Symphonic Game Music Concert
Encyclopedia
The Symphonic Game Music Concerts are a series of award-winning, annual German video game music concerts initiated in 2003, notable for being the longest running and the first of their kind outside of Japan. They are produced by Thomas Böcker
and performed by various orchestras conducted by Andy Brick
(2003–2007), Arnie Roth
(2008, 2009 and 2011), and Niklas Willén
(2010, 2012).
From 2003 to 2007, GC in Concert took place at the Gewandhaus zu Leipzig
and was held as the official opening ceremony of the GC - Games Convention
, a trade fair for video games in Leipzig
. In 2008, the cancellation of the concert by the Leipzig Trade Fair
resulted in a cooperation with the WDR
, eventually spawning new video game music performances by its in-house ensembles, principally presented at the Cologne Philharmonic Hall.
trilogy provided him with many contacts to conductors, orchestras and composers from around the world.
Inspired by game concerts from Japan, the Orchestral Game Music Concerts
from the 1990s
in particular, he developed a concept for the first event of this kind outside of Japan. To attract as many people from the target audience as possible, the concert was to be scheduled alongside an established event connected to the game industry. In 2002, he proposed his idea to the Leipzig Trade Fair which agreed to hold the Symphonic Game Music Concert during the GC - Games Convention, the first trade fair
for video games in Europe.
The Leipzig Trade Fair funded GC in Concert while Böcker himself was responsible for planning the event, inviting composers, obtaining the approval of the individual publishers to play music from their titles and assembling the concert programs. He did not want to limit the selection of compositions performed to European games, but instead opted for the best Asian, American and European titles of recent years, providing a wide range of musical styles.
Böcker's main focus with the First Symphonic Game Music Concert was to honor publishers that had worked with live orchestras before. The majority of compositions had already been recorded with this kind of ensemble in the past which reduced the development stage to four months, beginning in mid-April 2003.
Following feedback from attendants of the first event, more music from classic games was added to the programs. The concerts took Böcker almost one year each to plan and started to include more new and experimental arrangements that, instead of just being presented as an orchestral version of the source material, were based on their creators' personal interpretations of the original pieces. The pioneer work done by Böcker and his team resulted in a lot of publisher support for game concerts outside of Japan and paved the way for many similar events. The Symphonic Game Music Concerts have since become widely known for its numerous world premieres, some of which have been reused in Press Start -Symphony of Games-
, PLAY! A Video Game Symphony
and Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy. Böcker was involved with PLAY! in a leading role from 2005 to 2007, and is working as a consultant for Distant Worlds since 2007.
Favoring a more classical atmosphere, the series does not rely on showing game footage or extensive light effects
, but rather on the quality of the music and its performance. The original inspiration GC in Concert drew from the Orchestral Game Music Concerts
was reflected in the presentation and rearrangement of two of its compositions and the use of orchestra figures designed by Chisa Suzuki, akin to those depicted on the Orchestral Game Music Concert CD covers.
Many famous game music composers have attended the events and the associated autograph sessions, while Shiro Hamaguchi
, Michiru Yamane
, Yuzo Koshiro
and Takenobu Mitsuyoshi
actively participated in the series as guest arrangers and performers.
Starting from 2003, five critically acclaimed annual concerts took place in the Gewandhaus zu Leipzig, all of which attracted a sold-out crowd of 2000 people. In their role as official opening ceremonies of the GC - Games Convention, the events from 2003 to 2006 included various speeches and presentations by German politicians and spokespersons of the industry, such as game designer Will Wright.
The First Symphonic Game Music Concert in 2003 marked the first orchestral video game music event outside of Japan. It was the only GC - Games Convention concert to feature the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, whereas subsequent events were performed by the FILMharmonic Orchestra from Prague
. Over the years, more musicians such as Seiji Honda and Rony Barrak
were introduced to support the orchestra, with the Fourth Symphonic Game Music Concert using a live choir
and the pipe organ
of the Gewandhaus for the first time.
show in the Arena Leipzig
.
Tommy Tallarico
stated that he had a mail correspondence with Böcker about having both concerts at the beginning and the end of the GC - Games Convention 2007, though both felt that it would have been too confusing for the attendants. The official reason of the Leipzig Trade Fair for cancelling the traditional concerts was that, with the Symphonic Game Music Concerts they wanted to prove to politics and the economy that video games are objects of cultural value. The disconnection of the official opening ceremony with any concerts from 2007 onwards made that requirement feel unnecessary for the Leipzig Trade Fair. According to comments by Thomas Böcker, the Leipzig Trade Fair did not inform him about the new collaboration with Video Games Live in advance and his team only took notice of it through a press release.
