimes really annoying or ridiculous. I don't know if it has changed since then, maybe today dubbed animes have much better voices.

Any thoughts?

@Vinphonic: Oh yeah, I know Osamu Tezuka. He worked on Akazukin Chacha alongside Sahashi.

First, massive kudos for contributing to this charity. As a big lover and defender of Nature, I can only admire such initiative.

Now, about the music, this is another good surprise from you! You really get better and better at doing this, don't you? I would say that this piece is nearly undistinguishable from a professional quality one, if it wasn't for the sound quality, which isn't on par with the rest. I don't know if it comes from the recording or the post-processing, but the sound is slightly muffled and muddy. Apart from that it's really well done.

THANK YOU so much for giving this a listen! Yeah, I can see what you mean about the overall sound. We were trying to go for a vintage chamber feel. We might have went too vintage perhaps lol.

Also thank you Vin! I haven't had much time to look at your comments you sent about my Batman pieces, but I will soon :D

No problem.

@arthierr: lol nope

I make the case the wonderful music I keep hearing is linked to the specifics of Japanese culture, specificially anime-and-game culture and always a result of a collaboration between artists, craftsmen and people so I'm pretty into this stuff to make that well-reasoned statement ;)

I have zero tolerance for dubbing (and not just dubbing for anime). It's like watching a Shakespeare play (or watch some Branagh stuff) and all characters are speaking something other than english... its only interpretation for me and not a valid experience of the source material/author/artist. I'm sure this could get out of hand if others are passionate for the medium and differ (unlikely here these days ;)) but I think the whole industry that does nothing except "(miss)represent" Japanese media outside of Japan for some cash is mostly parasites who do not even understand the thing they are selling. There's some good examples around the globe but mostly its censorship, alterations and blatant missrepresentation of the source material. If hypersexualization/celebration of the female body and incredibly fetishized media isn't your thing, maybe you should simply look elsewhere for entertainment to market and let the good women and men in and outside the business express and celebrate their work/art/hobbies/passions how they see fit. It's even worse if they don't even offer the original JP version unaltered with subs with a "pretty close" translation.

This extends to the whole nature of the business and its people (poor misquoted Miyazaki). The recent Polygon debacle about blatant fake news that Ghibli is against streaming because "new = bad, old = good" just as two days later Ghibli announced all content will be streamed globally perfectly illustrates that if you want to enter this world with eyes unclouded ONLY take your news/views/opinions from trusted Japanese sites and translation of source material and social media accounts of the artists... or fly over there and ask the people directly. Recently many anime&game publisher/production/studio sites as well as many anime&game newssites offer their content globally in english. On the whole the industry is in "celebrating its history" mood these days so if you missed some "classics" they will be offered globally eventually, conveniently delivered on your homescreen or uploaded on youtube by the source.

And should you tire of the celebration and revival of classics, there's plenty of new material to discover: A teaser for 2020 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nrh4ddMW0I)

Here's another vote against dubs. I don't specifically object to the idea of dubbing an animaton, but it's nearly always done catastrophically badly.

Sometimes, they approach it with a sense of humour and get it right: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6budgmrxpe4

I'm also OK with the dub of Howl's Moving Castle, but that's very much an exception that proves the rule.

Somebody's mentioned Lum the Invader Girl, my day has immediately been made. :)

On the subject of dubs, my favourite has to be the utterly ridiculous dub by Gaijin Productions* for the 2004 OVA Dead Leaves. It sounds like the recipe for a bad dub; characters given goofy voices, tons of added lines and gratuitous swearing, and lots and lots of yelling and shouting; but it manages to fit the film so damn well that I've never even once considered watching it in Japanese. I think there's an argument to be made for alternate interpretations that make their own impact because of how different they are, if they manage to do a good job of it of course. For example, the PS1 ports of the original DOOM games and DOOM 64 lean much more towards survival horror than the originals' action horror vibe due to having completely different sound design and soundtracks (compare the theme for the 1st level in most versions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSsfjHCFosw to the theme used in the PS1 port: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0NCOLwCTlw&t=636s), but the feeling they manage to convey as a result resonates so much more strongly with me than the cheesy MIDI rock of the original.

Incidentally, I just remembered that one of the films composed Michiru Oshima's was the Japanese version of the 1995 film Napoleon, and was a complete soundtrack replacement that got rid of Bill Conti's original music. And from what little I've heard of Oshima's music, I'll happily enjoy the alternate interpretation alongside the original.

(As for general music shenanigans, I haven't done much as of late in regards to that album I talked about uploading some weeks back to being busy with college things. However, I did want to thank Tango for his Eugene Z�dor album post from a while back. Finally got round to listening to that thing, and man alive, I really adore the Elegie and Dance piece included. It oddly reminds me of listening to something like Takayuki Hattori's work on Romance of the Three Kingdoms V, and it's just a really serene piece I've used to help me relax when things have gotten a bit too hectic. So thank you for that! :))

*Yes, a dubbing company called Gaijin Productions. Seriously. Fun fact, this was done by largely the same crew responsible for the original English dubs for Evangelion: Death & Rebirth and End of Evangelion, which also had a tendency of giving characters (or anyone they couldn't get the original ADV actors for) goofy voices and adding in silly lines ("HIT 'EM AGAIN!"). At least those ideas work in Dead Leaves.

I'm also OK with the dub of Howl's Moving Castle, but that's very much an exception that proves the rule.
that's because disney handles the dubs for ghibli films. they hire hollywood stars instead of the usual no-name anime voice actors.

I've despised every other Ghibli dub I've heard... and the less said about the abomination that is Ponyo, the better... I mean, they're not as bad as the old ADV TV dubs... but they're really not good.

Since we're on the subject of anime dubbing, a few days ago I was browsing various animes on a streaming site, in case I could discover something fun to watch (and I love funny animes, and funny shows / movies in general). Totally by chance (and without of course knowing that this discussion would happen), I picked one anime that looked kinda funny: Sore ga Seiyuu! and watched the first episode.

Guess what this show is about? Anime dubbing, yay! The fact is that I did learn a few things about the actual process of dubbing animes while watching this. Not sure if I'll see the other episodes, but at least now I know more about how this thing work.






I've been waiting 20+ years to hear this: http://jameshorner-filmmusic.com/may-2020-spectral-shimmers-and-a-forest-passage-in-concert/

Great, isn't it? At last these obscure works will get a proper treatment. Do you intend to attend the concert? If so, don't forget to bring back a good recording for your friends on the Internet!




