[News] More Eminence Spectaculars!

Eminence had announced some time ago their latest events 'Destiny: Reunion' and a very special violin (and accompaniant) recital by acclaimed 'Passion' and 'A Night in Fantasia 2007: Symphonic Games Edition' violinist Ayako Ishikawa.

In the former, a huge list of hit titles will be performed, including newly released and exclusives such as Romeo x Juliet, Odin Sphere, and also including a special performance from Deltora Quest. The latter will include fan favourite themes from a number of previous Eminence performances plus a selection of renowned classical themes.

In recent news, however, yesterday, it was posted on Yasunori Mitsuda's official home page that Eminence is performing a concert of his and Hitoshi Sakimoto's music in Yokohama, Japan. This event is called 'Destiny: Dreamer's Alliance'. Sakimoto and Mitsuda will be guests. However, people in Japan who want to go, well, too bad, because in less than 12 hours, the event completely sold out.

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Are there plans for a recording of the concerts to be sold on CD later on?

There's nowhere I can't reach.

At the present time, no recordings are being considered.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Hiro and a couple of the Eminence artists are stopping by at Otakon to do a concert. www.otakon.com

Worth checking out.

They're also performing the same concert in Japan, Melbourne and Sydney. (Japan tickets sold out pretty much instantly.... Some Australia tickets still available.)

Check out www.eminenceonline.com for all info.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Anybody know the date and time when Eminence will be performing at Otakon? And will this coincide directly with Hitoshi Sakimoto's presence there? I'm going to be there in a couple weeks, so I'd like to know.

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As for the performance on Eminence's site it says "Baltimore Convention Centre, 1:00 PM Sunday 22nd July 2007".

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Yeah. Sakimoto is special guest at Eminence's concert there.

I think there will also be a short panel with Sakimoto and Eminence, probably after the concert.

Additional Spam:
Also... Michael Gluck (AKA Piano Squall) will be CO-MCing.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by datschge

As for the performance on Eminence's site it says "Baltimore Convention Centre, 1:00 PM Sunday 22nd July 2007".

Thanks. So that's where Otakon is being held! I'm not sure if I'll be there on that day, but I'll keep my fingers crossed.

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Kinda annoying you have to become a member and all that crap to go...I just wanna see Eminence not check out the rest of the convention necessarily. Ah well! Hopefully they're a success here and come back to the U.S. soon.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Is anyone going to this show or the Yokohama show in a few days?

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Here's a track, Radical Dreamers, from Eminence that was hosted by IGN Insider a couple months back. Enjoy.

http://rapidshare.com/files/43089989...amers.mp3.html

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Does anyone go to these shows? Please, somebody tell me they're going to the Sydney show? =D

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Why do you ask? The only thing stopping me from going is that I don't wanna go alone... Last time my BF was visiting but this time? All my friends are back in uni and I don't have anyone to really go with...

I was speaking idiomatically.

There are now heaps of unofficial vids from the Eminence concert in USA on youtube.

Just search 'eminence otakon'.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Does Yura do the arrangements? They're fairly conservative in general, but at the same time have enough unique elements to make them distinct and interesting. Some of them are even quite virtuosic at times!

I do really like the piano and string quartet format, by the way...it works very well in my opinion.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Dhsu

Does Yura do the arrangements?

If you're talking about the Otakon concert, I suppose at the least the pieces from Sakimoto and/or Mitsuda's games (Xenosaga aside) were arranged by Kimihiro Abe or Noriyuki Kamikura, because they were probably the same as the Yokohama concert. Not sure about the rest, though.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Yura is a performer, not the arranger. They have people from the conservatorium who help them with arrangements.

And I've just went to the Destiny Reuion concert in Sydney. Really good solid performances.

I'll be giving Music4games a write up soon. Though its gonna be tougher since the program has alot of music I'm not so exposed to, mainly my not so up to date anime watching. Kudos to them though for saving the classics to the encore and keeping a good variety through the program. Las thing I need is yet another rendition of a theme from FF or something, cause that's over done.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

They need to make some cds of this stuff, .

There's nowhere I can't reach.

They just released a DVD+CD set for Night in Fantasia 2005.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Taisai

If you're talking about the Otakon concert, I suppose at the least the pieces from Sakimoto and/or Mitsuda's games (Xenosaga aside) were arranged by Kimihiro Abe or Noriyuki Kamikura, because they were probably the same as the Yokohama concert. Not sure about the rest, though.