, taking place on August 23, 2008. Tickets for it were sold out after six days, prompting the producers to iniate a second concert that would be performed to another sold-out audience at 11 p.m. on the same day of the Symphonic Shades world premiere. The event marked the first live radio broadcast of a video game music concert.
On December 17, 2008, a critically acclaimed album with the complete Symphonic Shades program was released by Chris Hülsbeck's own label, synSONIQ Records. It contains live material from the concert that is complemented by recordings before and after the public performances. The first print of the CD is a collector's edition limited to 1000 copies and was sold out at the main retailer less than a month after the initial release. In order to ensure continuous availability of the recording, digital releases on iTunes and Amazon followed the CD, of which a second print was released on May 20, 2009. Unlike the limited collector's edition, the second print is lower in price and is shipped in standard CD trays, but still contains the booklet included with the first 1000 copies of the album, though with normal printing rather than a matte/gloss coating effect on the cover.
On August 4, 2009, eight pieces of Symphonic Shades were performed by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
at the concert Sinfonia Drammatica in the Stockholm Concert Hall, along with titles of drammatica by Yoko Shimomura
. For this occasion, Jonne Valtonen slightly revised his version of the Turrican II main theme. Additionally, the Duisburg Philharmonic performed nine arrangements from Symphonic Shades at their 3. Familienkonzert on December 3, 2009.
, on September 11, 2009. In addition to the live performances, the concert saw a radio broadcast on WDR4 and, for the first time, enabled viewers world-wide to experience the event via live video streaming. A CD edited and mixed at the WDR Studios and mastered at Abbey Road Studios was released in Japan on September 15, 2010 by Square Enix and in Germany on September 17, 2010 by the Universal Music Group
label Decca Records
. The CD entered the Media Control Charts
Germany (Classic Top-20 Charts) for sales in September 2010 at position No. 13.
Symphonic Fantasies was dedicated to Japanese developer Square Enix
and included arrangements of compositions from Final Fantasy
, Secret of Mana
, Chrono Trigger
, Chrono Cross
and Kingdom Hearts
, all of which were presented in form of suites that were up to 18 minutes in length, comparable to movements in major symphonies. This new concept was a result of Böcker's intention to introduce more musical development and creative ideas to game music arrangements. In order to select the pieces presented, the original composers were consulted to assemble a list of their personal favorites. The process also involved an intricate study of the source material and all available arrangements thereof. In the end, much emphasis was put on balancing out the concert program and the arrangements to provide an enjoyable experience for both experienced listeners and first-time attendees.
To set the mood for the performances, the concerts were opened with an original composition by Jonne Valtonen
, the "Fanfare overture". An early recording of the fanfare performed by the WDR Radio Orchestra Cologne under the direction of Niklas Willén
was made available on the official Symphonic Fantasies site. In total, the concerts received about two weeks of rehearsal time prior to their performances, more than any other game concert before.
On January 7 and January 8, 2012 the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra
and the Tokyo Philharmonic Chorus will perform Symphonic Fantasies again under the leadership of Eckehard Stier. Stier once conducted the recordings of the CD album drammatica -The Very Best of Yoko Shimomura-, and the opening fanfare of Symphonic Legends for a promotional video. Both performances of Symphonic Fantasies Tokyo were sold out within a few hours only, making it the biggest success for the producers to date. More than 4,600 fans will be in attendance.
On July 5 and July 6, 2012 the WDR Radio Orchestra and the WDR Radio Choir will also perform Symphonic Fantasies again, conducted by Niklas Willén. In 2009, Willén conducted the opening fanfare of Symphonic Fantasies for the promotion of the event, and the WDR Radio Orchestra also performed the Nintendo tribute concert Symphonic Legends under his direction in 2010.
for the first time, whereas Jonne Valtonen again served as main arranger and as composer of the opening piece called "Fanfare for the Common 8-bit Hero". Additional music was contributed by Roger Wanamo and guest arrangers Shiro Hamaguchi
, Hayato Matsuo
, Masashi Hamauzu
and Torsten Rasch
. The event focused on music from Nintendo
and featured the titles Super Mario Bros.
, Super Mario Galaxy
, Donkey Kong Country
, Metroid
, F-Zero
, StarFox
, Pikmin
and The Legend of Zelda
. Tickets for Symphonic Legends sold out on March 19, 2010.
In addition to the performance, the concert saw a live radio broadcast on WDR4 in 5.1 surround sound, a world-wide live audio streaming and live video streaming, available in Germany.
