Symphonic Cascades: The Wonderful Music World of Kohei Tanaka

Kohei Tanaka
Symphonic Cascades
Members of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra & the Tokyo Philharmonic Chorus
Vocals by Osamu Takai, Chihiro Yonekura, Mayumi Tanaka & many more

I. One Piece Symphony (56:48)

01. Overture to an Adventure (6:27)
02. I. Movement "It was the Golden Age of Pirates…" (11:16)
03. II. Movement "Encounter on Port Island" (12:36)
04. III. Movement "I will surpass you & Bonds of Friendship" (12:24)
05. IV. Movement "The Age of Dreams shall never perish!"(11:15)
06. Encore (2:48)

II. SciFi Concert (62:54)

01. Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team (15:09)
02. Open your Eyes to the Winner’s Elegy (7:35)
03. GaoGaiGar: Genesis Poem (11:14)
04. Beautiful Wings of Light (4:14)
05. Gunbuster: Symphonic Poem (19:38)
06. Encore (5:02)

III. Fantasy Concert (61:44)

01. Bastard!! Metalicana Knights (2:51)
02. Bastard!! Symphonic Poem (21:49)
03. Operatic Fantasy Medley (12:22)
04. Alundra: Symphonic Suite (6:39)
05. Gravity Daze: Gravitation Medley (14:02)
06. Encore (3:59)

IV. Drama Concert (59:03)

01. Beyond Sorrow (5:01)
02. End of Eternity: Symphonic Poem (14:25)
03. The Love of Flowers (5:42)
04. Gad Guard: Transendence Suite (8:57)
05. The Heart of the Umbrella (4:29)
06. Hyouka: Symphonic Romance (8:01)
07. The Road to Hope (5:07)
08. Encore (6:48)

V. Sakura Wars Orchestral Concert (59:42)

01. Stage Play "One Pound of Dreams" (12:26)
02. Overture "Imperial Floral Assault Unit" (4:20)
03. Symphonic Poem (18:58)
04. Operatic Song Medley "The Battle for Paris" (14:20)
05. Miracle Bells (6:56)
06. Encore (2:40)

Symphonic Cascades was created by me and is a pure work of fiction. It is just a humble tribute to Kohei Tanaka who is a fantastic orchestral composer, a beacon of joy and a huge inspiration. I carefully selected tracks from nearly everything he has composed in the last two decades and rearranged it with a "Symphony Concert" context in mind. I slightly worked on each track, applied some slight reverb, EQ and saturation. My reference was as always the recordings of Erich Kunzel, especially "Star Tracks" since they have near perfect dynamic range.

I worked on it for quite some time now, whenever I had free-time. In the end it turned into a five hour collection of Tanaka’s very best symphonic music across all genres. I also reworked my One Piece Symphony. It’s now traditional four part movements with a whole new movement from Tanaka’s very best music from the movies. I also interplayed the different Orchestral parts
with his orchestral songs but fear not because most would not feel out of place in an opera hall or a broadway musical. It should be said that Tanaka was very much inspired by old Disney and it definetely shows in his own songs which are instant gold by any standard as far as anime is concerned. He even demonstrates to every aspiring composer that dirt-chap sounding samples can still do the trick if you know how to "write" music. You will rarely find something on the scale of sound that Tanaka conjures here and it sure can’t get more epic than this.

LINK IN DESCRIPTION (https://mega.nz/#!VjxUjA6A!6bA7p3iX5Kf_1O4qjv72VcZkHKUE6W1XZ-ssS3-7EvE)

I believe this collection examplifies that Tanaka is first and foremost a symphonist. His music in general has good-old class, symphonic structure and shows exorbitant skill and talent with the orchestra. The amount of joy he is able to evoke with his music is in correlation with his own joy of composing and "living" his music. One only needs to see his performance on stage and in the concert hall, like Hisaishi, this is a man who enjoys every second of the music he writes and the joy it brings to the listener. It’s also no coincidence that he established himself as an "anime" composer and also truely loves the medium. I hope his career continues for a very long time and I also wish for another Sakura Wars type project to happen because he really wrote his heart out for that franchise.

But in the meantime… Enjoy!

Thanks 🙂

Thanks !!!

Thank you very much, Vinphonic.

Thanks a lot!

Thank you very much for sharing this, I was unfamiliar with this composer. A cursory listen to all tracks reveals some very eclectic music to say the least! He does have a very symphonic voice, but I’m not sure I hear the amazing ear for melody or true orchestral dexterity of the likes of Michiru Oshima or Yoko Kano, to name but two. I will, of course, give a more thorough listen soon. Thank you for your hard work compiling this!

Amazing. Thank you

Fantastic work compiling these, Vinphonic!

thanks

Thank you man. Great work. Great composer. Thank you very much

Great job!