The Japanese and Otakon concert setlist was different. Otakon had the 'mainstream' music pieces, while the Japanese concert was for Mitsuda and Sakimoto.

Sakimoto's tracks we're arranged by Basiscape, Mitsuda's tracks we're arranged by Procyon Studios. The rest of the tracks were arranged by the talented Natsumi Kameoka.

Koji Kondo personally congradulated her on the Mario Brothers medley that she arranged, and Nintendo have actually offered to... well i cant say anymore hehe...shhh.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

....Sooo the game you guys hinted on collabarating at the Sydney concert is Nintendo?!

I had my money on Square... Dammit!

Well we will know when TGS comes...

Arcubalis will be posting my impressions of the concert at Music4games soon. Once he does so, I will also post my unedited version here, where the phrases are messier and less well written.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Well, here you have it. Covered by your very own Kairi Li, the story is published:

http://www.music4games.net/Features_Display.aspx?id=159

Thanks again, Kairi. Everyone should take note of how comprehensive this coverage is. Very well done. Enjoy!

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by ximdim

Sakimoto's tracks we're arranged by Basiscape, Mitsuda's tracks we're arranged by Procyon Studios. The rest of the tracks were arranged by the talented Natsumi Kameoka.

Ah, thanks. I was personally impressed by how the Studio Ghibli pieces were handled.

Speaking of which, the review of the Sydney concert was good, but Joe Hisaishi's name was misspelled as "Hisashi."

FELIPE NO

Here's the unedited version. Comparing to Arcubalis's edited version, this looks like the drunken slurs of a lunatic.

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Destiny Reunion from Eminence is a quintet perfomance tour that consist of both games and anime. This tour spanned across Japan and North America's Otakon convention, and it was recieved with great praises and success from fans across the countries. It was a concert that sold out in Japan in a matter of 10 hours, and had a full house during the performance at Otakon this year.

By comparison to the huge success overseas, this performance taking place in their home, Sydney Australia, had a smaller audience. While it wasn't empty, the concert didnt' garner enough audience to fill out all the seats. The majority is sold though, and its clear that despite a more niche audience in their own country, Eminence is still well loved by fans of anime and game music.

My friend and I arrived just in the nick of time, around 5 mins before the performance starts. Taking the oppurtunity, I decided to purchase their merchandise before a huge line gathers at the end of the concert. Merchandise included a poster, T-shirts of the tour, previously released albums, and a new CD+DVD album from their Night in Fantasia 2005 concert, with special bonus videos from the 2004 and 2006 concerts as well.

Programs were handed out as we got in. I have to admit that looking at the program, the majoirty of the music being played is unknown to me. I no doubt have heard of the animes being featured, but so far had not the time to watch them all.

Program List:

Kakki - Romeo X Juliet (Hitoshi Sakimoto)

Canta Per Me - Noir (Yuki Kajiura)

Hako no Niwa - Rakugaki Oukoku 2 Game (Yasunori Mistuda)

Oshyaberi - Romeo X Juliet - (Hitoshi Sakimoto)

Odin Sphere Main Theme - Odin Sphere (Hitoshi Sakimoto)

Grandpa's Violin - .hack//Liminality (Yuki Kajiura)

Princess Mononoke - Princess Mononoke (Joe Hisashi)

Castle in the Sky - Castle in the Sky (Joe Hisashi)

Totoro - Totoro (Joe Hisashi)

Kanransha (Ferris Wheel) - Original Sakimoto Album (Hitoshi Sakimoto)

The Song - Gundam Seed (Tenmon)

Main theme: Beyond the Cloud's - The Place Promised in Our Early Days

Main theme - Romeo X Juliet (Hitoshi Sakimoto)

Hissou - Romeo X Juliet (Hitoshi Sakimoto)

Danran - Romeo X Juliet (Hitoshi Sakimoto)

Shissou - Romeo X Juliet (Hitoshi Sakimoto)

Sailing to the World - The Seventh Seal (Yasunori Mistuda)

The Hill overlooking the Windmill - Rakugaki Oukoku 2 Game (Yasunori Mistuda)

Pain - Xenosaga Episode 1 (Yasunori Mistuda)

Thanatos - Neon Genesis Evangelion (Shiroh Sagisu)

Radical Dreamers - Chrono Cross (Yasunori Mistuda)

Encore:

Super Mario Theme Medly - Super Mario series (Koji Kondo)

Time's Scar - Chrono Cross (Yasunori Mistuda)

As you can tell from the program and the promotional poster, the new Romeo X Juliet anime dominates the program. It's no surprise. Eminence was approached by Sakimoto-san himself to perform and record for the anime itself. Not doubt since they are part of the anime's production, gaining rights to perform live should be easy for them.

