Masashi Hamauzu Solo Album
 

I'm surprised this wasn't posted here. I'll be ordering this for sure.

http://www.gmronline.com/info.asp?CatNumber=SQEX-10098

I must say, I'm looking forward to this. I'm a fan of the three works from Hamauzu listed in the product description. However, I'm most looking forward to the new material, to be honest, I hold high expectations.

Ideally, my favourite pieces from him would be arranged, but I can't say my favourites are widely viewed as the best. And example being his "To the End of the Abyss" from FFX. The crowd favourite "Decisive Battle" should get some attention, I would assume. (I just got a thought: an orchestral arrangement of "Traveling Company" would be pretty awesome. ^_^)

I don't think I can choose any specific tracks from SaGa Frontier II; they're all just pretty flawless. o.0"

I'd like to see tracks such as "Perpetual Movements" and "UNLIMITED: SaGa Overture" (<3) get arranged. All of the battle themes from the game would be spectacular, too.

I hope there's no Dirge of Cerberus stuff...I know the music has it's fans, but I'm definitely not one of them. Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon is great, of couse. Overall, I'm highly anticipating this release; if only more composers did their own works like this with arrangements.

Perhaps some FF XIII music might make its way to the album?

I can agree with Muzza's post word for word. Although to be honest, I'm not exactly crazy about Hamauzu's orchestrated tracks.

Just thank god there's nothing from DoC on there.

There's probably going to be more Unlimited SaGa tracks on this album than you think. In an interview a while back, Hamauzu and Yamazaki talked about a lot of the songs and how they would like to re-arrange them ("DG Comfort" was one of them). It was a great interview.

Dirge of Cerberus didn't rock my world or anything but it was decent. I own the soundtracks for FFX, SaGa Frontier II and UNLIMITED SaGa, so I'm more intrigued by the new arrangements that will be featured on this album. I wouldn't mind seeing some arrangements of his work in Musashiden II BLADEMASTER, or Gun Hazard, even. I'll be keeping a close eye on this one.

That says of 24 themes 12 are new compositions. Plus, while there are a few strings quartet-based tracks, the arrangement basically centers on piano. FYI, this album is the first installment of SE composer best series. What is going to be published next? Uematsu? Mitsuda? Or Nakano?

Hmm...You can bet Yoko Shimomura will be a part of the series in some shape or form. I'd like to see Nakano featured as well.

But for the love of god, no Kenji Ito. I love the guy, I really do, but once you've heard one Saga soundtrack, you've heard them all. His arrangements aren't much better.

A Mitsuda arrangement CD would be interesting, but would he do it? Maybe it would be the mythical Chrono Cross arrange album he's been talking about for the last 200,000 years.

And Uematsu's involvement in the series is a given, although it's anybody's guess how good the arrangements will be.

Hamaauzu only has certain sleeper tracks that appeal to me, I don't generally look forward to his stuff since it seems too modern or aimless at times. I will definitely check this out if the likes of Enigmatic Scheme, Decisive Battle, Ruckerinnerung or Todosengel are present. That said, I think I'll do a bit more research to find out if he has any more songs that are particularly like Enigmatic Scheme, hoping that's not the exception.

You'll be disappointed. For Hamauzu, abstract creativity comes first. His melodic works are ''exceptions''. Though he does write some wonderful tunes.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to this. I hope we get some concert works. Perhaps a sonata for piano and violin? :rolleyes:

If the rumors are true, a piano arrangement of soaring wings will be included. Yeah..

Nice! I only heard about this news today. Really looking forward to it too. Although, it seems difficult to do DoC on a piano and strings. Maybe Calm before the storm would have been possible?

Actually I'm hoping for some DoC in it, this quote could keep that dream alive:

"Visiblement, les compositeurs de Square Enix se préparent à nous offrir des albums plus ou moins solo. Masashi Hamauzu ouvre la marche avec un disque au titre encore non annoncé mais qui a de quoi faire baver : une sorte de compilation arrangée de ses compositions pour les jeux Square (de SaGa Frontier 2 à Dirge of Cerberus, semble-t-il) plus quelques musiques inédites. Et vous savez quoi ? Hamauzu s'est rendu dans sa ville natale, Munich (Allemagne), pour enregistrer les musiques !

