Until a majority of the Western composer's music can compare to the Eastern Composers... :]
Motoi Sakuraba n_n
When Uematsu has composed Aerith's theme, One Winged Angel, To Zanarkand and many other pieces, you cannot say that he isn't worthy of world recognition.
The man is a genius.
Thanks to Sir Edeon X for signature"It's the decisions you make, when you have no time to make them, that define the person you are" - Teh_Masterer
I was replying to you and Old Manus which may have caused some confusion (he blatantly said Uematsu was inferior to the likes of Mozart). I also apparently misunderstood what you meant by calling it background music. It's one thing to say it's something you have playing in the background, but quite another to say it's simply background music (as in for a game, meant to go a long with a scene and little else). I also seem to have misunderstood your comment about preferring to pay to listen to something like The Planets in concert, though I will point out that worrying about some songs being left out is no different than worrying that your favourite band will leave out some classics in concert. It doesn't make the concert any less enjoyable or worth paying for.Originally Posted by Heath
I don't think I said Mozart or Beethoven was superior, did I? If I did, I certainly didn't mean to. I'm a big fan of Uematsu's work, but the point I was making was to that to the casual music lover, who may not have necessarily heard of Uematsu but would have heard of Mozart, they're probably more likely to pay money to listen to Mozart than Uematsu. I'm a huge fan of the work of Uematsu and Yasunori Mitsuda and I don't consider it inferior in the slightest. I was doing no disservice to them at all, I was merely stating that in my opinion they have limited appeal and are unlikely to be performed as regularly as more famous composers in the West.
Just because I tend to listen to their music in the background is no insult to it either. The fact that I listen to their music as regularly as I do is a tribute to how much I like their music and whether I listen to it in the background or not doesn't mean it's emotionless. When I say they don't compare, I was on about the audience for classical music vs. the audience for computer game music. I said I'd be more likely to pay to listen to some Holst partly because something like The Planets is much shorter than an entire soundtrack and I think is a rather well rounded suite, whereas I might be disappointed certain tracks were left out of a Final Fantasy performance.
For what it's worth, my opinion on this vs. more traditional, well known composers is this: I hate many of the traditional well known composers like Mozart or Beethoven. If given the chance, I'd listen to Uematsu for the next 100 years straight over listening to five minutes of the others. It's not that I don't appreciate and respect the talent and skill those people had to do what they did, but I've never heard anything from any of them that truly grabbed my attention and stuck out as something truly amazing and enjoyable. In fact, I tend to get so bored listening to them that I'd rather be stabbed in the eye. I find Uematsu's ability to traverse many styles, structures and themes far more interesting, and a hell of a lot more enjoyable (maybe I'm just more of a fan of modern music though). Will the general public ever be familiar with his music? Maybe when he's dead, but that doesn't mean that his music (and the music of other great game composers) isn't worthy of their attention.
You sound pretty biased in this post.
I for one don't know if I would choose one short intro theme for a movie to a magical opera from Final Fantasy 6.
Diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks. Just so happens some strokes are much bigger than others.
Boy am I an unfunny ass.
Some people design their music specifically to be listened to with no distraction. Some people design their music to be listened to repeatedly for hours on end while (more often than not) focusing on other things - ie, a video game plot/fight/whatever. It's also worth noting that you get a lot of rock in the middle of gaming music, while you don't get so much of that in a symphony orchestra (obviously - not many people would go to a symphony orchestra to see a rock concert!). So again, it's two different fields that are, well... different. I imagine that Japan has composers who don't deal with gaming and, for all I know, they get more classical album sales than the gaming industry does.
Bow before the mighty Javoo!
well, there's S&M by Metallica :p.
everything is wrapped in gray
i'm focusing on your image
can you hear me in the void?
Personally, I think that the only reason you view Uematsu's work as background music is because you hear it as background music. If Uematsu arranged his best scores differently, they would make, and do make great music. More entertaining than most classical composers.
Eg, Ive performed in Holst's The Planets (someone mentioned it), and listened to it. But while its impressive, if you collected Uematsu's best, it would be outgunned IMO by sheer melodic quality.
Uematsu does awesome melodys.
@Gyrus: What pieces? I dont recognise.
"They said this day would never come. They said our sights were set too high. They said this country was too divided, too disillusioned to ever come around a common purpose. But on this January night, at this defining moment in history, you have done what the cynics said we couldn't do." - Barack Obama.
clicky clicky clicky
No matter how much you say video game music isn't background music, it is, essentially, background music. I wouldn't expect the likes of dramatic crescendos and other techniques, and I rarely hear it.
edit: therefore not as exciting to listen to
Last edited by Old Manus; 10-25-2007 at 11:42 PM.
there was a picture here
YouTube - Tour de Japon - At Zanarkand (Final Fantasy X)
That is why Nobuo Uematsu is just as good as western composers and past composers. Watch related videos to see songs you may prefer.
If you try to say that sounds like/is just background music, your ears are broken.
Thanks to Sir Edeon X for signature"It's the decisions you make, when you have no time to make them, that define the person you are" - Teh_Masterer
^Beautiful.
But thats only because they make it into background music. If you adjusted the music dynamically, and in various other ways, it would become good orchestral music. Something like Aeris' theme could easily be played by a full orchestra as a proper piece. They just tone the music down for the purposes of not distracting from the game. And also, there are a helluva lot of pieces needed for a long RPG. Of course quite a few of them wouldnt be up to concert standard. But we're talking about the best pieces.
"They said this day would never come. They said our sights were set too high. They said this country was too divided, too disillusioned to ever come around a common purpose. But on this January night, at this defining moment in history, you have done what the cynics said we couldn't do." - Barack Obama.
clicky clicky clicky
Then please explain to me how I was able to hear my first Nobuo Uematsu compositions and love them without even knowing they were from a video game.
You also need to explain to me why everyone in my family instantly loves the melodies and enjoy them without even knowing they are "background music".
If the entire Aria di Mezzo Carattere opera is "background music", then Mozart's best compositions are background music as well.
And HERE are som other examples on great stand-alone music:
Prologue
Final Fantasy Main Theme
Theme of Love
Terra's Theme
Cloud's Theme
Aeris' Theme
One Winged Angel
Eyes On Me
To Zanarkand
Suteki Da Ne
...etc etc etc.
I never said they weren't any good, I was giving the reason why it isn't played in orchestras.
there was a picture here
Mold anus has a point guys.
And the argument that nobue is better then mozart is BS.
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