After I headed back in the concert hall at the Sydney Conversatorium of Music, the lights darkened, and the concert officially began. Terence Trankiem came on and introduced Eminence on stage. He also informed the audience that the rules have change and that we are allow to take photos as long as shutter sounds and flash is switched off. Using my mediocre quality cell phone, I naturally snapped some pictures.

This concert is rather difficult to do a track by track write up, as I mentioned before, most of the music here is either new or unknown to me. Listening to it once is not enough to memorise all the details of the piece, and no prior listening makes it difficult to analyse the performance. Most of the following will be summarised.

Oveall peformance throughout the concert was solid and well done. Each player obviously had worked very hard to ensure a quality performance for each different piece to stay true to its origin. There are pieces that involved the entire quintet, such as most of the Romeo ones, which were fresh and new, yet still contains the familar styles of Sakimoto's older works. Considering that it was Eminence that performed for the show's soundtrack, their performance was practically perfect. Some pieces from the anime were exciting, like Shissou. Others more tragic and sad, like Danran, in which Hiroaki Yura himself stated he couldn't bare to watch the scene that played his solo part. Despite being Concert Master and First Violin, Sakimoto's works often creates harmonies or melodies that all play an important part in all the performers. Main themes are alternated between players, some are layer and overlap the other, creating a unique texture to the piece, which is a trademark of Sakimoto's work.

Other works by Sakimoto were also played well by Eminence. A fine example would be Odin Sphere. Basically a quintet version of the same theme played at Night in Fantasia 2007, Yura continues to shine as the soloist, the sweet main theme flows through his hands and into our ears and souls. His expression and body language is always a sight to behold, for I hardly see that many players who look so entranced by the music. A rare feat from most Asian Classical performers who were usually taught more on technique than expression of music.
We had other anime and games featured in the concert.

Grandpa's Violin from .hack was a violin and piano duet. While I don't have the full context and backstory, I can gather that the piece is meant to warm and nostalgic. Hiroaka Yura and Kumiko Ito on piano were excellant, both conveyed the bittersweetness and nostalgia of the music through their playing. We had a piece from Noir, which sounded similar to some of Yuki Kajiura's quintet works from Xenosaga Episode 2 and 3. Her quintet works while not too complicated as Sakimoto's, are also very emotional, and the performers did it justice. Beyond the Clouds from The Place Promised showed allow both violinist to show their quality. The movie consisted of two characters who both played violin together, and both Yura and Kenny Kao perfomed the duet with good collaboration and camaraderie as the two characters did in the anime.

We had some lesser known Mitsuda game tracks like Sailing to the World or music from Rakugaki, both sounded similar to his previous celtic folk like music in his more well known soundtracks. Despite not having proper Celtic or Folk instruments, the pieces were still good, with alot of emphasis on the first violin playing folk solos.

We then have pieces from Studio Ghibli movies. These were the best ones of the night in terms of technique quality, I heard no flaws or "hiccups" in any of those pieces. Not a shocker since Hisashi's works is as common in Asia as Star Wars, and its one of the most commonly played by Asian musicians and students next their Classical repretoire. To Eminence, playing Studio Ghibli works perfectly is probably programmed into their minds, though that doesn't mean they are any less expressive or more robotic. The emotions conveyed in the compostions are still evident in their stunning performance.

Then comes the pieces I'm more familiar with. Pain from Xenosaga Episode 1 and Radical Dreamers, along with the Encore pieces. Pain is the same piano solo version fans can hear in the Sleigh Bell published version of Xenosaga Episode 1 soundtrack. While the original song is bit more pop and gets more epic at the end, the piano solo symbolised the lyrics about emotional pain. The quiet notes played by Ito is filled with whistfulness and almost silenced pain. While the original song had lyrics, the piano version was able to show the same feelings and meaning without the use of words, just through the notes, arrangment and the stirring performance by Ito.