This also gives me the opportunity to play to your favorite game! "Where's the rip-off?" *Jingle*

I found this rip-off TODAY, as in, this very day. And Krull is my favorite score since 30 years! I've taken a decision after hearing this: to listen to a lot of symphonic music by Strauss. A composer I mostly ignored before, but that I'm now eager to discover.




Quest For The Gjaive - Krull - James Horner
https://youtu.be/S0mgL6EEazI?list=PLH9C08qrQ7S51hmU5y0M7HgQhT8Lx6GP y&t=263

R. Strauss - An Alpine Symphony (Proms 2012)
https://youtu.be/eQa9mW8ygAE?t=121



And I think I've found the the probable origin of this:



Joe Gore, a San Francisco-based composer, producer and versatile instrumentalist, was 16 in 1975 and also a student at UCLA. His testimony once again reveals the uniqueness of James Horner, who pushed back from the conventions of the time:

"I attended school during the last gasp of modernism. The focus was avant-garde 20th-century music, from Arnold Schoenberg to such then-leading lights as Luciano Berio, Gy�rgy Ligeti, and Witold Lutoslawski. Post-Romantic music was considered hopelessly tacky. No one studied Richard Strauss. But I remember Jamie walking around with Strauss�s Alpine Symphony score under his arm. He was smarter than everyone else.

http://jameshorner-filmmusic.com/fond-memories-episode-1-1953-1978-a-musical-education/

It would cost $2000 to fly there and back so I don't think I will be attending. Interesting choice of venue, though. It's nice to know Horner has such a large following around the world.

As for Krull, it's full of quotes from sources you wouldn't normally associate with Horner, such as Humperdinck's Konigskinder, Wagner's Ring, Holsts's Mars, Williams's Jaws, and Rosenthal's Clash of the Titans. I think there's some Britten in there too.

Thanks all for links and all!

You know, I think there hasn't been enough Krull rip-off-related posts lately. This has to be addressed now!

But this time, let's do the reverse, and listen to a piece that blatantly quotes Krull, rather than Krull quoting some other piece.



Royal Philharmonic Orchestra - I Don't Want To Know
https://www28.zippyshare.com/v/blkPoEXX/file.html

Main Title & Colwyn's Arrival - Krull - James Horner
https://youtu.be/tKtLjztXhhA?list=PLH9C08qrQ7S51hmU5y0M7HgQhT8Lx6GP y&t=302


Someone has to explain to me what that cue is doing in the middle of a Fleetwood Mac Rumours song symphonic adaptation. I don't know about you, but to me, this insertion is so obvious and out-of-place that it looks more like a sort of homage or musical wink rather than a shifty rip-off.

By the way, this album: The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra ‎� Plays Fleetwood Mac's Rumours, from which that piece comes from, is one of my favorite, a personal classic of mine. The music it features is really surprisingly fun, joyful, and upbeat. It's a delightful listen I totally recommend you to try, if you like some good orchestral fun.

Jesus Christ, who arranged that? That has to be a wink...

Just found this:


One of the world’s most storied and esteemed orchestras, The Royal Philharmonic, continues its bold, symphonic reinterpretations of contemporary rock music, this time revisiting the ‘70s melodic rock favourite Rumours by Fleetwood Mac in its entirety. Recorded at the historic Abbey Road studios, this release marks the first time the RPO have taken on an entire album, from opening note to closing refrain. The roughly 50+ musicians who comprise the orchestra were aided in their quest by the guiding hands of arrangers James Graydon and Richard Cottle as well as very special guest appearances by the legendary Peter Frampton and steel guitarist Sarah Jory.
https://stevie-nicks.info/2013/07/royal-philharmonic-orchestra-records-rumours/


Their arrangements are pretty good, more complex and sophisticated than most pop orchestral adaptations.

https://twitter.com/t_features/status/1184366355119652864

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ipp_OIOfLA

Place your bets on who will be taking the reigns on Wataru. Guaranteed not to be Asakawa, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone like Yuki Hayashi gets the gig. Would be quite the sad irony if Asakawa was hired as a harpist for this show.

A bit busy recently but I managed to catch up with the second half of the season. There's really not too much new stuff (so far) but its been fun.


Z/X has an orchestral score by a newcomer, lots of familar anime brass piece conventions:

Kuwabara Satoru - Z/X: Code Reunion



Sample (https://clyp.it/5b3ktpy4)

Hirano continues with some grand SciFi, some low-budget pieces but the bulk is quite thrilling. Especially when an enemy aircraft appears you get a menacing evil brass piece... classy. And the recent episode has a rousing finish. A soundtrack needs to happen!

Chihayafuru S3 is 24 episodes so there should be lots of new material like the rousing cues in the PVs. Always excited to hear a new score from Yamashita. Soundtrack is pretty much guaranteed.

Cautious Hero continues to be a merge of Endro with NGNL Zero and a brass piece could be straight out of "At the end of everything, and the beginning". Can't wait to hear the little snippets in full early next year.

Kemono Michi really fired-up with the latest episode (the show is well made and fun as a bonus) with some tease of a jolly orchestral score that's right up my ally. The OP is quite nostalgic with modern elements thrown in.

Mizutani's Isekai show will get a soundtrack on Dec, 25. Lots of promising cues in this one.

No Guns Life could turn out to be among my top Kawai scores if it continues like this (his recent collaboration with Sahashi must have left a mark). It's 24 episodes and Madhouse seems to care for a change so I'll stick with it for now. Kawai scores usually get soundtracks and I'm really looking forward to this one.

With MONACA'S new projects you never know but its missing Takada for sure (although I heard a fanfare in Beastars and there's an orchestral piece by Hoashi in Assassin's Pride). Luckily they get soundtrack releases.

A bit under the radar but Yuji Ohno returned for Prison of the Past with a classic anime song arrangement of the Lupin Theme and plenty of cool music, surprisingly the soundtrack appears out of nowhere:

https://ototoy.jp/_/default/p/449137



From the game front:




Opening Title for RotTK XIV (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6QdSnXH3Gc&t=15s)

It actually sounds like a domestic recording to my ears and Hideki Sakamoto also had a 2-day recording recently with the standard Japanese Studio Orchestra and Asakawa on the harp:




And here I wondered if Tanaka forgot to include a chorus into his recent pop pieces. Over The Top missed this for maximum burning passion, but this one more than makes up for it.