Symphonic Legends introduced several innovations to the world of video game music concerts, such as the contemporary styled arrangement of Metroid and a 35 minute Symphonic Poem
telling the story of The Legend of Zelda through symphonic music. The Legend of Zelda portion of the concert made the full second half of Symphonic Legends. This was done in five parts, Hyrulian Child, Dark Lord, Princess of Destiny, Battlefield, and Hero of Time.
On May 31, 2011, Pikmin and The Legend of Zelda were performed again by the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker at the Tonhalle Düsseldorf
.
On June 1, 2011, scores inspired by Symphonic Legends were performed by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
at the concert LEGENDS in the Stockholm Concert Hall. Different to Symphonic Legends which featured the work of six arrangers, the music of LEGENDS has been arranged by the trio Jonne Valtonen, Roger Wanamo and Masashi Hamauzu who were in attendance at the concert and Meet & Greet.
.
Tickets went on sale December 1, 2010 and sold out within 12 hours, prompting the producers to announce a second concert to be performed at 3 p.m. on the same day. With both concerts sold out, Symphonic Odysseys marked the biggest video game music event in Germany so far.
The free of charge First Chamber Music Game Concert in 2005 was held as part of the gaming tournament GC-Cup at the Augustusplatz in Leipzig, while the latter two took place in 2006, alongside a GC - Games Convention press conference event and the historical exhibition Nintendo - Vom Kartenspiel zum Game Boy of the Landesmuseum Koblenz
.
The four school concerts Heroes of Imagination in 2006 were intended to show differences and similarities between classical music
and game music and to make orchestra concerts more accessible to a younger audience. They were supported by Nintendo
, Square Enix
and Sega
. In January 2010, five additional school concerts were performed by the same orchestra. The series was entitled Super Mario Galaxy - A Musical Adventure and was the spiritual successor to the well-received Heroes of Imagination events. Modeled after and acting as a modern-day Peter and the Wolf
, the musical segments of the concerts were interspersed with narrations of the storyline of Super Mario Galaxy
, with the performances having been officially licensed and sponsored by Nintendo.
Thomas Böcker
Thomas Böcker is an award winning German producer notable for his innovative works on numerous orchestral concerts, game scores, and album releases...
and performed by various orchestras conducted by Andy Brick
Andy Brick
Andy Brick is an American composer, conductor and symphonist.A native of suburban Chicago, Brick studied composition under Leslie Bassett at the University of Michigan. He then completed graduate studies in composition at the Mannes School of Music in Manhattan. In 1990 he arranged music for Sesame...
(2003–2007), Arnie Roth
Arnie Roth
Arnold "Arnie" Roth is an American, Chicago-based Grammy Award-winning conductor, composer, and record producer, best known for conducting numerous video game concerts. He is also a classically-trained violinist and a member of the Grammy Award-winning music group Mannheim Steamroller...
(2008, 2009 and 2011), and Niklas Willén
Niklas Willén
Niklas Willén is a Swedish conductor. He was born in Stockholm and studied conducting and composition there at the Royal College of Music...
(2010, 2012).
From 2003 to 2007, GC in Concert took place at the Gewandhaus zu Leipzig
Gewandhaus
Gewandhaus is a concert hall in Leipzig, Germany. Today's hall is the third to bear this name; like the second, it is noted for its fine acoustics. The first Gewandhaus was built in 1781 by architect Johann Carl Friedrich Dauthe. The second opened on 11 December 1884, and was destroyed in the...
and was held as the official opening ceremony of the GC - Games Convention
Games Convention
The Games Convention, sometimes called the Leipzig Games Convention and abbreviated as GC, was an annual video game event held in Leipzig, Germany, first held in 2002. Besides video games, the event also covers Infotainment, Hardware, and Edutainment...
, a trade fair for video games in Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
. In 2008, the cancellation of the concert by the Leipzig Trade Fair
Leipzig Trade Fair
The Leipzig Trade Fair was a major fair for trade across Central Europe for nearly a millennium. After the Second World War, its location happened to lie within the borders of East Germany, whereupon it became one of the most important trade fairs of Comecon and was traditionally a meeting place...
resulted in a cooperation with the WDR
Westdeutscher Rundfunk
Westdeutscher Rundfunk is a German public-broadcasting institution based in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a constituent member of the consortium of German public-broadcasting institutions, ARD...
, eventually spawning new video game music performances by its in-house ensembles, principally presented at the Cologne Philharmonic Hall.
