[Album] Chocobo Dungeon ~Coi Vanni Gialli~ [SSCX-10016]

Chocobo no Fushigina Dungeon COI VANNI GIALLI
Catalogue Number SSCX-10016
Publisher Digicube
Composition Masashi Hamauzu
Arrangement Masashi Hamauzu & Yasuo Sako
First Printing February 05, 1998
Out of Print February 04, 2000
Price ?2718


- Playing Time 40:51
01 Prologue 0:22
02 Wodan (Fight Chocobo!) 4:07
03 La Nymphe (Whisper of Water) 4:38
04 In Dem Undergrund (Searching for the Illusionary Item) 3:46
05 The Action (The First Dungeon) 3:53
06 L'Illusion (Unresting Wings) 3:56
07 Theme M (Chocobo Village) 2:46
08 Le Petit Prince (Atora's Theme) 3:55
09 La Porphétie(A Mystery) 3:35
10 La Magie (Searching for You) 3:56
11 Coi Vanni Gialli (After the Battle) 5:57

This album is one the few album arranged by Hamauzu in his early career on Squaresoft. The album was released in 1998, a year after his composition for Chocobo Mysterious Dungeon I OST [SSCX-10014] published.

In this 40:51 duration album, we listen to arrangement of the Chocobo Mysterious Dungeon, done by collaboration of Masashi Hamauzu himself (track 1, 2, 3 , 6, 7 11) and Yasuo Sako (4, 5, 8, 9, 10).

The music in this album is done very well. Piano is the essence of this album. Most of the tracks are done by piano, either as main instrument or as companion in the orchestra. The nuance of the music is very classical-like, I got impression of listening of Chopinesque piano concerto and string quartet.

The quality of the string is very good, I couldnt tell whether it's real or synthesized, though the brass sounds lame.

The album introduces us a 22 second violin prelude of arranged Chocobo theme in gramophone quality, the full version is actually on the track 7. The real introduction is actually in the next track, "Wodan", a very powerful arrangement of last boss theme in Chocobo Dungeon. Yasuo Sako also has done very good orchestration in the track 04 In dem untergrund. Contrary to Hamauzu's favourism of using piano and string as the main instrument for his music, Yasuo Sako tend to use piano as background accompaniment.

My favorite track in this album are Wodan, Theme M, and Coi Vanni Gialli. Theme M is a very well done arrangement of Chocobo's theme composed by Hamauzu in very classical style. I will compare this song with Schubert's Scherzo from "Trout" String quartet. Not to mention, this song appears three time, in the track 01, track 07, and track 11 (after fade out).

I must praise Hamauzu and Sako for the superb arrangement in this entire album. This cd could stand alone, without label of Chocobo Mysterious Dungeon in it. Hamauzu and Sako prove themselves as excellent arranger and orchestrator. This cd is excellent and a very nice treat of those who are looking of VGM done in classical style.

5/5

Jam it back in, in the dark.

hmm, I'm just curious, is this album done by synthesizer of a real orchestra? The string sounds really real for my ears, though the brass sounds bit digital.

There's nowhere I can't reach.