Sakura Wars: London Assault Force (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COnFnMalE9o)


Bob & Barn return:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SpV9oeRdbQ

Medieval (PS4) is an upgrade from/for Resurrection as you can hear. The soundtrack seems to be locked on PS4 and not the usual digital download. I hope it gets a commercial release soon.



@arthy: I would also put Krull on a pedestal as my favorite Horner score (Thanks streich for listing the other "influences", I must confess I didn't notice all of them). I hope you also didn't miss this classic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14N9kd_c-B4


@Wataru: The rooster so far was Kanezaki, Tanaka, Oshima, Asakawa/Sahashi. I suspect someone from IMAGINE might get it. It is no franchise tied to a specific composer so there's always a wild card. But they did a good job capturing the "retro" look. I hope Slayers can surpass it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SpV9oeRdbQ

Medieval (PS4) is an upgrade from/for Resurrection as you can hear. The soundtrack seems to be locked on PS4 and not the usual digital download. I hope it gets a commercial release soon.

FF7 reference at 29:18?

I need some advice with something, if that's okay.

I'm planning on doing an album post tomorrow* for an album I bought weeks ago, but I'm struggling to write anything decent about it. The music's fine, but I'm rather dispassionate towards most of it and I don't know what to say. The most I can think to do is give a basic overview of the album and its composers, but I don't know if that'll be good enough to encourage people to check it out. I do want people to listen to the music, especially since I don't know if many composers from Estonia have come up in this thread over the years and I'd like to give them a bit more exposure if possible, but I just don't know what to say.

What do you think I should do? Would a basic description of the album be enough, or should I ask one of you to write something if you already have an opinion or feel passionate enough towards any of the composers? I'd really like help on this one. Thank you.

*I'd particularly like to do it tomorrow since I have the time, and I just want to get it off my chest.

medevil upgrade my ass.just a bunch of unneccecary stuff on top of it that makes it inferior to resurrection.very dissapointing.i prefer the classic versions.

So, Bob and Barn's "return" turns out to be almost all filler and re-recordings of existing music.

I have now dropped Zoids - it's too depressing hearing what Hirano has to agree to do in order to keep working these days. There are some flashes of the old Hirano, and some flashes of absolute brilliance, but taken as a whole, four episodes in, this is a nicely orchestrated shining example of how the Hollywood rot is progressing in Japan. So sad that the man who wrote this https://youtu.be/CvQJ9Xmld90?t=674 is now doing Hans Zimmer knockoffs with occasional blasts of dissonance. Nice to see him on a big show with a big orchestra, and I accept that Zoids is hardly fertile ground for a big, classically-minded, daring, creative orchestral score... but I really needed this to be so, so, so much more.

lol, my slight optimism for western game music seems to be met with harder resentment than any of my Japanese offerings


@Tango: A shame you ain't feeling it (but I do think the first part of your post is just assumptions taken as fact)

Here's the part of Zoids we talk about (Episode 1-4) (https://clyp.it/gh5q4vqd)

I do feel it though (but Hirano is not the best thing since sliced bread for me... but a favorite nonetheless).



In other news, some of you enjoyed my Travelling August 2015 post (Thread 236646), so I let you know a sequel is released: Thread 236949

Truely an Erogame Symphony (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1WATG7ROvc)

Well, it's sometimes hard to hear what's going on due to the piss-poor sound mix in the show, but what I hear is a lot of slamming noises, reduxes of older music with added Hollywood epic percussion, and bland themes (straight out of vapid J-pop) held together with blasts of noise and confused fragments of orchestral gestures. A complete waste of one of the biggest orchestras Hirano has ever had. Nice to see him with a proper budget again, but there was more music in cues like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfGe9OxKvdM in 2009... And, from the same score, one of my all time favourite Hirano moments https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Dy9KUXAbeM

I envy you and your ability to enjoy something on its own merits, without that nagging sensation of "It's not as good as it used to be..." getting in the way.

Many thanks for the next Travelling August - something to enjoy in there, I think...

I never heard of this Thai orchestra before, but these guys are doing some decent job here, especially given the frighteningly complex and furious nature of certain parts. Hirano clearly isn't for the weak or timid orchestra! Very good find, I enjoyed it, thanks!

Also the link to the full concert would be appreciated!

Unfortunately, but still no other videos or full recordings of this concert, but if I find anything more, I will let you know.

Cool! thanks, man!





FrDougal9000: looks like we've got an overthinker in our midst, guys. ;)

Don't worry, buddy! Nobody is asking you for a professional review or a full-blown essay. We're all here for the fun, because we have some pleasure reading, talking and sharing about all this stuff. So just try to have some fun giving your general impressions, what uou personally think and how you feel about this album, with your own words, and that'll be more than enough. And if you can a add few interesting facts worth mentioning about it, that would be even better (but not required, of course).






@arthy: I would also put Krull on a pedestal as my favorite Horner score (Thanks streich for listing the other "influences", I must confess I didn't notice all of them). I hope you also didn't miss this classic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14N9kd_c-B4
QUOI?! Zhis is a provocation, monsieur! Fine zhen, EN GARDE! And take zhis in your pretty face!



Quest For The Gjaive - Krull - James Horner
https://youtu.be/S0mgL6EEazI?list=PLH9C08qrQ7S51hmU5y0M7HgQhT8Lx6GP y&t=89


Bernard Herrmann - Vertigo (theme)
https://youtu.be/kC5AzFc3coo?t=55


Touch�! Nobody messes wizh a proud frenchman!

FrDougal9000: looks like we've got an overthinker in our midst, guys. ;)

Don't worry, buddy! Nobody is asking you for a professional review or a full-blown essay. We're all here for the fun, because we have some pleasure reading, talking and sharing about all this stuff. So just try to have some fun giving your general impressions, what uou personally think and how you feel about this album, with your own words, and that'll be more than enough. And if you can a add few interesting facts worth mentioning about it, that would be even better (but not required, of course).

You're probably right. I might have some free time tomorrow morning, so I'll see if I can try to write something then. Thank you for replying.

