Arnie Roth returned to the MPO with another treat for fans of hit game franchise Final Fantasy, writes Bibi Nurshuhada Ramli
IN November 2012, Grammy-winning conductor Arnie Roth brought the world-renowned live orchestra performance Distant Worlds: Music From Final Fantasy to Kuala Lumpur, and with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO), played to a full house at the Dewan Filharmonik Petronas.
For three shows, they regaled the audience with music from the globally-popular game franchise Final Fantasy (FF).
Earlier last month, Roth returned to DFP for another round of Distant Worlds, again with the MPO.
It was another full-house affair for all three shows.
Opening with Final Fantasy series — Prelude and Liberi Fatali, the show took fans down memory lane.
The songs, chosen for Distant Worlds and orchestrated by Nobuo Uematsu, are mostly signature themes that appear in the game, either during crucial scenes or stages in the game. The songs could also be themes composed for certain key characters.
The opening notes of Preludeon featuring the harp gave the audience goosebumps before the Dithyrambic Singers joined in to sing several melodious choruses that heightened the feel.
The huge background screen showed various images and game sequences from the franchise’s first game series, FFI (released in 1987) up to its 14th, FFIV (2010).
Liberi Fatali (from the game series FFVIII) was vastly different from the soothing Prelude, featuring a faster beat (almost military-like with all the drum sounds) and Latin verses which the Dithyrambic Singers sung. The screen showed characters Leon and Seifer in a battle scene.
Roth is an ardent fan of the franchise.
“What a thrill it is for us to come back,” Roth said, thanking the MPO and Dithyrambic Singers for being part of the show.
“There are many exciting developments in the world of Final Fantasy and Distant Worlds. I’m happy to report that we’re continuing to work well with (Final Fantasy game developer) Square Enix. We’re moving forward. We’ll be back for many years to come.”
Distant Worlds recently celebrated its 25th anniversary. “We have 14 (games in the franchise). Maybe 15 is coming out shortly. I know they’re working on it, but they’re always working on something, right?” Roth said, followed by giggles from the audience.
“We’re going to try to represent music from all 27 years of Final Fantasy. I hope that most of the important classics are played for you tonight.”
The orchestra also played the Victory Theme, which players hear after a battle is won in the Final Fantasy games.
Next came FFIV: Battle With The Four Fiends (another track with strong percussion sounds that describe the intensity of the game fights) and FFVII: Main Theme (a sentimental song that started off with gentle and melodious violin sounds before the music gained more power and volume).
The music picked up pace with FFXI: Fighters Of The Crystal. Stunning visuals graced the back screen, showing an epic battle scene. The engaging music complemented the visuals greatly.
“Almost every note music we’re playing tonight was written by Nobuo Uematsum,” Roth said and the fans cheered thunderously. “We are dear friends and colleague, but he has a scheduling conflict, so he couldn’t be here tonight.
“He sends his apologies but next time, I’m sure we’ll make it work. It’s all about scheduling. He has to write that music some time, right?”
Meanwhile, FFVI: Dancing Mad had a segment featuring pipe organ. Another round of strong music followed and, as the game play took on a tragic turn of defeat, the music was replaced by a melancholic melody played by the pipe organ, accompanied by the choir.
The orchestra then began playing Light Eternal, from Square Enix’s new game Lightning Returns which is inspired by FFXIII. The visuals for the game have greatly improved in FFXIII, so the screen showed stunning visuals of the character Lightning, who appears almost lifelike with her soft and flowing pink hair.
That was followed by FFIX: Not Alone, another classic theme that Roth said he liked to perform and which featured strong sounds of the violin and the cello.
“Where would we be without Chocobo, right?” Familiar with the well-known Final Fantasy character, the fans cheered. “Nobuo has written so many different variations of Chocobo’s theme. For tonight, we’ve put together three of them, from FFXIII, FFXI and FFV.”
The audience sighed audibly as adorable baby Chocobo appeared on the screen at the start of the performance. During the Chocobo Medley, the screen showed different variations of Chocobo throughout the game series.
JUST AS EXCITING
The second part of the show began with FFVII: Opening — Bombing Mission, which featured military-influenced beats of the drums and sounds of urgency. On the screen, the characters Cloud, Tifa and Barret were undergoing a deadly mission.
“I’m a big fan of FFVII personally, but there are so many pieces of music and the problem is that we can’t squeeze in all of the music. So we try to bring new repertoire to each city that we visit.”
FFVIII: Fisherman’s Horizon and FFXII: The Dalmasca Estersand were performed next, followed by FFVIII: Don’t Be Afraid.
Before FFX: Hymn Of The Fayth began, Roth said: “There are so many versions of that song in the game, but we’ll play a suite of all of them.” Roth then led the orchestra to perform Hymn Of The Fayth and the magnificent crowd-pleaser Zanarkand (FFX).
He added: “You’re the fans and the reason we can keep touring and bringing this music back. On behalf of Square Enix, Nobuo Uematsu and Distant Worlds, thank you.
“Not so long ago, we held a survey. We asked fans to write which was their favourite battle theme in Final Fantasy.
“Dancing Mad is one of them, but for tonight we’ll play a new Battle medley that we put together for the anniversary celebration. It includes Clash On The Big Bridge, Those Who Fight and Fight With Seymour.”
The upbeat song concluded with the Victory Theme.
FFVI: Opera Maria & Draco was another one of Roth’s favourites, but he said they would play a new version that Uematsu had created. “He added some battle music, a chorus and a narrator. This is a complete version of the opera.”
The vocals were provided by Mak Chi Hoe (bass baritone), Ho Chi Mei (soprano) and James Long (tenor), who performed beautifully.
According to the programme, Final Fantasy Series’ Main Theme would be the last one for the evening. As the orchestra played the familiar theme, the screen showed a montage of images from all 25 years of the game series.
After the tune, Roth continued: “You can’t do a Final Fantasy concert without this next piece. This is our encore. You need to know just one word.”
“Sephiroth!” the fans screamed, referring to the ruthless villain in FFVII which the song was based on. They clapped thunderously as they waited for the music to begin.
The iconic theme from FFVII, One Winged Angel, was played next, accompanied by the Dithyrambic Singers. A perfect end to the memorable evening. It comprised loud drum beats and an “angry” melody that perfectly signify the nefarious character. When the time came, the audience enthusiastically sang “Sephiroth!”, along with the choir.
When the performance finally ended, they gave Roth and the MPO a standing ovation.