Development
Since 1999, Thomas Böcker has been working in the games industry as producer, director and advisor for a variety of soundtracks. His role as executive producer and project director of the MerregnonMerregnon
Merregnon is a soundtrack CD project for which video game music composers contribute new titles. By writing orchestral music the artists tell a story taking place in a newly created fantasy-universe....
trilogy provided him with many contacts to conductors, orchestras and composers from around the world.
Inspired by game concerts from Japan, the Orchestral Game Music Concerts
Orchestral Game Music Concerts
The were a series of Japanese video game music concerts. The events took place in Tokyo from 1991 to 1996 and were performed by different orchestras. Recordings of the concerts were released as a series of albums, which are known for their rarity....
from the 1990s
1990s
File:1990s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope floats in space after it was taken up in 1990; American F-16s and F-15s fly over burning oil fields and the USA Lexie in Operation Desert Storm, also known as the 1991 Gulf War; The signing of the Oslo Accords on...
in particular, he developed a concept for the first event of this kind outside of Japan. To attract as many people from the target audience as possible, the concert was to be scheduled alongside an established event connected to the game industry. In 2002, he proposed his idea to the Leipzig Trade Fair which agreed to hold the Symphonic Game Music Concert during the GC - Games Convention, the first trade fair
Trade fair
A trade fair is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products, service, study activities of rivals and examine recent market trends and opportunities...
for video games in Europe.
The Leipzig Trade Fair funded GC in Concert while Böcker himself was responsible for planning the event, inviting composers, obtaining the approval of the individual publishers to play music from their titles and assembling the concert programs. He did not want to limit the selection of compositions performed to European games, but instead opted for the best Asian, American and European titles of recent years, providing a wide range of musical styles.
Böcker's main focus with the First Symphonic Game Music Concert was to honor publishers that had worked with live orchestras before. The majority of compositions had already been recorded with this kind of ensemble in the past which reduced the development stage to four months, beginning in mid-April 2003.
Following feedback from attendants of the first event, more music from classic games was added to the programs. The concerts took Böcker almost one year each to plan and started to include more new and experimental arrangements that, instead of just being presented as an orchestral version of the source material, were based on their creators' personal interpretations of the original pieces. The pioneer work done by Böcker and his team resulted in a lot of publisher support for game concerts outside of Japan and paved the way for many similar events. The Symphonic Game Music Concerts have since become widely known for its numerous world premieres, some of which have been reused in Press Start -Symphony of Games-
Press Start -Symphony of Games-
Press Start -Symphony of Games- is a series of Japanese video game music concerts introduced in 2006. It was initiated by several industry professionals and is sponsored by the Japanese publishing company Enterbrain.-Development:...
, PLAY! A Video Game Symphony
Play! A Video Game Symphony
PLAY! A Video Game Symphony is a concert series that features music from video games performed by a live orchestra. The concerts from 2006 to 2010 were conducted by Arnie Roth...
and Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy. Böcker was involved with PLAY! in a leading role from 2005 to 2007, and is working as a consultant for Distant Worlds since 2007.
Favoring a more classical atmosphere, the series does not rely on showing game footage or extensive light effects
Stage lighting
Modern stage lighting is a flexible tool in the production of theatre, dance, opera and other performance arts. Several different types of stage lighting instruments are used in the pursuit of the various principles or goals of lighting. Stage lighting has grown considerably in recent years...
, but rather on the quality of the music and its performance. The original inspiration GC in Concert drew from the Orchestral Game Music Concerts
Orchestral Game Music Concerts
The were a series of Japanese video game music concerts. The events took place in Tokyo from 1991 to 1996 and were performed by different orchestras. Recordings of the concerts were released as a series of albums, which are known for their rarity....
was reflected in the presentation and rearrangement of two of its compositions and the use of orchestra figures designed by Chisa Suzuki, akin to those depicted on the Orchestral Game Music Concert CD covers.
Many famous game music composers have attended the events and the associated autograph sessions, while Shiro Hamaguchi
Shiro Hamaguchi
is a Japanese anime composer, arranger and orchestrator. He is best known for composing music to the anime franchises One Piece and Oh My Goddess! and arranging/orchestrating music in the Final Fantasy series...
, Michiru Yamane
Michiru Yamane
is a Japanese video game composer and musician. She is known primarily for her work on the Castlevania series and other Konami games, including Suikoden. Her debut composition was Twinbee...