---

To go back to MediEvil for a minute, I decided to revisit a good chunk of the arrangements made for Resurrection (the PSP remake done back in 2005) today after reading about some of the comparisons made between that soundtrack and the new arrangements for the PS4 remake, and I'm coming back from it considerably more impressed than I used to be. I've always had some fondness for the original game's music, but never really appreciated any of Resurrection's arrangements apartment from the awesome take on Cemetery Hill: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyM-dqabDi4

However, after listening to roughly 40-50 minutes of it, I'm starting to appreciate its arrangements. While not that memorable, I do think the arrangements really managed to bring new life to the original's soundtrack, with the choir being especially well-used in providing a genuinely haunting atmosphere at times (which is pretty amusing since, despite having the gloomiest soundtrack in the series, Resurrection is by far the goofiest game with an Eastern-European worm genie living in your head as comic relief and a Tom Baker-voiced Death serving as a deadpan narrator like it's a Halloween special for Little Britain among other things). I haven't listened to the new arrangements for the PS4 remake, but I'm really curious to see how they compare in both approach and execution.

Quest For The Gjaive - Krull - James Horner
https://youtu.be/S0mgL6EEazI?list=PLH9C08qrQ7S51hmU5y0M7HgQhT8Lx6GP y&t=89


Bernard Herrmann - Vertigo (theme)
https://youtu.be/kC5AzFc3coo?t=55To be fair, is there a film composer who hasn't yanked from the Vertigo theme? Iwasaki's done it at least ten times.

Rimsky-Korsakov does something similar in the opening of his Christmas Eve Suite (a piece Horner borrows from quite a bit).

@arthy: Ah! I take ze blow, but zhis iz not ower yet. Ce monsieur allemand aura la victoire! :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKuuB9_8Ffk&t=1m26s

Horner may have been a (lazy) copycat... but the best copycat who ever scored for Hollywood films.



Yasunori Mitsuda's new Inazuma Eleven Ares + Orion will get a 4CD Soundtrack Box release on christmas. About time :)

https://vgmdb.net/album/92184


@Tango: It certainly is a truthful statement to your tastes and experiences but I can hardly agree to it or find common ground for all of it this time (maybe others can). Why don't you clarify it with Hirano directly to move beyond assumptions about this Hollywood comparison? He gave a few panels overseas recently, he's on facebook and I'm sure he will be on twitter soon so just ask him ;)


And on that note, the Master is on Twitter now along with an official account for IMAGINE. He said on his blog that there is simply too much exciting stuff happening right now, with his 40th anniversary in the business coming up, so he will be more active on social media now.

https://twitter.com/kenokun/

10.1K followers in a little over 12 hours after his first tweet, pretty impressive.

I've got a few things about Hirano that I will say later.

Just announced: https://girls-und-panzer.at.webry.info/201910/article_8.html

Shiro Hamaguchi reworked Girls und Panzer into a 6 movement symphony and recorded it with members of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. CD released in March 2020.

Just announced: https://girls-und-panzer.at.webry.info/201910/article_8.html

Shiro Hamaguchi reworked Girls und Panzer into a 6 movement symphony and recorded it with members of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. CD released in March 2020.

Thanks for the heads-up!



But honestly, only in Japan will you find a serious classically-inspired symphonic work adapted from the score of a cutesy-silly anime like this one.

Looking forward to listening to the upcoming Gothic Concerto for Organ and Choir adapted from the anime "Puppies and Nuclear Warheads".

Now that the soundtrack for One Piece Stampede is out, which one of us is gonna get the CD and upload it here on FLAC.?

Just announced: https://girls-und-panzer.at.webry.info/201910/article_8.html

Shiro Hamaguchi reworked Girls und Panzer into a 6 movement symphony and recorded it with members of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. CD released in March 2020.

That could be decent. The score for GuP wasn't my favourite but if you add up all the TV scores, OVAs, and the movie there's more than enough good material in there to make a coherent and good quality symphony - let's hope this really is what it says it is, and not a bunch of naff medleys, bouncy marches, and orchestrations of OP songs. It's Hamaguchi. It can't be bad... but I hope it's good... really good.

I wish this had been Kotobuki and not GuP, but hey, it's Japan - follow the money... As one of the handful of studio-recorded orchestral albums released in the last decade, I'm looking forward to hearing this one.

Anyone watching Cautious Hero? Funny show. The music in episode 4 is especially interesting...

@streich: I do. I'm sure you're talking about the "Wings" sequence. Pretty interesting... music :D



@arthy: What are you talking about?



It's a manly show for manly men! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjugcZIYRzw)


In seriousness, I really like Mizushima's works. He's one of my favorite current anime directors (but unless you are really into the various styles and conventions of the medium as well as military history, you won't get the most out of it). His works are genuine and fun. And pretty action-packed (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeMFqnOBCc4).
I'm really looking forward to the Shirobako movie (and yes I am convinced Shirobako is 100% the view of Mizushima on the industry) and the rest of the "Das Finale" OVAs (not talking about the music here) but by the current release shedule it won't be finished until 2032. I hope a soundtrack makes it out before then.

Needless to say I'm pretty excited to hear a full symphonic work by Hamaguchi and how he will take us along a journey of military history, sacrifice, and cheerful optimism.

Still waiting for the movie announcement, concert and symphonic album for Kotobuki, but it will happen eventually (the mobile game brings in money and Mizushima is passionate for it)...




@Tango: Don't want to be that guy again, but they never adverticed the concerts as "symphonic concerts". They were adverticed as "Musikfest (Music Festival)" and "Film Concert". The word "symphony" was never used once so there was nothing to be tricked about if you expected grand symphonic works. Media franchises (usually) have this distinction between "orchestra concert" (Code Geass), "symphonic concert" and/or "classical concert" (Sailor Moon) just as there are "orchestra albums" and "symphonic albums". They can be but are usually not approached with the same goals. It's actually far over 50 studio orchestral recordings in this decade if you care about statistics and that excludes the nearly 100 Orchestra concert album releases.

The announcement of Hamaguchi working with an Eastern European Orchestra actually reminded me to post something I held back a little bit which may come as a surprise to some:



Seikou Nagaoka
El-Hazard ~ The Symphonic World
Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra



Into a Magnificent World (https://mega.nz/#!eolWEQKD!ILzrYsBwWPnZeSiI5UMQVXMS1ODFe3U361Is-u7BIJs)

El Hazard was a very typical 90s anime... LOTS of cheap synth and noise on the soundtracks BUT the series got still blessed with a miracolous symphonic album out of a 1001 Arabian Nights Adventure by Seikou Nagaoka of Strike Witches fame. In 1997, he planned, produced and orchestrated a symphonic album with the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra for the TV Fantasy anime "El-Hazard ~ The Magnificent World". A must-hear if you haven't already, Seikou Nagaoka can absolutely fly with a symphonic ensemble. This is totally an unexpected situation compared to Akira Senju's Symphony No. 2 for Victory Gundam. It provides an epic, romantic and reminiscent adventure into a world of fantasy with bold raw brass power and tender flute and strings. It provides what the show could not accomplish, showcasing again that symphonic music is the greatest narrative and imaginative tool to realize your fiction.

