[News] Symphonic Fantasies Concert to Celebrate Music of Square Enix

Excellent! All we need is a German-to-English translator, and someone knowledgeable about VGM (to identify tracks) and we can have some sort of subbing project

Provided, of course, that it won't get GFF in any sort of trouble! Think it will?

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

Great idea, most of the pieces have already been identified on YT in KajunW's videos, except for the Kingdom Hearts medley i'm afraid:

YouTube - Symphonic Fantasies - Final Fantasy medley part 1/2
YouTube - Symphonic Fantasies - Chrono medley part 1/2
YouTube - Symphonic Fantasies - Secret of Mana medley part 1/2
YouTube - Symphonic Fantasies - Final Boss Medley

KH:
YouTube - Symphonic Fantasies - Kingdom Hearts medley part 1/2

if someone can post the times there, i'm sure Kajun will edit them into the video comments.

i could do a translation of the moderation, if subbing is really serious. The only thing i don't like about this is the moderator himself. He's often polemic and even insulting to the composers and musicians. one of his quotes: "In case you wondered why the moderator has become so fat this year, it was a different one last time."
it's actually more self-insulting, but it's rather displaced for a concert.

i've tried converting the asfs into avi xvid, but there's an audioshift unfortunately. i've worked it out to about -1150ms, but i can't get more precise than about 25-50ms. i guess it's xvid that does the desynching frequently.

edit: there's a playlist of all the original songs that were put into the arrangements, a pretty cool idea i think:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_lis...CAC6B97D609A7F

Jam it back in, in the dark.

KajunW who uploaded the concert on YouTube did a good listing. (Example: Click) We can ask him to use it.

EDIT: Damn, was too slow.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Epic!
I think this word describes the concert best ;-) (I'm joining Teioh here, as we already planned at the concert *g*)

First of all I want to say that I really liked all four suites, so it's a tough job to rate them. I also knew all the tracks which were used for the suites. I have never played Kingdom Hearts, so maybe I'm not that good for judging how the music works in the game (I usually appreciate a track a lot more if it works for the situation in the game). However I played both Chrono Trigger Chrono Cross (and even Radical Dreamers), and also parts 7, 8,9 and 10 of the Final Fantasy series (still playing part 10 at the moment). Seiken Densetsu 2 / Secret of Mana goes without saying, I could even say it started my journey into the VGM world. It was also my first homemade gamerip of a SNES game on tape. Sadly the tape got lost some time ago

Anyway, I would place Seiken Densetsu on first position, even if I "liked" the Chrono suite better (it's one of my favorite games). However the arranging work for this title was exceptionally good. I would never have imagined to use the choir to simulate the various weather effect / sounds they did. I also was very sceptical when I saw that they included "The Oracle" into the suite, but it really turned out very good. All in all the suite sounded very natural and organic, meaning that I did no hear any harsh or unnatural / unpleasant transitions between the different "segments". This organic feeling applies to all the suites, so from my perspective Jonne Valtonen did a wonderful job.

Next and therefore on the second place comes the Chrono Suite. I consider myself a big fan of the Chrono series. The combination of RPG, the time-travel setting, the awesome storyline (and of course storytelling) and how they connected the Chrono Cross storyline to the Chrono Trigger one, everything of this three games makes the series into a real gem for me.
I also consider Chrono Cross one of the best works by Yasunori Mitsuda, who is moreover one of my favorite composers. Therefore I was very eager to hear how the arranging turned out. Large parts of the Chrono Cross soundtrack are very acoustic, so I can imagine that the arranging was a tricky job.

I really liked it how they started with the "The Premonition" track from CT and quickly transitioned into "Scars of Time" from CC, one of my favorite tracks on the CC album. Speaking of "Scars of Time", I think I was a good decision to use this track as a "frame" for the suite (what I mean is that the suite begins with the mix of "The Premonition" and "Scars of Time" and also ends with "Scars of Time"). It's a very powerful track, but also has it's soft moments - a good choice for the suite's finale.

After a bit more of "Scars of Time" comes the "Chrono Trigger" segment. I don't think I have to say much here. We already know lots of orchestrated versions of the main theme, but hearing it live is just so different!

(more to come)

EDIT:
@Zergrinch: The ASF contains WMV3 encoded videa and WMA audio. I don't think you can mux the container into a Matroska one without reencoding the whole stream. Like Sorcerer88 already found out this usually breaks the AV-sync. I don't think there is much we can do here. I'm also not happy with a ASF rip, but the quality is acceptable and at least the AV-sync is correct

Additional Spam:

Originally Posted by Hamu-Sumo

Photos are up. Enjoy! Click me

They don't seem to be downloadable, or I'm simple too dumb to operate Picasa properly. I also tried to copy the album over to my Picasa account, but even this does not work.