, Yuzo Koshiro
Yuzo Koshiro
is a Japanese video game music composer and audio programmer. He is regarded as one of the most influential innovators in chiptune music and video game sound design...
and Takenobu Mitsuyoshi
Takenobu Mitsuyoshi
is a Japanese composer of video game music. He has composed music for various games produced by Sega, including Virtua Fighter 2 and Shenmue. He was also the voice actor of Bill in Sega-AM2's 1993 fighting arcade game, Burning Rival.-Biography:...
actively participated in the series as guest arrangers and performers.
GC in Concert
The First Symphonic Game Music Concert in 2003 marked the first orchestral video game music event outside of Japan. It was the only GC - Games Convention concert to feature the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, whereas subsequent events were performed by the FILMharmonic Orchestra from Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
. Over the years, more musicians such as Seiji Honda and Rony Barrak
Rony Barrak
Rony Barrak is a Lebanese percussionist popularly known for his skill in Darbouka performance.Rony is regarded as one of the greatest darbouka players in the world. His finger speed and rhythmic accuracy allow him to emulate even the sound of rapid snare drum rolls with his fingers alone.Rony held...
were introduced to support the orchestra, with the Fourth Symphonic Game Music Concert using a live choir
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
and the pipe organ
Pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...
of the Gewandhaus for the first time.
Cancellation of GC in Concert
At the beginning of 2008, a note at the official website of the Symphonic Game Music Concerts announced that no future GC - Games Convention concerts would take place at the Gewandhaus zu Leipzig. Instead, the opening ceremony in 2008 was replaced by a Video Games LiveVideo Games Live
Video Games Live is a concert series created and produced by industry veterans and video game composers Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall. The concerts consist of segments of video game music performed by a live orchestra with video footage and synchronized lighting and effects, as well as several...
show in the Arena Leipzig
Leipzig Arena
The Arena Leipzig is an indoor sporting arena located in Leipzig, Germany. The capacity of the arena is 8,000 people.It is currently the home venue of HC Leipzig a german handball team....
.
Tommy Tallarico
Tommy Tallarico
Tommy Tallarico is an American video game music composer and musician. He is best known as the co-creator of the concert series Video Games Live...
stated that he had a mail correspondence with Böcker about having both concerts at the beginning and the end of the GC - Games Convention 2007, though both felt that it would have been too confusing for the attendants. The official reason of the Leipzig Trade Fair for cancelling the traditional concerts was that, with the Symphonic Game Music Concerts they wanted to prove to politics and the economy that video games are objects of cultural value. The disconnection of the official opening ceremony with any concerts from 2007 onwards made that requirement feel unnecessary for the Leipzig Trade Fair. According to comments by Thomas Böcker, the Leipzig Trade Fair did not inform him about the new collaboration with Video Games Live in advance and his team only took notice of it through a press release.
After 2007
On account of a hint from conductor Scott Lawton, Winfried Fechner, manager of the WDR Radio Orchestra Cologne, contacted Thomas Böcker in an attempt to provide the ensemble with a fresh kind of music and was invited to attend the Fifth Symphonic Game Music Concert. Impressed by the reactions of the audience, he saw an opportunity to excite young people for orchestral music and formed a cooperation with Merregnon Studios, soon resulting in the CD release of drammatica -The Very Best of Yoko Shimomura- and the inclusion of video game music in the concert PROMS That's Sound, that's Rhythm.Symphonic Shades - Hülsbeck in Concert
In late 2007, Thomas Böcker announced that he is producing Symphonic Shades, a concert exclusively dedicated to the music of German game composer Chris HülsbeckChris Hülsbeck
Chris Hülsbeck is a video game music composer from Germany.He has written soundtracks for more than 70 titles, the latest being Star Wars: Rebel Strike for Nintendo GameCube. Many of his scores for the Commodore 64 are regarded as classics among enthusiasts today, most notably The Great Giana...
, taking place on August 23, 2008. Tickets for it were sold out after six days, prompting the producers to iniate a second concert that would be performed to another sold-out audience at 11 p.m. on the same day of the Symphonic Shades world premiere. The event marked the first live radio broadcast of a video game music concert.
On August 4, 2009, eight pieces of Symphonic Shades were performed by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra is a Swedish orchestra based in Stockholm.The orchestra was founded in 1902 as the Stockholm Concert Society . The orchestra became a permanent ensemble in 1914. Since 1926, it has been based in the Stockholm Concert Hall...
at the concert Sinfonia Drammatica in the Stockholm Concert Hall, along with titles of drammatica by Yoko Shimomura
Yoko Shimomura
is a Japanese video game composer. She has been described as "the most famous female video game music composer in the world". She has worked in the video game music industry since graduating from Osaka College of Music in 1988...