Perhaps Tango can share a little thought on this album as I think its in his strike zone ;) (maybe he even has it in FLAC?)

Eastern European Orchestras for anime franchises and projects have a long tradition and continue to be a strong collaboration across countries and between musicians. Would you have guessed the Taurida State Symphony Orchestra of St. Petersburg would provide music for a visual novel... well, it happened (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQhrEOnEo3Q). There's also the second soundtrack of Fafner Beyond on the horizon so the combination of East European orchestra sound and Japanese visual arts continues.

I also mentioned Akira Senju. In 2016 he had a studio recording with the Tokyo New City Orchestra for an album of music for/with Japanese singer Taeko Onuki:


TAEKO ONUKI Meets AKIRA SENJU
Tokyo New City Orchestra



Duetto (https://mega.nz/#!yhkhBAAA!IgbXn_HZI9njjOO_6LgcRNRpVaD9hOa7M0aA4nxNs8E)

FrDougal9000,

There is definitely more music than Resurrection had and it is written to reflect dynamics in-game. Music changes depending on what situation you find yourself in. I just bought the game and I find myself pausing to listen to the score. Such a nice trip down memory lane :)

@Tango: Don't want to be that guy again, but they never adverticed the concerts as "symphonic concerts".

I never expected it to be.

The comment about naff medleys wasn't specifically about the concerts - I actually rather enjoyed them - but more about the general tendency for Japan to slap the word "symphony" on just about anything and the virtual death of the genuine "XYZ Franchise Symphony" in recent years. The concerts weren't advertised as symphonic concerts. This new thing is explicitly advertised as a symphony. In a world where shit like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdUj3YCb40M gets called "symphonic suite" I think it's right to approach new projects which claim to be symphonies with trepidation. ;)

As I said, it's Hamaguchi so I doubt it could be bad.

Thanks for the Taeko Onuki - I remember searching for that around the time it came out and I think I couldn't so I gave up. Looking forward to hearing it!

Also... I think I have El-Hazard in FLAC... I think... I'll have a look after work. :)

FrDougal9000,

There is definitely more music than Resurrection had and it is written to reflect dynamics in-game. Music changes depending on what situation you find yourself in. I just bought the game and I find myself pausing to listen to the score. Such a nice trip down memory lane :)

Hmm... I'm more mixed than a bag of various types of nuts about that idea.

On the one hand, I find the prospect of trying to apply dynamic music in relation anything performed by an orchestra somewhat interesting. Granted, it's likely been done a few times by now over the years, but I've never heard any examples myself and would be very curious to see how it turns out.

But on the other hand, I find that dynamic music in a video game often does a terrible job at trying to sync up with the action because of how quickly the context can change (and what exactly counts as a change in context, depending on the game in question). What usually happens in games with dynamic music is that you either get walls of noise that only get a drumbeat when the "action" kicks in (see Deus Ex 3), or genuinely good music with layers removed so there's something to add back in for the "action" bits but ends up sounding passionless and dull as a result (see the Spyro Reignited remakes). The only way I can imagine this working is if they did something similar to the Banjo-Kazooie games, where the arrangement drastically changes depending on the area or situation but is still recognizably that same piece with nothing meaningful removed.

@tango: Well I think that's nothing new. How many "symphonic suites" were disco albums in disguise and they even missled you on the cover. If you don't like disco in a symphonic context, imagine how frustrated you are hearing a symphonic suite by Haneda and then disco pops up out of nowhere but leaves just as quickly and you just scratch your head and the piece is ruined (I had to heavily edit almost all "oldschool" symphonic suites). Not to mention, "shit like this" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HB6Ch_VAfIk) was called a symphonic suite back in the day too. But this one was called so on album and not individual track names by a notoriously cranky typewriter who did this stuff as far back as his first works, so its far more misleading, especially since samples weren't a thing yet. And there were many others like it. And how about the many "symphonic soundtracks" from the 90s and early 2000s who turned out to be cheap synth and maybe a real string and trumpet ensemble.

I actually think the symphonic albums just got substituted a little by "Orchestral Concert albums" and "Orchestra albums" (but they will appear more frequently soon I'm sure). If they are going to be largly approached like Sailor Moon I imagine there's little to object to these concerts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8bGyhtkEzg :)

Then there's genuine orchestral albums rising, granted not a symphonic album for all of it, but they can have their own strengths:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fXseUVqcJE&t=2m16s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrYmzJKB-Jg

With the Hamaguchi announcement I actually have compiled a list of works that can very well recieve the symphonic treatment in the not so distant future:

Chihayafuru (I also really love the continuation on TV, the new material fits seemlessly into Yamashita's prior body of work for the series and it will be glorious on album I believe)
Kotobuki (a given)
Gundam Origin (Hattori already revised the first Gundam score for an orchestral concert)
Sakura Wars / One Piece (Kohei Tanaka's 40th Anniversary needs to be celebrated in superlatives)
Danmachi
ReZero
Konosuba
God Eater
Ni no Kuni
Shin Evangelion

If they all happen you heard it here first.


On that note Kentaro Sato and VGM Classics announced that they have many projects in the future so I'm looking forward to hearing them grow as a classical unit.

For anyone else who's curious, Cautious Hero rips off Shi No Mori from Wolf's Rain OST 2. Same key even.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hm_Nzk9bwE

I don't think we've heard such an obvious homage to Kanno since Izetta.

Not disputing that it happened in the past...

Just saying that, in general, when Japan says "symphony" then it's prudent to think of back of the endless list of things that it said were symphonies that were anything but... I remember a big disappointment was Bubble Symphony from 1995... and a stack of awful 90s synth.

