Distant Worlds isn’t so distant
At the beginning of the week, Square Enix announced that they would be conducting a new world tour in honor of the 20th anniversary of the original Final Fantasy release. The new tour, “Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY” will feature music from all the numbered games up to XI (excluding X-2). To keep from writing it all again, here is the news post I made on Square Haven:
The first performance will be held in Stockholm, Sweden on December 4th 2007 and performed by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and Choir. During the performance, large screens will display videos and art stills to help enhance the experience.
The tour will then make its American debut in Chicago on March 1st 2008. Both concerts will be conducted by award-winning music director and conductor Arnie Roth.
“I am excited to be conducting Nobuo Uematsu’s captivating music once again and to collaborate with him in this exciting new production.” Roth said when asked about the experience. Roth has worked with the Final Fantasy catalog before during the Dear Friends tour.
Prices for the Chicago performance range from $35 to $150. However, the $150 ticket also includes a meet and greet with Nobuo Uematsu himself, a copy of the “Distant Worlds” album, and a special tour program book.
No other dates have been announced as of this article
Concert Program Not in concert order, subject to change:
- FINAL FANTASY series: Main Theme, Swing de Chocobo
- FINAL FANTASY I-III: Medley
- FINAL FANTASY III DS: Opening
- FINAL FANTASY IV: Theme of Love
- FINAL FANTASY V: Dear Friends
- FINAL FANTASY VI: Opera “Maria and Draco”
- FINAL FANTASY VII: One-Winged Angel, Opening - Bombing Mission, Aerith’s Theme
- FINAL FANTASY VIII: Liberi Fatali, Fisherman’s Horizon, Love Grows, Don’t be Afraid
- FINAL FANTASY IX: Vamo’ alla Flamenco
- FINAL FANTASY X: To Zanarkand
- FINAL FANTASY XI: Memoro de la Stono - Distant Worlds
Along with the concert premiere in Stockholm, a new album bearing the same name as the tour will be released. The music was performed by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and Choir and will feature much to the music from the two hour concert. There is no word yet on how much the CD will retail for.
Track Listing Run time 75min:
- Opening - Bombing Mission (FINAL FANTASY VII)
- Medley (FINAL FANTASY I-III)
- Theme of Love (FINAL FANTASY IV)
- Liberi Fatali (FINAL FANTASY VIII)
- Aerith’s Theme (FINAL FANTASY VII)
- Swing de Chocobo (FINAL FANTASY series)
- Memoro de la Stono - Distant Worlds (FINAL FANTASY XI)
- Opera “Maria and Draco” (FINAL FANTASY VI)
- Love Grows (FINAL FANTASY VIII)
- Don’t be Afraid (FINAL FANTASY VIII)
- Fisherman’s Horizon (FINAL FANTASY VIII)
- Vamo’ alla Flamenco (FINAL FANTASY IX)
- One-Winged Angel (FINAL FANTASY VII)
I am extremely excited about this. I was never able to attend the Dear Friends or More Friends concerts, so having a new tour gives me another opportunity. I’d love to attend the Chicago one if possible and do the full Meet & Greet. Uematsu has been one of my heroes for a very long time, and even though I probably wouldn’t stand out in his mind, it would be a wonderful memory for me. If I do get an opportunity to attend, I will do a full write-up for VGMe about the experience as I know there are thousands of people out there who would love to attend but simply can’t.
The concert has brought up something that I may make into a post series in the future about my beliefs on what makes a good soundtrack. For every exceptional soundtrack I have heard, there are three or four that are mediocre or simply terrible. There are a lot of things that can make the soundtrack good or bad and so I’ll probably explore them in further detail in upcoming posts. For now though, I’ll leave you with concert-versions of Final Fantasy music to commemorate the news.
MUSIC
As the name would imply, 20020220 is a live recording of a Final Fantasy performed on February 20th 2002. This was the first live recording of its type for the Final Fantasy franchise and was wildly popular among fans. It features music up to Final Fantasy X, and many of the tracks used in the program have found their way into subsequent concerts such as "Liberi Fatali" and "One-Winged Angel."
Being the fan of Final Fantasy VIII that I am, I love this track and especially this live rendition. The choir is powerful and spot-on. Every piece of this song falls into place nicely and the natural draw of a live performance only enhances the emotion behind the composition. Hamaguchi's orchestral arrangement does what it needs to keep true to the original song while enhancing it through a full orchestra. It's an impressive start to a wonderful album.
Nobuo Uematsu - Scene I Final Fantasy Symphonic Suite
The Final Fantasy Symphonic Suite is the grand-daddy of orchestral Final Fantasy albums. Originally released in 1989, Symphonic Suite features the music of the first two Final Fantasy titles arranged for orchestra by Katsuhisa Hattori and his son Takayuki. The tracks were performed by the Tokyo Symphonic Orchestra and conducted by Katsuhisa Hattori as well. An interesting thing about the album is the naming scheme used for the tracks. None of them feature the names given to the originals for the soundtrack and instead follow a numbered sequence prefixed by the word "Scene."
Scene I is the main theme of Final Fantasy II, and a wonderful version at that. For being the original, Hattori did a splendid job of transcribing the 8-bit composition to a fully-fledged orchestral masterpiece. There is not much to say other than every time I hear it, I have to stop for a moment to fully enjoy it.
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