. For this occasion, Jonne Valtonen slightly revised his version of the Turrican II main theme. Additionally, the Duisburg Philharmonic performed nine arrangements from Symphonic Shades at their 3. Familienkonzert on December 3, 2009.
Symphonic Fantasies - music from Square Enix
In February 2008, Thomas Böcker mentioned some considerations about a continuation of the Symphonic Game Music Concert series in Cologne. The plans were later confirmed by Winfried Fechner who announced Symphonic Fantasies, a video game music concert that took place in the Cologne Philharmonic Hall on September 12, 2009. Tickets for the event sold out quickly, necessitating a second concert at the König-Pilsener-Arena in OberhausenOberhausen
Oberhausen is a city on the river Emscher in the Ruhr Area, Germany, located between Duisburg and Essen . The city hosts the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and its Gasometer Oberhausen is an anchor point of the European Route of Industrial Heritage. It is also well known for the...
, on September 11, 2009. In addition to the live performances, the concert saw a radio broadcast on WDR4 and, for the first time, enabled viewers world-wide to experience the event via live video streaming. A CD edited and mixed at the WDR Studios and mastered at Abbey Road Studios was released in Japan on September 15, 2010 by Square Enix and in Germany on September 17, 2010 by the Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations...
label Decca Records
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
. The CD entered the Media Control Charts
Media Control Charts
The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie...
Germany (Classic Top-20 Charts) for sales in September 2010 at position No. 13.
Symphonic Fantasies was dedicated to Japanese developer Square Enix
Square Enix
is a Japanese video game and publishing company best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Final Fantasy series, the Dragon Quest series, and the action-RPG Kingdom Hearts series...
and included arrangements of compositions from Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy
is a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and is developed and owned by Square Enix . The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and science-fantasy role-playing video games , but includes motion pictures, anime, printed media, and other merchandise...
, Secret of Mana
Secret of Mana
Secret of Mana is an action role-playing game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System developed and published by Square in 1993. The game was re-released for the Wii's Virtual Console in 2008, and was ported to Japanese mobile phones in 2009...
, Chrono Trigger
Chrono Trigger
is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1995. Chrono Triggers development team included three designers that Square dubbed the "Dream Team": Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of Square's Final Fantasy series; Yuji Horii, a...
, Chrono Cross
Chrono Cross
is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation video game console. It is the sequel to Chrono Trigger, which was released in 1995 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System...
and Kingdom Hearts
Kingdom Hearts
is an action role-playing game developed and published by Square in 2002 for the PlayStation 2 video game console. The first game in the Kingdom Hearts series, it is the result of a collaboration between Square Enix and The Walt Disney Company. The game combines characters and settings from Disney...
, all of which were presented in form of suites that were up to 18 minutes in length, comparable to movements in major symphonies. This new concept was a result of Böcker's intention to introduce more musical development and creative ideas to game music arrangements. In order to select the pieces presented, the original composers were consulted to assemble a list of their personal favorites. The process also involved an intricate study of the source material and all available arrangements thereof. In the end, much emphasis was put on balancing out the concert program and the arrangements to provide an enjoyable experience for both experienced listeners and first-time attendees.
To set the mood for the performances, the concerts were opened with an original composition by Jonne Valtonen
Jonne Valtonen
Jonne Valtonen is an award-winning Finnish composer, arranger and orchestrator. He is renowned for his contributions in the field of demoscene and video game music.- Life and early career :...
, the "Fanfare overture". An early recording of the fanfare performed by the WDR Radio Orchestra Cologne under the direction of Niklas Willén
Niklas Willén
Niklas Willén is a Swedish conductor. He was born in Stockholm and studied conducting and composition there at the Royal College of Music...
was made available on the official Symphonic Fantasies site. In total, the concerts received about two weeks of rehearsal time prior to their performances, more than any other game concert before.
On January 7 and January 8, 2012 the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra
Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra
The claims to be the oldest classical orchestra in Japan, having been founded in Nagoya in 1911. It moved to Tokyo in 1938 and has some 166 members as of 2005....
and the Tokyo Philharmonic Chorus will perform Symphonic Fantasies again under the leadership of Eckehard Stier. Stier once conducted the recordings of the CD album drammatica -The Very Best of Yoko Shimomura-, and the opening fanfare of Symphonic Legends for a promotional video. Both performances of Symphonic Fantasies Tokyo were sold out within a few hours only, making it the biggest success for the producers to date. More than 4,600 fans will be in attendance.