There haven't been many works that deserve the title - Senju's Thousand Nests, Walkure Story, and Hikaru Genji (even considering that Genki extensively plagiarises from Wakure), Tanaka's 08th MS Team, Haneda's Yamato Symphony spring to mind - but a fair few fantastic works that are definitely cuts above the average orchestral score... Sahashi's three Gundam albums with the LSO, Hisaishi's Ghibli suites, Yoshikawa's Nessa no Hoshi, and so on. 2016's Monster Strike Symphony had its moments but wasn't really a coherent work, just a series of orchestral fantasias - but at the same time (a lot of it) was very good indeed.

I want Hamaguchi to really go for it. Hearing Kotobuki convinces me that he's got a symphony in him - and I want this to be his time to really shine. Shiro Hamaguchi with a European orchestra in a concert hall recording a new symphony is almost peak opportunity for a wonderful, wonderful album. I want it to live up to that.


I actually think the symphonic albums just got substituted a little by "Orchestral Concert albums" and "Orchestra albums" (but they will appear more frequently soon I'm sure). If they are going to be largly approached like Sailor Moon I imagine there's little to object to these concerts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8bGyhtkEzg

Agree; perhaps this was a necessary change in the light of the slow and painful death of the recorded music industry and corresponding concert renaissance. You can put on a concert, make a big stack (if not all) of your money back, and put out a recording of the concert as a bonus. Unfortunately (there's always an unfortunately with me) the recent explosion of "every single franchise that makes a bunch of money gets an "orchestral" concert" has resulted in album after album of unimaginative arrangements of bland music... but you're absolutely right, some things which are a cut above the norm have indeed appeared, and I'm grateful to have them.


Kotobuki (a given)

It's virtually impossible that could be bad. Agreed.


Gundam Origin (Hattori already revised the first Gundam score for an orchestral concert)

Can't see it happening, but maybe there's enough there to make a good concert...


Sakura Wars / One Piece (Kohei Tanaka's 40th Anniversary needs to be celebrated in superlatives)

Can see it happening, but it's almost guaranteed to be all or nearly all songs.


Danmachi

Show's doing really well, isn't it? That could happen.

BTW... the first soundtrack of the second series was released a few days ago. Hopefully we'll get to hear it soon...


ReZero, Konosuba, God Eater

I can think of a dozen scores that would make better concerts... but these could be fun.


Ni no Kuni

Agreed... The game scores are fantastic. The movie score was massively underwhelming, but there's definitely enough music in the games for a stonking good concert.


Shin Evangelion

I'd be interested for the potential Amano involvement... but the music leaves me utterly cold...

any links for Old Anime such as Yorushiku Mecahdoc, Wing-Man and Jungle King Tar Chan?>

I was thinking more about the prospect of a symphonic studio album rather than orchestral concerts but that can work just as well as I think they are very close to happening (Konosuba and God Eater already happened though, Konosuba was released). I generally think alike for many of them and I really appreciate your remarks.

I like many "Orchestra albums/concerts", although they are approached differently compared to "symphonic albums/concerts" and are mostly medleys and cues performed by a symphony orchestra (However, they were never used for any media project to my knowledge, the only recent example I know is Granblue Fantasay anime using music from the orchestral studio album). That said, I would have prefered true symphonic suites for many of these concerts and albums as well (I agree Suikoden II was a missed opportunity in that regard that I hope will get corrected with future releases), but you know what they say, one man's trash is another man's treasure.

On that note, whatever happened to the album releases of Final Symphony II and Symphonic Memories? (I'm interested in the Octopath Traveler Violin Concerto)




@streich: Fujisawa has pretty good taste. I might have heard a piece reminiscent of Katsuhisa Hattori in one of his recent shows. It's really a shame he gets denied the soundtrack releases. His NGNL Zero film concert didn't get a release either.

Hannes de Maeyer Torpedo is on spotify and if you like the medal of honor scores,this and 25mins of joe kraemers the man who killed hitler and then bigfoot should please you.classic fullorchestral military action with fun themes.torpedo has a little bit of modern stuff but its very brief. god i hope moh vr gets a new orchestral score but hearing the reused music in the trailer didnt exactly fill me with hope.fingers crossed!

Kohei Tanaka's tweet regarding One Piece Stampede. I'll try to translate it with the best of my ability, though I could be wrong. Vinphonic might help with that.
https://twitter.com/kenokun/status/1190763614514245633

スタンピード もそうだけど、ワンピースのBGMは、ほとんど生楽器を使っています。（一部、シンセの打ち込みも使用して いますが）
"As with Stampede, the BGM in One Piece mostly uses live instruments (Although some synths are used as well)."

今の時代に、実現は大変なのですが、ファンの皆様に
??????????????? (Something about using live instruments being difficult these days.)

少しでも『生』の良さを伝えたくて、こだわっています。
'I want to convey the goodness of �live� as much as possible."

^
Basically he says that Stampede has all music done with live players/real musicians (again) and that really makes a difference. Previously One Piece used a mix of live and synth instruments. It has been difficult in recent times to aquire live players for One Piece and he slightly implies that he will try to change that. He wants to convey the power of live/raw instruments over synthezised ones as much as possible.

Does Oshima never age? :D

Okay, I think I'm just going to post this. I've been sitting on it for weeks in the hope that I'd be able to write something substantive or that I'd at least find the time to think of something to write, but with college things keeping me busy as heck at the moment, that's not been happening. So with that in mind, I'm just going to post the links and give a brief description on what's on this album.

I decided to try and find albums to post after being inspired by the discussion surrounding Tango's post some weeks ago about trying to post more music as opposed to curated collections, and I came across this album of Estonian music in a charity shop. My knowledge of Estonia and its culture is extremely limited, with anything I do know being related to their history of animation and not much else, so I got this album so that I'd at least get a bit more knowledge in my head. I'm not too fond of the album myself due to its sensibilities not really gelling with me (which is why I struggled to write anything about it), but it's still worth listening to and I hope you'll enjoy it. :)





Baltic Voyage - Heroic Symphonies From Estonia
(BBC Music Magazine Volume 10, No. 2)



Composed by Villem Kapp, Arvo P�rt, and Eduard Tubin

Performed by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra

Conducted by Neeme J�rvi (tracks 1-4), Paavo J�rvi (track 5), and Kristjan J�rvi (tracks 6-8)

Recorded in Studio 7, New Broadcasting House, Manchester in March 2001

FLAC:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/01h8d8eq3evhpcz/BVFLAC.zip/file
https://mega.nz/#!VXAB1QZY!aVQowb-PpPEm_8TcRFWtviZer75muMsn1LR4kn6ohrg

MP3:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/07poxb2a5blu14h/BVMP3.zip/file
https://mega.nz/#!QKoyxIjK!qSzC_gGjyfpgawSnLYFa4zn-7JJ_Pvss6nUJmofjRD8



This album is split into three parts:

Tracks 1-4 are a recording of the four movements of Villem Kapp's Symphony No. 2 (written in 1955).
Track 5 is Arvo P�rt's Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten (composed in 1977 in tribute to the death of British composer Benjamin Britten).
Tracks 6-8 are a recording of the three movements of Eduard Tubin's Symphony No. 3 in D minor ~ Heroic (composed in 1940-42, revised in 1968).