Radical Dreamers was a piece I was looking forward to. Having heard Yura's performance of it from the Passion Album, which was also released as a sample track on IGN, I have never thought a violin can replaced the original vocals and can still do it justice. Hearing both the performance and the recording, Yura, to me, conveyed more emotional than the original vocalist. The bittersweetness of the song was more evident in his take on it, despite the lack of lyrics. Also a huge praise must be given to Minah Choe in this piece. After the first verse and chorus, Choe took over to the main melody, and despite the lower pitch, she conveyed the same feelings of woeness in her playing. It is as though it was a duet between Kid and Serge, each singing a verse and chorus of melancoly to each other. The final part of the piece where it was originally harmonies by the singer, is now "sung" by Yura and Choe, and despite different pitch and tone, the result was still a lovely harmony that resonates and compliments each other. The guitar part was given to Ito, who despite the technical difficulty behind the guitar like chords and notes, played wonderfully and was a fine accompaniment.

Through out the performance there were statements or stories from both Yura and Trankiem. Mr. Trankiem told us stories of their adventures in America's Otakon convention, how he shared MC duties with Piano Squall, who was alot lesser known down under. He also stated that seeing 2000 or more people dressed up in crazy anime and game cosplay seated and listening, was a sight to behold. They received rousing responses and applause from the fans at Otakon, and that by comparison this audience I was in was kinda, well, dead. We retaliated later after the intermission by giving them a huge applause and cheers. Yura told stories about his Otakon experience, how at one point the air conditioning blew his music sheets off his stand, and he had to get up and place them back, while Andrew Marciniak on Viola had to hold a very long long sustained note while Yura finds his place again, no doubt a funny incident fans can look up on youtube after reading this. He also talked about his veiwing of Romeo X Juliet, and how he couldn't bare to hear his violin solo part edited to a scene in which Juliet is in a slump, both literrally and emotionally, and being miserable and shunned by a cat she was trying to pet, along with being approached by creepy old men who ask how much she is.

More intersting however, and you heard it here first, is that Eminence is gonna record and collaborate on a video game that will be announced at the Tokyo Game show this year. What game is it? Don't know, Yura even had to cough to try to hide the fact it IS a game in the first place. What genre? Secret. What company is creating it? Under lock and key. With an extra bolt. Still we can conclude it has to be a famous and popular company if it has this much secrecy, and judging from their close friendship and collaboration with Sakimoto and Mitsuda, one can assume it may be an RPG, and possible by Square. However, they also told stories about trips to resturants and bars with Colossus composer Koh Otani, so don't rule out a possible Team ICO game as well. Yura has seen CG footage of it and said it looks great. Yura also spoke about Otani's more .... eccentric character. He would somehow be able to play a bass drum and play Jazz piano at the same time in resturants with ease, and would make Yura, a Classical performer who knows nothing about improvisation, to play along with him.

Finally the Encore. First up was a Super Mario medly. Unlike the typical ones I've heard before, this one consist of the main them from the original Super Mario, and the SNES Super Mario World Main theme. It was an exciting and amusing performance, where the musicians all played it with whimsy and humour. Ito even managed to produce 8 bit like sound effects on a Classical piano. They end each theme with the end of level victory theme, and the Super Mario World tune had the luck of getting a sped up version at the end, in which retro players will regonise as the "hurry up" music when the timer is close to the end.
Then came a quintet version of Time's Scar from Chrono Cross. Unlike Fantasia 2007's version, this is a bit more closer to the original in terms of scale. Starting with the Ito's piano, playing the keys that would begin the story, we then have Yura playing the slow main theme, a melody that sounds like a narrator passing on an ancient legend. When we get to the faster part of the piece, it gets a little chaotic and messy. With the lack of percussion, it was a little hard to keep the beat and pace, but they recovered quickily enough. It was a well performed rendition, despite being played at a much larger scale before.

Afterwards came the autograph session, more merchansie purchasing, and then it was over. I gotten a black concert T-shirt, Night in Fantasia 2005 DVD+CD set, and a poster signed by all the musicians tonight.
My friend who came with me, despite not knowing any music except the Studio Ghibli ones, said she could have listened to them all day, and I think I can agree. While not completly perfect in techinque, it was overall an stirring performance of the quieter and more emotional pieces. There are no big percussions with loud bangs, no large scale epic choir, no fanfare like brass. Just simple and emotional music that is an important element in anime and game soundtracks. And going to see Eminence play these pieces live was an amazing experience.
Hopefully their upcoming Winter Night in Fantasia concert - Anime edition will be just as good as this one!

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by ximdim

The Japanese and Otakon concert setlist was different.

That's why I said I was not certain of the rest. Time's Scar, Odin Sphere and whatnot were played in both, right? and I hear Basiscape memebers (Abe and Kamikura) were credited for Mitsuda's pieces as well as Sakimoto's.

Jam it back in, in the dark.