His point is that video game music isn't played in orchestras outside of Japan much because it's just background music and isn't as good as music from past composers.
Watch the video that I posted above and the related ones and tell me thats 'just background music'.
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No, it's personal opinion. Mozart positively bores me so if anyone asks me whether Nobuo is better, I'm not going to say no he isn't. I personally like his music a thousand times more.Originally Posted by demondude55
Also Old Manus, video game music has been played by orchestras. You say there's little variety in terms of crescendos, dynamics, etc, but I say this is a problem only with older games which use Midi data playing sounds directly on the soundchip (and even then, it's not totally true that that's a problem with SNES games and on). You'll find plenty of dynamic variation in songs before and especially after the move to CD sound. Unless you're still looking to the original Mario Bros. as your idea of what video game music sounds like then the idea they don't feature thematic and dynamic variation is crap.
The reason it's not played by orchestras (aside from the fact that most of them have their pompous heads up their butts) is that most just aren't familiar with video game music, and there's a huge stigma around it in the West. Many people still think of game music as being like the original Mario Bros. There's also the fact that many of Uematsu's songs simply aren't arranged for orchestra, but so many have later been arranged for orchestra that the point is rather moot.
Dude, nobody has said they are just background music. They said they were designed as background music. Gaming music is, well in RPGs at least, designed to be able to be listened to over and over and over and over for hours on end. It is supposed to compliment the game rather than to be more important than the game.
I like a lot of gaming music. I listen to it without playing the games, I listen to it amongst my other classical music. However, my points still all stand. It is designed to be background music (which, defined, means music to play in the background, not "music only good enough to be in the background").
There are a lot of things that you have to keep in mind with it, too. Music composed for symphony orchestra played in a theatre can have more of a full 'story' to it, whereas most background music is purely a feeling or a single theme. A key comparison would be the 1812 Overture when compared to, well, anything. Maybe if you throw all the different gaming music together you get the story - like in an album - but a single song when not restricted by "what is this going to be the background music for" can do a lot more.
And, again, I'll bring up the point that gaming music is also more varied than one might think. Rock and roll features regularly. You can't compare that with Mozart.
Finally, there's the age we live in. Is Mozart the latest big thing right now? Hell no. Back then, composers could make a name for themselves. I'd argue that there is not a single American or British composer that writese their own symphonies is more successful these days than Nobuo. I certainly don't know any. No, literally. I don't even know any composers that are still alive right now outside of gaming composers. Maybe he would have been very famous in past centuries. We're in a new age now, and you don't get famous with flutes and a lot of string.
Bow before the mighty Javoo!
Oh noes, I like Nobuo Uematsu's music better than t3h Mozart!
That's HERESY!
:rolleyes2
But seriously, sure, there are great compositions from these guys as well, but the only ones I've really liked so far are a handful of well-known Mozart compositions, "Air" by Bach and "Morning Mood" by Grieg; and I actually consider these songs to be "one single type of feeling".
Again, listen to the opera from Final Fantasy 6 - that IS a full story.
I don't even have any Mozart. I prefer Brahms, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven and the like.
Finally I can think of two composers, but they both specialise in cinema rather than "music for nothing but music". Tan Dun and Gabriel Yared... both wonderful, particularly the latter.
Bow before the mighty Javoo!
Aria di Mezzo Carattere isn't a full opera. It's just 3 exerts from a larger work that doesn't actually exist.
That isn't background music, that's an orchestra playing an arrangement of background music.
Though I do agree that video was sufficiently awesome, it would take a while to convert a track consisting mainly of synth to at least 5 instruments in an orchestra. It doesn't lend itself well.
Also
Yes.
there was a picture here
Why dont you read what I said?
If you took the music from the games and played them in their current form, then sure, it wouldnt make good concert music. But all it requires is an arrangement, based upon the core 'background' music already composed and it would make great music. And the hard work is developing the main tune and introduction of instruments. Not the translating it into orchestra. Its really not that hard.
He's better than Mozart IMO. And Ive listened to and played a lot of Mozart. Mozart was at a disadvantage. He didnt have as much advanced equipment or instruments at his disposal. And thats why I think Uematsu's music has more flare.
"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
Yet it requires more effort on the part of the conductor, the composer, and the orchestra.
there was a picture here
^True. But not much.
It only needs a few tweaks and a few added motifs.
I think a lot of the pieces do lend themselves well. Some, obviously, dont. They fit a more rockish sound.
"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
Yes. People with more assistance from advanced equipment and instruments are clearly worse off. It's not like such things can be automatically timed using a compu--
Bow before the mighty Javoo!
^What?
Learn to read.
"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
What he's getting at is the fact that Mozart managed to create great music without any equipment apart from a pen and paper, and how it's more impressive ('flare') with hindsight.
there was a picture here
^Another point is that Uematsu was influenced off many styles that were created after Mozart's death. For example, One danger Passed has distinct reggae influences. (Love that song). Tantalus' theme has jazz.
"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
The thing is that the music is doing a different job. Mozart's thing is stand-alone. Uematsu's is meant to be one component of a piece which is to be enjoyed with other factors.
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