Ah, nice! I have that album myself! :)

I think I prefer the Tubin symphony, but I really enjoy them all.

I have a recent concert of Estonian music from last April which I will post tonight.

Awesome! I'm really looking forward to hearing it, and hopefully, I'll find more enjoyment out of it than the album I posted. :)

On a slightly less fortunate subject, I've decided to cancel my plan of doing another collaborative Christmas album this year. Things have been so busy on my end at the moment that I just haven't had to time to work on anything myself, and I kept forgetting to reach out to people to contribute something towards it. Considering we're already into November and things are probably about to get busy for a lot of folks, I don't think there's much point in trying to get it off the ground at this point. I'm really sorry about that, and I hope I haven't let anyone down or inconvenienced them with this. Maybe I'll do something else on my own to make up for it, but we'll see.

That's a shame... I was actually making some pretty good progress on my track... Next year, perhaps? :)

Perhaps. I can't help but feel a bit of a twat now considering you were making progress on your track, but I'm not sure what to do with that in mind. I would like to hear what you've done, but I don't feel right putting you under pressure also immediately after nixing the reason you were doing it to begin with. I don't know. Again, I'm really sorry about that.

Eyy, you're not a twat, you've got a life... No apologies are necessary, not at all. :)

If it doesn't happen this year, maybe it will happen next year. If I manage to finish the thing I'll probably just release it myself and do something else if you resurrect your project next year. I've just been having fun, is all.

Thank you for that assurance. I mean it. :) I think I really needed to hear that, especially after being a bad funk for most of today (first time that's happened in ages, though there's nothing that caused it - just a mood). I wish I could articulate how much that means to me, but since I can't give you a hug, know that it really does mean a lot. Thank you.

100th Anniversary of Estonia



https://mega.nz/#!BLBTWQSa!TDBLHamuFTHCrQvV874_w1pQCsshXtkw9kMhrSZ1q18

Music by Eduard Tubin, Rudolf Tobias, Ester Magi, Veljo Tormis, Eino Tamberg, Cyrillus Kreek, Arvo Part, Heino Eller, and Lepo Sumera

All Works Except the Lepo Sumera Symphony

Performed at the Estonia Concert Hall, Tallinn on 24th February 2018

Estonian National Symphony Orchestra
Rauno Elp (baritone)
Marrit Gerretz-Traksmann (piano)
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir

conducted by Arvo Volmer

Lepo Sumera Symphony

Estonian Radio Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Peeter Lilje

The bulk of this music comes from a single concert given in Tallinn in 2018 to celebrate the 100th anniversay of Estonia's declaration of independence - this concert was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in perhaps classical music's best kept secret - the night-time slot called "Through The Night" (also known as Euroclassic Notturno) - where rarely heard music is routinely played, and you can hear one-of-a-kind concerts from around the world. It was produced by Eesti Rahvusringh��ling Klassikaraadio (that's Estonian Public Broadcasting Classic Radio to you and me...) for the programme.

The final work is Lepo Sumera's second symphony - I can find very little information about this recording but from what I can gather it was made in the late 1980s and released on a CD called "Dirigeerib Peeter Lilje" by Eesti Raadio in 1996... but that's about it.

Both recordings come from the BBC's 320kbps AAC stream and is the highest quality version of the broadcast available - I have cut the chatter and edited it all into a nice album for your pleasure - no manipulation of sound quality has been made except to normalise the volume, and the final product encoded to FLAC to preventy further generational loss. Please note - this FLAC was derived from a lossy source, albeit a very high quality one.

The music...

This is a wonderful whistlestop tour of Estonia's musical heritage - beginning with Tubin's Festive Overture which starts off pretty dour but turns into a virtuosic orchestral showpiece - very approachable, tonal, and tuneful.

Tobias' Julius Ceasar Overture is probably the most classical of the lot - a little bit of Brahms in here, I think.

Ester Magi - still going strong at 97 - is Estonia's most famous female composer and "Bucolic" is just lovely.

Veljo Tormis' Overture No. 2 is another showpiece; delightfully orchestated and surprisingly tuneful.

"Song of the Gascone Cadets" is from Eino Tamberg's second opera Cyrano de Bergerac; a fine, strident piece for baritone sololist and fine, throaty Estonian choir.

"Blessed is the Man" again shows Estonia's rich choral heritage with a gorgeous, folk-inspired outpouring of religious faith.

Arvo Part is undoubtedly the most famous Estonian composer of them all and this piece is... nuts. Moving from silvery, shimmering choral beauty to complete, uninhibited orchestral chaos, and back again... it's simply breathtaking. Don't let your guard down, and don't let the opening bars (which are pure Bach) lull you into a false sense of security, for just around the corner you will find some of the most terrifying dissonance ever put to paper. Just amazing.

Heino Eller's "Homeland Tune" is simple, pastoral, warm, and familiar... a real tearjerker.

Lepo Sumera's symphony... I don't think I understand it yet, but it's a wonderful listen - filmic, atmospheric, thrilling.

Enjoy :)
TT

^
Ah, that's a really great selection from you two :) I'm not too familiar with Estonian music (I know M�gi but that's it) and the only other thing I know is that Estonia is a very advanced Digital Nation. But back to the music.