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

Originally Posted by Sorcerer88

here's a 256kbs mp3 cut:
MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service

edit: there's an error in the second track, secret of mana, at about 8:26, where it stops and repeats from some seconds earlier. should be repairable though.

Thanks a lot for the MP3 cut, Sorcerer88! I don't think there's an error in Secret of Mana Suite, but in Final Fantasy Suite, at 9:42, in the "Clash on the Big Bridge" introduction, there's a little interruption. I couldn't fix this problem, though.

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

I'm getting an error with the Chrono suite, during the end where the video appears to stutter like mad (a few missed frames perhaps?) The rest is fine.

Here's a prelim attempt, on something very readily translate-able (OWA)

This content has been hidden by the poster

I was speaking idiomatically.

Quote:

Thanks a lot for the MP3 cut, Sorcerer88! I don't think there's an error in Secret of Mana Suite, but in Final Fantasy Suite, at 9:42, in the "Clash on the Big Bridge" introduction, there's a little interruption.

Sorry, the error is at 8:48, not 8:26, the audio stops and begins from a few seconds earlier. What you've found is another jump, so it seems like this cut is a bit broken and we'll need to find another one.. just to clarify, it's not my cut anyways, found it on a forum. There was another 192 kbs cut which didn't seem to have these problems, although i'm not sure it was fine either, but unfortunately i lost the link.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I'd like to add that the moderator was an idiot. Seems like he tried to be funny, but totally failed in doing so.

Like Sorcerer88 said, his comments were not suited for a concert moderation. Especially his comment about the darbuka (Rony Barrak's goblet drum) was totally misplaced ("... he's bringing along his Darbuka this evening. And no, that's no 22year old russian model..."). That's not even misplaced, that's insulting. I have no idea why they let this jerk do the moderation.

Next time let Winfried Fechner do the moderation, he's 100 times better than this clown. Or let Arnie Roth do it. I mean, there was such a large amount of international guests who probably didn't understand anything from the MC (however that was a real advantage this time...).

Or let multiple persons do the moderation: Every composers introduces his own suite, even if he/she only says a few words. Nobody excepts absolutely perfect english here, but it surely would be 100 times more authentic and likable than what I saw and heard this time.

FELIPE NO

Got back from Germany last night.

We had the most amazing travel group, about twenty of us Finnish people (with a few others). At first we were only going to the second concert in Cologne, but things... happened.

We had a scheduled unofficial meeting with all the composers on the day of the first concert in Oberhausen. Met with them, got cds signed, asked them a bunch of questions, photos taken (I had a buddy shot with Mitsuda, which was great) etc. Then the manager (or some other handyman) asked if we liked to attend the concert in Oberhausen after all. I had just myself already bought a ticket for myself the day before (there were still very good seats left, btw), but the rest of the group just instantly decided to hop on a train to Oberhausen and go see the first concert, for free. So we all went there, but let us not speak of that venue ever again.

The concert in the Philharmonie the next day was excellent. Even though the "solo" pianist really messed up his own part, even the Kingdom Hearts movement was good that day. My affection towards the Secret of Mana one grew even more, and I cried again a little bit during the Chrono movement. The only one that left me almost unemotional was the Final Fantasy suite of all things. Mostly because of the overuse of the Chocobo theme. It's quite an annoying melody, and if it's in the background of every single theme in the medley. GRAAH.

But I have to applaude Jonne Valtonen for his arrangements, they really are inspired and interesting to listen to, after the near-direct translitterations of originals that Play! had, for example. I especially liked how the Secret of Mana suite sounded quite much like something out of Einojuhani Rautavaara's pen. Some clear influences there, that fit like a nail in the head with the weird atmosphere Secret of Mana has all around the game and soundtrack. Nice job.

The MC was quite dull. The Kölsch joke was funny, though. And so true.

Too bad I didn't really have the energy to seek out the GF crew after the concert, I just went with my own regular posse. I briefly tried to listen around the lobby of the concert hall, but all the groups were speaking in English, so I didn't attempt to approach any of them and ask them if it was GF. Silly, shy me.

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

Originally Posted by Sorcerer88

Sorry, the error is at 8:48, not 8:26, the audio stops and begins from a few seconds earlier. What you've found is another jump, so it seems like this cut is a bit broken and we'll need to find another one.. just to clarify, it's not my cut anyways, found it on a forum. There was another 192 kbs cut which didn't seem to have these problems, although i'm not sure it was fine either, but unfortunately i lost the link.

You're right, now I noticed this jump in "The Oracle" introduction. Is this the 192 kpbs cut that you mentioned? However, the file format is .aac, and isn't splitted in tracks.

MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service

How ya doing, buddy?

Fanfare overture (3:13)


Fantasy I
=========
Dearly Beloved (0:00-0:20, 9:26-12:51, 13:41-14:01, 14:29-14:50)
Sora (0:21-1:37, 2:51-3:04, 4:19-4:25, 12:34-12:39)
Hand in Hand (1:38-2:50, 3:05-3:20, 14:51-16:25)
Kairi (3:21-4:18)
The Other Promise (4:26-7:30)
Happy Holidays! (7:31-9:25)
A Fight to the Death (12:52-14:57)


Fantasy II
==========
Fear of the Heavens (0:00-4:46, 8:03-8:26, 10:11-11:18, 16:09-18:12)
Into the Thick of it (4:47-6:18)
Eternal Recurrence (6:19-8:02, 9:45-10:10)
The Oracle (8:27-8:40, 11:19-13:16)
Prophecy (8:41-9:44)
Phantom and...A Rose... (13:17-16:08)


Fantasy III
===========
A Premonition (0:00-0:30, 12:30-13:09)
Scars of Time (0:19-3:33, 3:45-4:25, 7:06-7:20, 12:39-13:14, 16:05-17:17)
Battle with Magus (1:16-1:25, 3:34-3:44, 8:26-8:40, 12:39-14:43)
Chrono Trigger (2:16-3:33, 16:23-17:17)
Peaceful Days (4:26-6:12)
Gale (6:13-8:25)
Brink of Death (6:22-8:25)
Prisoners of Fate (8:41-11:52)
Outskirts of Time (11:53-12:29)
Frog's Theme (14:44-16:22)


Fantasy IV
==========
Prelude (0:00-2:11)
Let the Battles Begin! (2:12-4:02)
One-Winged Angel (4:03-4:07)
Cologne de Chocobo (4:08-6:22, 11:43-12:11)
Phantom Forest (6:23-9:21)
Battle at the Big Bridge (9:22-11:21)
Final Fantasy (11:22-11:42, 14:35-18:07)
Bombing Mission (12:12-14:34)


Encore
======
Destati (0:00-1:31)
Meridian Dance (1:32-3:01)
Lavos's Theme (3:02-3:58)
One-Winged Angel (3:59-4:07, 6:23-7:42)
Rony Barrak-Solo (4:08-6:22)
Fanfare finale (7:43-8:06)

Time stamps of course incompatible with the recordings available on the net.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Thanks for the detailed info, Prime Blue. However, "The Other Promise" is missing in Kingdom Hearts Suite.

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

I;m pretty sure that Prisoners of Fate also transitions into "To Far Away Times." It's a much slower version, but it is there none the less.

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

Originally Posted by ZiggyGo

I;m pretty sure that Prisoners of Fate also transitions into "To Far Away Times." It's a much slower version, but it is there none the less.

You're right! I forgot to mention this too.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Revoc

Thanks for the detailed info, Prime Blue. However, "The Other Promise" is missing in Kingdom Hearts Suite.

Indeed, I made a mistake there. I inattentively typed "Dearly Beloved" instead of "The Other Promise" and when I checked the list later, I saw that I had "Dearly Beloved" twice, deleted the second entry and put the 4:26-7:30 part in the brackets in the first line.

Originally Posted by ZiggyGo

I;m pretty sure that Prisoners of Fate also transitions into "To Far Away Times." It's a much slower version, but it is there none the less.

You mean the harp at 10:54, before the actual OST beginning of "Prisoners of Fate"?

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Thanks for clarifying, Prime Blue.

In this YouTube video is possible to listen the "To Far Away Times" melody in 3:13, after "Prisoners of Fate".
YouTube - Symphonic Fantasies - Chrono medley part 2/2

FELIPE NO

Yeah, that's where I was talking about Revoc! On a similar note, I just love the whole layering of various themes in the Chrono suite.

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

Kikuta already posted a blog entry about the concert. Apparently, he was very surprised about being picked up from Cologne Central Station by Mr. and Mrs. Böcker as he couldn't imagine that, in addition to the concert management, those two also take care of the guests themselves. Looks like that familial hospitality was very enjoyable for him.

And, it turns out he didn't even ask which compositions were selected for the concert, and when he first heard the arrangement, he found it to be very unusual and daring. He enjoyed the Philharmonie concert very much and found it to be "like a dream".

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Yoko Shimomura wrote about Symphonic Fantasies in midiplex too.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Tommy Tallarico

Congrats to Thomas and the team for putting on another great show!

Rather a listen than a show.


