The traditional fanfare is far too slow for the fast-paced feel of the game and battles, at least that's what I imagine their reasoning to be. Hence this new cut-down but similar arrangement.

I was hoping for/expecting it to be used somewhere though. "Boss battle! Maybe now?".... nope. "How about when I complete a mission?"... nope. "Maybe a minigame then?"... what minigame? Etc. Oh well /mourn

It's understandable... I'm starting to get the distinct impression (or 'get the hint' perhaps) that S-E are trying to shake off the expectations of certain 'traditional' elements in FF to give them more freedom, and have been doing for the past couple of games at least. They probably got tired of having to do things in particular ways because it "has to have" airship navigation, summons, etc. I bet we'll even see one without chocobos soon (FF8 came close to that already).
Me, I want more of the same. But as they've explicitly stated, they're trying to attract more new blood rather than catering to the existing audience all the time.