Kapp's symphony is the standout for me, a merry Golden Age epic in disguise, lots of jolly and heartlifting strings and brass passages. For the first Allegro, I would have prefered a final brass stab (if it were me). My favorite of the lot.
My favorite from Tango's album is Veljo Tormis's Overture, great "filmic" energy in the piece, like a classical film epic.
Homeland Tune is really lovely and pastoral, reminding me of the British greats, right in my strike zone.
Kreek and Tamberg's piece fall into the christian Golden Age film epics (and thus are favorites).
M�gi's piece is very introspective and mysterious, would be right at home in a Hitchcock film.
Festive Overture is very Golden Age Hollywood but missing a more memorable big tune.
Sumera's symphony is very rythmic and textural, like being chased on a snowy mountain by an unknown presence. Interesting piece.
Part's Credo is more an academic piece for me and a little too much chaos for my liking but really interesting colors and textures.
Julius Caesar is the most classical of them but carries the problem that I've heard it all before with more personality elsewhere.
Tubin's symphony carries the same problem that it's too anonymous and aimless.


That said, I find it difficult to distill an "Estonian style", I'm much better to recognize "russian":



Oresuki: The Russian Ballet (Music by Yoshiaki Fujisawa) (https://vimeo.com/371544675)

I don't know if this is appropriate for this thread, but I'll just say it:

In celebration (At least to me) of Terry Bogard being in Smash Ultimate, I want to share with you the soundtracks of the Fatal Fury OVAs and Movie that aired in the early 90's, composed by none other than Mr Orchestral Funk himself, Toshihiko Sahashi.

If you are interested in Sahashi's earlier works, then I'd recommend checking these out, especially the movie OST.

Some tracks have multiple pieces of music in one, so I separated them for easier navigation.

All credit for both FLAC rips goes to DaveKramer, please give him a rep as a reminder for how awesome Dave is for sharing the music a few years ago.

https://mega.nz/#!zixVjaCY!upwI30sFukFf89sWL258dNTrU5lHbPCHMTvM3ePU1RE

Yoko Kanno is back, sort of:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rca31Tqi910

This is no ordinary piece, it's made as the inauguration for the new Japanese emperor.

Kanno's conducting is a laughable noodle show (at 3:49 look at how she timidly wiggles her arms at the string section and doesn't match the pace of the players at all) and the music is obviously far from the standards of Naotora and more along the lines of her earlier work on Nobunaga's Ambition. But it's nuts how Kanno has almost surpassed Joe Hisaishi-tier levels of prestige in recent years.

Thanks for the heads up. I was unaware this was a thing.

As usual, my thoughts:

0:00
interesting bombastic opening reminiscent of Khachaturian's Symphony No. 3. it's also full of "modern" atonal sounds. it doesn't really sound like Kanno's style at this point, but who knows, maybe her style is evolving

1:55
starting to sound more Kanno-ish, but the melody doesn't feel as polished, maybe due to imbalances in the orchestra/venue. the brass and winds are loud, and the strings are second fiddle. is this being performed with a brass band?

4:13
this is a bit of an aquarium moment, but with more funky harmonies

5:16
the piano solo is definitely Kanno, no question about that. it is reminiscent of Naotora

7:42
this part is old-school Kanno, like Nobunaga's Ambition

8:09
not a fan of the singing

9:50
boleros go with everything

@FrDougal9000: Thank you for sharing this album. For a guy who don't know much about Estonian music (honestly it's' only Arvo P�rt :) ) it's a great opportunity to open this side of world music.

@tango: And a huge thanks to you Tango for so big collection of intersting music!

Nice. Who tf are the jpop boys though lmao

How about another surprise, Asakawa (not!) on the harp:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw1Osyi_y4s



More composer family stuff:



From this picture, the one who changed the most across the years very recently lost a lot of weight again as his scoring output increased (for the ladies?)




When I do a song commentary, I often spend a lot of time on the technique “translation ” that expresses the features of the music.
There are a lot of other good points in the music (such as composition and development),but I like the “translation” technique the most.

There's this thing I call “beautiful modulation”.

When I write music, I always want to put this “beautiful modulation” somewhere!

So what is this “beautiful modulation”?

If you listen to it once, you don't know what is going on and what key but you feel it ’s so beautiful.


First of all, it is a natural modulation so that the essence is not immediately obvious to ordinary people.
(It's vulgar to say that it has turned up now!)

And a unique "code development" created a pleasant "change".

And this is important, in the end, be sure to return to the first key.


Yes, “Translation” is both an academic and an art.

It is good that musical identity is immediately detected by the code development.

I can't help but return to the A melody key with an interlude.

I feel like this.


So why do we need a modulation?

First of all, if it is a really beautiful melody, the modulation is not so necessary, but since east and west, it is a melody that has been made with only seven sounds of Doremifasolaside for centuries ago, so
any melody is somewhere between these sounds. Since someone must have already made it, there may be no such thing as originality anymore.

And since the listener is usually conservative , the melody can not proceed in a more difficult direction, including 12 tones.


The only way to overcome this (except for progress in rhythm) is “translation”.
To change the color of the music itself.

And that also requires “beautiful modulation” that is comfortable to listen to.


And that thing requires professionalism.

Now, with the progress of equipment and the band boom, amateurs can easily compose music.

Naturally, the music of those people will be released to the public. Many of the songs written by such people who have little experience in music are
straightforward and without any hesitation. I don't know what to say but its a scary thing!

However, we professionals cannot compete in such places.

Therefore, it is necessary to make music unique to professionals, music that only professionals can write.

Otherwise, our existence is meaningless. One of the techniques we have to our advantage is “beautiful modulation”.

This is not something you can study overnight. It is something that can be finally acquired by hard work and countless hours of music training, accumulating studies and studying the melody sense .



Please listen to my music to try it out. There should be two types of works, one that incorporates a lot of “beautiful modulation” tech, and one that plays in the same playing field as amateurs without any modulation

It's all intentional. Each has different meanings.


When I think about it, the “beautiful modulation” of the Western music I listened to a long time ago was a tribute to a famous professional composer.


Going forward, I want to become one of those great masters of music and get closer to them!

I believe.

Now, with the progress of equipment and the band boom, amateurs can easily compose music.

Naturally, the music of those people will be released to the public. Many of the songs written by such people who have little experience in music are
straightforward and without any hesitation. I don't know what to say but its a scary thing!

However, we professionals cannot compete in such places.

Therefore, it is necessary to make music unique to professionals, music that only professionals can write.

I'm reminded of this short conversation Iwasaki had with Kenji Kawai last year, when they were both at a university talk event.



https://twitter.com/yoshidamasakazu/status/1059708614988902400

Audience: "Why do Mr. Kawai's strings sound so thick?"
Kawai: "I didn't do anything in particular"
Iwasaki: "Maybe because the cello is moving in parallel at 5 degrees?"
Kawai: *awkward silence*