On July 5 and July 6, 2012 the WDR Radio Orchestra and the WDR Radio Choir will also perform Symphonic Fantasies again, conducted by Niklas Willén. In 2009, Willén conducted the opening fanfare of Symphonic Fantasies for the promotion of the event, and the WDR Radio Orchestra also performed the Nintendo tribute concert Symphonic Legends under his direction in 2010.
Symphonic Legends - music from Nintendo
Symphonic Fantasies was met with considerable praise and feedback from attendants, causing the announcement of another Symphonic Game Music Concert entitled Symphonic Legends. Taking place in the Cologne Philharmonic Hall on September 23, 2010 (Nintendo was founded on September 23, 1889), the complete concert was conducted by Niklas WillénNiklas Willén
Niklas Willén is a Swedish conductor. He was born in Stockholm and studied conducting and composition there at the Royal College of Music...
for the first time, whereas Jonne Valtonen again served as main arranger and as composer of the opening piece called "Fanfare for the Common 8-bit Hero". Additional music was contributed by Roger Wanamo and guest arrangers Shiro Hamaguchi
Shiro Hamaguchi
is a Japanese anime composer, arranger and orchestrator. He is best known for composing music to the anime franchises One Piece and Oh My Goddess! and arranging/orchestrating music in the Final Fantasy series...
, Hayato Matsuo
Hayato Matsuo
is a Japanese video game and anime composer, arranger and orchestrator. He has worked on titles such as Front Mission 3, Final Fantasy XII, the Shenmue series, and Magic Knight Rayearth. Inspired by his mother, a piano teacher, he graduated from the music composition department of Tokyo University...
, Masashi Hamauzu
Masashi Hamauzu
is a Japanese video game composer who was employed at Square Enix from 1996 to 2010. He is best known for his work on the Final Fantasy and SaGa series. Born into a musical family in Germany, Hamauzu was raised in Japan...
and Torsten Rasch
Torsten Rasch
Torsten Rasch is a German composer of contemporary classical music. He is best known for his 2002 song cycle for baritone and orchestra, Mein Herz brennt, based upon the music of Rammstein; among his other works is the opera Rotter, based on a work by Thomas Brasch and premiered by Oper Köln in...
. The event focused on music from Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
and featured the titles Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros.
is a 1985 platform video game developed by Nintendo, published for the Nintendo Entertainment System as a sequel to the 1983 game Mario Bros. In Super Mario Bros., the player controls Mario as he travels through the Mushroom Kingdom in order to rescue Princess Toadstool from the antagonist...
, Super Mario Galaxy
Super Mario Galaxy
is a 3D platform game developed by Nintendo EAD Tokyo and published by Nintendo for the Wii. It was released in most regions in November 2007, and is the third 3D original platformer in the Mario series, after Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine. The game follows the protagonist, Mario, on a...
, Donkey Kong Country
Donkey Kong Country
Donkey Kong Country is a side-scrolling platformer video game developed by Rare, featuring the character Donkey Kong. It was released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1994. Following an intense marketing campaign, the original SNES version sold over 8 million copies worldwide, making...
, Metroid
Metroid
is an action-adventure video game, and the first entry in the Metroid series. It was co-developed by Nintendo's Research and Development 1 division and Intelligent Systems, and was released in Japan in August 1986, in North America in August 1987, and in Europe in January 1988...
, F-Zero
F-Zero
is a futuristic racing video game developed by Nintendo EAD and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System . The game was released in Japan on November 21, 1990, in North America on August 23, 1991, and in Europe on June 4, 1992...
, StarFox
Starfox
Starfox is a fictional superhero in Marvel Comics' shared universe, the Marvel Universe. He has operated as a member of the Avengers and is one of the Eternals of Titan...
, Pikmin
Pikmin
is a strategy video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo GameCube video game console in 2001. Pikmin is the first game in the Pikmin series of video games, and the third game for the Gamecube overall. It was designed by Shigeru Miyamoto. Pikmin was released on October 26, 2001...
and The Legend of Zelda
The Legend of Zelda
The Legend of Zelda, originally released as in Japan, is a video game developed and published by Nintendo, and designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. Set in the fantasy land of Hyrule, the plot centers on a boy named Link, the playable protagonist, who aims to collect the eight fragments...
. Tickets for Symphonic Legends sold out on March 19, 2010.
In addition to the performance, the concert saw a live radio broadcast on WDR4 in 5.1 surround sound, a world-wide live audio streaming and live video streaming, available in Germany.
