Sinfonia Drammatica was awesome.
Okay, now that that’s out of the way, let’s get into this review. Last year my favorite composers, Chris Huelsbeck, organized a concert called Symphonic Shades, rearranging some of his classics from the 80s, such as R-Type and the Great Gianna Sisters music. At more or less the same time, Shimomura was recording Drammatica, an album featuring many of her classic tracks, such as ones from Legend of Mana and Kingdom Hearts.
On the 4th of August, 2009, they were brought together for a 2-hour concert in an East-meets-West fashion. We had interviewed the two of them about this project before the show, and now here’s the review of the concert. Spoilers: It was awesome.
Check after the jump to find out why this was one of the best game concerts I’ve ever been to!
The concert was held in the Stockholm Konserthuset, a wonderful venue right in the center of Stockholm. The building was decorated with several banners and posters, and even a couple torches and a red carpet. At this point I was somewhat apprehensive–I was worried because I had been to a few game concerts previously, and one of the things that I find somewhat condescending is what a lot of concerts do: they try to turn a classical concert into a rock concert. While that format is definitely fun, I’m really curious to see how those concerts would be received by the general public if they were presented as serious affairs rather than a feast of recognition for the fans.
My fears were abated, however, as soon as I entered the hallway. No lasers, no smoke machines, no backing track and no display screen with footage of the games. This was what I was hoping for: a serious concert that even people without game knowledge could appreciate.
As the concert began, conductor Arnie Roth announced briefly that he would not be talking as much as usual, since we had received printed lists of the concert’s song list. However, he did want to point out that both of the composers were at the concert!
The evening’s set list was as follows:
01. Opening Fanfare – Grand Monster Slam (Huelsbeck)
02. X-Out (Huelsbeck)
03. The 13th Anthology – Kingdom Hearts (Shimomura)
04. Birds in the Sky, Fish in the River – Live a Live (Shimomura)
05. The Other Promise – Kingdom Hearts (Shimomura)
06. Gem’X (Huelsbeck)
07. Colors of the Land – Legend of Mana (Shimomura)
08. Apidya II Suite (Heulsbeck)
09. Main Theme – R-Type (Huelsbeck)
10. Echoes of the Spiral – Legend of Mana (Shimomura)
11. Main Theme – Jim Power in “Mutant Planet” (Huelsbeck)
12. The Great Giana Sisters Suite (Huelsbeck)
13. Title Theme – Legend of Mana (Shimomura)
14. Destati – Kingdom Hearts (Shimomura)
15. My Hometown Domina – Legend of Mana (Shimomura)
16. Turrican II: Piano Concerto (Huelsbeck)
17. (Encore) Fantasia – Kingdom Hearts (Shimomura)
Opening the concert were two of Hulsbeck’s lesser known songs, followed by several tracks from Shimomura–first “Opening Fanfare” from Grand Monster Slam, and a medley from X-Out. These tracks were beautiful and showed off a dynamic range that would characterise the entire concert.
A trio of Shimomura’s tracks, also tracks I wasn’t intimately familiar with, followed: “The 13th Anthology” from Kingdom Hearts, followed by “Birds in the Sky, Fish in the River” from the SNES classic Live a Live, and finally “The Other Promise” from Kingdom Hearts. At this point it was perfectly clear that this concert would work really well. I had been somewhat worried that the two composers wouldn’t sound cohesive next to one another, and that it would feel like two half-concerts stuck together, but my fears were unfounded to say the least. While each composer has their own distinct style, with Shimomura leaning more towards melodic, dreamy stuff and Huelsbeck’s work being more atmospheric and dynamic, they both suited and complemented each other.
The concert lasted for at least two hours, and among the pieces performed were some of my all time favorite songs by both composers–“Colors of the Land” from Legend of Mana (Shimomura), “Great Giana Sisters” (Huelsbeck), “Legend of Mana Title Theme” (Shimomura), and to close, a fantastic Turrican II piano suite (Huelsbeck), played fantastically by pianist Stefan Lindgren. But even the tracks that I’d never heard before were simply amazing, wonderfully arranged and a joy to listen to.
At the end of the concert, the standing ovation was seemingly endless. The two composers were called out to the stage and took their bows, but the audience wouldn’t let this be the end. After at least five minutes of solid applause, Arnie Roth came back and held up a finger, mouthing “one more.” The track they chose to go out with? None other than the beautiful “Fantasia” from Kingdom Hearts, a medley that combines some of the most famous melodies from the game. Absolutely fantastic.
One final note: as the concert came to a close and people went back home, I took a quick glance around the audience to see what kind of people had been attending. To my great pleasure, aside from the great number of computer game fans, there were also several middle-aged and elderly people, and they looked like they had as good a time at the concert as any of the geeks. That’s what these concerts are all about to me–reaching out to a greater audience, and showing that game music is every bit as exciting and spectacular as anything from the classic romantic composers.
[Photos provided by Diana Jakobsson]
It’s always exciting when composers are in attendance at a concert. It usually makes for an interesting event.
[…] OSV-Konzertkritik… […]
Man, I would have killed to have known about this concert and been able to go to it. Drammatica is seriously my favorite cd ever made and is the reason why I decided I had to go to Symphonic Fantasies no matter what.