Speaking of which, I didn't even post my impressions yet. I decided not to write a complete review as I couldn't express the experience with words and it wouldn't do the concert justice. Besides, other people have taken it upon themselves to go into great detail about the event. I have some things to remark, though. The criticism first:

• The moderator was completely unfitting for the event, at times making jokes that came off disrespectful to the composers (about Kikuta: "And, in addition to that, he probably composes music for anime series, picking his nose while in a traffic jam"), taking away a lot of credit for Mitsuda, and compulsively trying to create an acceptive mood in the audience ("Stimmung") by asking attendants how they feel, if they enjoy the concert etc. Making the audience "beg" for an encore by crying out loud was equally embarrassing. You could have had that at least a bit more classy: "You know, we still have one additional piece prepared for you. Would you like to hear it?"
  Opdenhövel was fine last year, but I think a moderator from the public broadcasters would be the best choice (I would like to have Fechner on stage, even: he did the emceeing for PROMS before). But, well, anyone is better than JBK...
  
• Somehow, the MC team also got a few names wrong. Roth was constantly pronounced "Rooth" and Hiroki Kikuta was given as "Yuki Hiroki" first (which was also the name in a faulty version of the WDR4 program on their site).
  
• The WDR is one of the biggest German broadcasters and the live video stream was a godly innovation, but the chroma key image looks a bit...spartan. For comparison, see the VOICES DVD right.
  
  
• Actually, the whole CI seemed a bit too quirky for such a festive event. I don't know if Stefan Ellerich from EllisDesign was responsible for it, as it would be a heavy department from his very noble previous works.

That said, these were just minor problems. Comparing the concert to a painting, one could say that the "frame" was a bit dirty but the picture itself, the music, was flawless. It was my favorite SGMC so far (with the fourth one in 2006 coming immediately after and the 5th SGMC ranking in third). The Secret of Mana suite was my most anticipated and it easily elevated up to the top as my favorite arrangement of this evening. As Mr. Kikuta said, very unusual and daring, and that's what made it so attractive to me. The usage of the orchestra and choir for sound effects was brilliant, kudos to Jonne! The whistling in "Eternal Recurrence" sounded like the laments of Undine. For a few seconds, at the very end of the suite, I closed my eyes and I could have sworn I stood in front of the Tree of Mana. Simply put: touching and innovative, two things you can always expect from this concert series.

EDIT: Funny little sidenote I forgot to mention...

One female violinist of the orchestra was so impressed with Barrak's improvisation that she sat there with her jaw wide open for the whole solo, shaking her head in disbelief at the moment where the audience started to clap. Unfortunately, the camera didn't catch her so the stream viewers couldn't see it.

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

Originally Posted by Prime Blue

which was also the name in a faulty version of the WDR4 program on their site

Actually I wrote them a mail about this error. This was maybe a bit more than one week before the concert, but I didn't check if they really fixed it. However they replied rather quickly (<24h) that they had forwarded my mail to the responsible person.

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

I must say, I was disappointed with certain aspects of the Final Fantasy suite. Compared to the Chrono suite, it didn't seem as cohesive. Of course, the choppiness and sudden breaks were among the suite's best moments -- what I'm talking about is rather an almost cut-and-paste feel it had... namely, the way that Prelude and Bombing Mission were basically just Hamaguchi's arrangements with a few alterations. That was a big let down. Speaking of Bombing Mission, its inclusion felt somewhat redundant after hearing such a wonderful rendition of the FF7 battle theme. We don't need two FF7 action pieces in such limited space. It seems like that time should have been given to a world map theme or something.

I was glad that they didn't play One Winged Angel for the billionth time. Well, they did eventually... but not without poking a dozen holes in it.

While on the subject of the encore, I think World Revolution would have been a better final boss theme representing the Chrono Series.

I don't mean to sound like a whiner, because it was an awesome concert. I just wanted to address those things.

I was speaking idiomatically.

monferd: Maybe World Revolution is too complex to put it for less than two minutes in a medley but I agree with you it represents the "final boss" theme more than Lavos' Theme.

Prime Blue: I definitely second your wish for Fechner as the MC. I like his voice and how he describe things. While listening to him you know that he knows what he talks about. If he says he's too old for the rather young audience I have strongly to deny that.
Furthermore, Opdenhövel was also fine last year.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Chrono Trigger has three Lavos battle theme. Yes, World Revolution sounds the most grand, but to use the "final" boss battle theme would mean using the less decidedly grand (and plainly named "Last Battle"

FELIPE NO

Well, in any case, I think we can all agree that hearing World Revolution played by an orchestra would be too awesome for the human mind to comprehend.

And if they threw in Opressed People from FF7, I would probably crap my pants (not just because it would sound amazing, but because I honestly don't think it will ever be arranged). If that happened, I would literally have to get shot in the kneecap to consider it a bad night.

How ya doing, buddy?