Sortie prévue pour le 30 mai prochain, référence SQEX-10098, prix 2800 yens. Le tout arrangé et produit par Hamauzu lui-même, évidemment !"

Boy, this sounds like something I wrote. :tpg:

If we refer to the Japanese description of this album, then SaGa Frontier 2, FFX, Unlimited SaGa, Musashiden 2 and Dirge of Cerberus are mentioned. I would definitely welcome some music from Dirge of Cerberus.

If you refer to Hamauzu, how do you do that?

My style is: Hamuzuian, Hamauzuidal, Hamauzuic?

I prefer Hamuzuian, but I think Hamauzuic is the right way.

I... don't know. What about Hamauzuesque?

Good news today:

http://www.square-enix.co.jp/music/s...051/index.html

A list of his arranged game music has been added.

SaGa Frontier 2: Feltschlacht5 (5? huh?), Interludium, Zufall and Botshaft
Unlimited SaGa: Nalgae (Korean version of Soaring Wings)
Dirge of Cerberus: Forgotten Tears and Splinter of Sadness
FFX: To the End of Abyss (CD4 track 11)
Musashiden 2: Symphony of Fire1, Symphony of Fire2, Silent Dialogue, Eternal Sorrow and Aqua Memory

Nice!

That doesn't sound too pianistic? And does he live in Germany (the title...)?

He recorded the album in Munich, his birthplace.

*performs victory dance*
I don't like the Musashiden selection, but then again, the tracklist for FFXPC didn't sound too good at first, but he made some great arragements.

Yes, the only one I really like is Aqua Memory, I hope for a longer version with a variation or two.

Is it a typo? Or there existed the unreleased version of Feltschlacht? And no "Soaring Wings"? (Hamauzu said this album would have that...). Anyway, since I was disappointed when the SF2 arrange album didn't have any battle themes, it's good news.

One matter for concern is, though many online shops say it's the first release of SQUARE ENIX Composers' Best series, but the title of this album doesn't indicate it at all, and it's quite strange that more than half tracks of a composer's best album are additional compositions. So, it could be a bum steer.

Awesome. :D I can't wait to hear this tracks arrangment. <3 Thankyou Hamauzu-san.

I'm full expected for other 13 orignal tracks.No doubt,Ill buy this CD:)

Go!Go! Hamauzu san

It is not a typo. You could check the link I posted, it is written "Feldschlacht5". And did you read my post correctly? :erm: I said Nalgae is the Korean version of Soaring Wings. :p

I don't see why the title should reflect the fact that it is the first album in a series. On the contrary, it is far better when they make it sound unique.


Also, since we are talking about Hamauzu, Ryo Yamazaki (his fellow synthesizer operator) published some exclusive samples from Dirge of Cerberus. Bad quality, but interesting nevertheless.

PV1: the very first music written for the game.
PV2: the first music, but with piano and chorus added to the mix.
PV3: a 12-second sample ordered by the director of the game.
TGS: the music used in the first trailer of the game, during the Tokyo Game Show in 2004.
E3: and finally, the music used in the E3 2005 trailer (also on the Japanese website).

I thought it might be the typo by someone who updated that page, not yours of course.
Sorry.:eagletear:
I didn't say this album should have been named as 'SQUARE-ENIX composers' Best series Vol.1 XXXX XXXX'. Nor is this title bad. The thing is, SE is actually going to pubilsh thier composers' best albums and this one is the first release unless the online store's descriptions tell a lie, but this album's title and tracklisting seemed less indicative of that. So, I concerned the online shop's explanation was wrong. However, if SE is going to publish more than albums that pretty much consist of things already released, that's bliss.

Well, anyway, this may be off-topic. I'm sorry if you were somehow offended.

Holy freaking crap. Those are awesome. Is there any way to get these in higher quality?

It is to be titled "VIELEN DANK -Masashi Hamauzu-"
according to GMRonline

I wasn't, don't worry. In any case, we just have to wait for the announcement of another "solo" album.

I'm afraid no. :(

For those who are not familiar with German, the title "vielen dank" means "thank you very much".