My spouse and i got absolutely fulfilled that Ervin managed to conclude his research via the precious recommendations he received out of the site. It’s not at all simplistic just to continually be giving away guides which men and women could have been making money from. Therefore we remember we now have the website owner to give thanks to for this. All the explanations you have made, the easy site menu, the friendships you will give support to foster – it’s got mostly extraordinary, and it’s facilitating our son and us feel that that content is pleasurable, and that’s particularly essential. Many thanks for all the pieces!
I don’t know whether it’s just me or if everyboidy else experiencing issues with your blog.
It appears like some of the text within your content are runningg off
the screen. Can someone else plezse comment and let me know if this is happening too them ass well?
This mmight be a issue with my browser because I’ve had
this happen before. Many thanks
My website; independent call girls in lahore
I have been browsing online more than three hours nowadays, yet I never discovered any fascinating article like yours. It is pretty value sufficient for me. In my view, if all webmasters and bloggers made just right content as you did, the internet might be much more helpful than ever before.
I am constantly searching online for articles that can benefit me. Thanks!
Great paintings! This is the type of information that are supposed to be shared across the web. Disgrace on the search engines for now not positioning this publish higher! Come on over and visit my website . Thank you =)
I have not checked in here for a while as I thought it was getting boring, but the last few posts are great quality so I guess I’ll add you back to my everyday bloglist. You deserve it my friend 🙂
I just couldn’t go away your web site before suggesting that I extremely enjoyed the standard information an individual supply on your guests? Is gonna be back incessantly in order to check out new posts
Wonderful blog! I found it while browsing on Yahoo News. Do you have any suggestions on how to get listed in Yahoo News? I’ve been trying for a while but I never seem to get there! Thank you
You completed various fine points there. I did a search on the subject and found nearly all folks will have the same opinion with your blog.
An fascinating dialogue is price comment. I believe that it’s best to write extra on this topic, it may not be a taboo subject but usually persons are not sufficient to speak on such topics. To the next. Cheers
Fantastic blog you have here but I was wanting to know if you knew of any forums that cover the same topics discussed here? I’d really like to be a part of group where I can get responses from other experienced individuals that share the same interest. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Thanks!
What’s Taking place i am new to this, I stumbled upon this I have found It positively useful and it has helped me out loads. I hope to contribute & help other users like its aided me. Good job.
Good day! I know this is somewhat off topic but I was wondering if you knew where I could locate a captcha plugin for my comment form? I’m using the same blog platform as yours and I’m having trouble finding one? Thanks a lot!
Hey! Do you know if they make any plugins to help with SEO? I’m trying to get my blog to rank for some targeted keywords but I’m not seeing very good gains. If you know of any please share. Many thanks!
Good day! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a team of volunteers and starting a new project in a community in the same niche. Your blog provided us valuable information to work on. You have done a marvellous job!
I actually wanted to send a small comment to be able to thank you for all of the unique guidelines you are giving at this site. My particularly long internet look up has finally been recognized with reliable strategies to go over with my friends and classmates. I ‘d point out that we readers are definitely fortunate to live in a fine community with very many special people with very helpful hints. I feel pretty blessed to have come across your site and look forward to really more fabulous minutes reading here. Thanks again for everything.
Do you mind if I quote a couple of your posts as long as I provide credit and sources back to your weblog? My blog site is in the exact same area of interest as yours and my visitors would really benefit from some of the information you present here. Please let me know if this ok with you. Thank you!
We are a gaggle of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our community. Your site provided us with useful info to paintings on. You’ve performed an impressive process and our whole community might be thankful to you.
Hello! I know this is kinda off topic however , I’d figured I’d ask. Would you be interested in trading links or maybe guest writing a blog post or vice-versa? My blog covers a lot of the same topics as yours and I believe we could greatly benefit from each other. If you’re interested feel free to shoot me an email. I look forward to hearing from you! Wonderful blog by the way!
Thanks for another wonderful post. Where else could anyone get that kind of info in such an ideal way of writing? I’ve a presentation next week, and I am on the look for such information.
I’ve been surfing online more than three hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. It’s pretty worth enough for me. In my view, if all site owners and bloggers made good content as you did, the net will be a lot more useful than ever before.
you could have a great blog here! would you prefer to make some invite posts on my blog?
Thanks , I have just been searching for information about this subject for ages and yours is the best I have discovered so far. But, what about the conclusion? Are you sure about the source?
I will right away clutch your rss feed as I can not find your e-mail subscription hyperlink or newsletter service. Do you have any? Kindly let me understand so that I may subscribe. Thanks.
Do you mind if I quote a couple of your posts as long as I provide credit and sources back to your blog? My website is in the exact same area of interest as yours and my visitors would genuinely benefit from some of the information you present here. Please let me know if this okay with you. Thanks!
Well I really enjoyed studying it. This post provided by you is very practical for accurate planning.
My spouse and i ended up being so excited Chris could complete his inquiry through your precious recommendations he got from your very own blog. It’s not at all simplistic to simply be offering guides that people today could have been making money from. So we realize we have got you to give thanks to because of that. The type of explanations you have made, the simple website navigation, the relationships you will aid to foster – it is mostly excellent, and it is helping our son and the family feel that the article is exciting, which is quite pressing. Many thanks for the whole lot!