Symphonic Legends introduced several innovations to the world of video game music concerts, such as the contemporary styled arrangement of Metroid and a 35 minute Symphonic Poem
Symphonic poem
A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music in a single continuous section in which the content of a poem, a story or novel, a painting, a landscape or another source is illustrated or evoked. The term was first applied by Hungarian composer Franz Liszt to his 13 works in this vein...
telling the story of The Legend of Zelda through symphonic music. The Legend of Zelda portion of the concert made the full second half of Symphonic Legends. This was done in five parts, Hyrulian Child, Dark Lord, Princess of Destiny, Battlefield, and Hero of Time.
On May 31, 2011, Pikmin and The Legend of Zelda were performed again by the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker at the Tonhalle Düsseldorf
Tonhalle Düsseldorf
Tonhalle Düsseldorf is a concert hall in Düsseldorf. It was built by the architect Wilhelm Kreis.-History:It was built in 1926 as a planetarium, the biggest in the world at the point of construction. During the 1970s it was converted into a concert hall....
.
On June 1, 2011, scores inspired by Symphonic Legends were performed by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra is a Swedish orchestra based in Stockholm.The orchestra was founded in 1902 as the Stockholm Concert Society . The orchestra became a permanent ensemble in 1914. Since 1926, it has been based in the Stockholm Concert Hall...
at the concert LEGENDS in the Stockholm Concert Hall. Different to Symphonic Legends which featured the work of six arrangers, the music of LEGENDS has been arranged by the trio Jonne Valtonen, Roger Wanamo and Masashi Hamauzu who were in attendance at the concert and Meet & Greet.
Symphonic Odysseys - Tribute to Nobuo Uematsu
On July 9, 2011, the WDR Radio Orchestra presented Symphonic Odysseys at the Philharmonic Hall in Cologne. The concert exclusively paid homage to the work of composer Nobuo UematsuNobuo Uematsu
is a Japanese video game composer, best known for scoring the majority of titles in the Final Fantasy series. He is considered as one of the most famous and respected composers in the video game community...
.
Tickets went on sale December 1, 2010 and sold out within 12 hours, prompting the producers to announce a second concert to be performed at 3 p.m. on the same day. With both concerts sold out, Symphonic Odysseys marked the biggest video game music event in Germany so far.
Chamber music and school concerts
The Chamber Music Game Concerts performed by a string ensemble and the school concerts Heroes of our Imagination and Super Mario Galaxy - A Musical Adventure are three subseries of events also produced by Thomas Böcker.The free of charge First Chamber Music Game Concert in 2005 was held as part of the gaming tournament GC-Cup at the Augustusplatz in Leipzig, while the latter two took place in 2006, alongside a GC - Games Convention press conference event and the historical exhibition Nintendo - Vom Kartenspiel zum Game Boy of the Landesmuseum Koblenz
Koblenz
Koblenz is a German city situated on both banks of the Rhine at its confluence with the Moselle, where the Deutsches Eck and its monument are situated.As Koblenz was one of the military posts established by Drusus about 8 BC, the...
.
The four school concerts Heroes of Imagination in 2006 were intended to show differences and similarities between classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
and game music and to make orchestra concerts more accessible to a younger audience. They were supported by Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
, Square Enix
Square Enix
is a Japanese video game and publishing company best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Final Fantasy series, the Dragon Quest series, and the action-RPG Kingdom Hearts series...
and Sega
Sega
, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...
. In January 2010, five additional school concerts were performed by the same orchestra. The series was entitled Super Mario Galaxy - A Musical Adventure and was the spiritual successor to the well-received Heroes of Imagination events. Modeled after and acting as a modern-day Peter and the Wolf
Peter and the Wolf
Peter and the Wolf , Op. 67, is a composition written by Sergei Prokofiev in 1936 in the USSR. It is a children's story , spoken by a narrator accompanied by the orchestra....
, the musical segments of the concerts were interspersed with narrations of the storyline of Super Mario Galaxy
Super Mario Galaxy
is a 3D platform game developed by Nintendo EAD Tokyo and published by Nintendo for the Wii. It was released in most regions in November 2007, and is the third 3D original platformer in the Mario series, after Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine. The game follows the protagonist, Mario, on a...
, with the performances having been officially licensed and sponsored by Nintendo.
Awards
- 2011 Best RPG-Related Arranged Soundtrack: Symphonic Fantasies - music from Square Enix, RPGFan Awards 2010
- 2010 Best Arranged Album - Solo / Ensemble: Symphonic Fantasies - music from Square Enix, Annual Game Music Awards 2010
- 2010 Best Concert: Symphonic Legends - music from Nintendo, Swedish LEVEL magazine