SEMO can exclusively reveal that accomplished classical pianist Benyamin Nuss will release his debut album for the record label Universal Music (Deutsche Grammophon/DECCA) this summer. Entitled Benyamin Nuss Plays Uematsu, the album will commemorate Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu’s music with a wide range of creative and evocative piano arrangements. The album promises to demonstrate Nuss’ virtuoso technique and will transfer his emotional connection with the music to the audience. To be released this summer, it will be the first time game music has ever been commemorated by a major classical label and promises to be the greatest game music piano album ever released.

More information here and look out for track listings shortly.

I hope it won't be geared toward classical listeners though....I just shutter to think about the scathing reviews it'd no doubt get, even from those open to new stuff.

"The album is led by Imagine’s Shiro Hamaguchi, known for his works on Final Fantasy’s piano and orchestral albums"

Nice!

Wonder why they're only covering FFVI-FFIX though?

Now we can announce the 18 stop concert tour too:

http://www.squareenixmusic.com/musicnew … m=&ucat=8&

Tickets here.

Great news! I hope it won't be too virtuoso though. The music is pretty enough as it is, it doens't need extra showmanship. But considering it will be released on a classical label, it probably has to be quite virtuoso in order to gain respect in the classical milieu. Anyway, I'm surely looking forward to this!

Now I really wish I lived in Germany.

We need to get this guy to the US.

Some sample tracks and cover art are around now.

Lost Odyssey Prologue (Arranged by Shiro Hamaguchi)
http://www.4players.de/4players.php/tvp … ample.html

Terra's Theme (Arranged by Bill Dobbins)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDcH2NPcn6I

nope, i just don't like that cover.

I don't like it either, though I expect to enjoy the album.

I DO like that, it seems, Uematsu and Nuss wrote music dedicated to one another.

He looks like he thinks somebody's out to get his (magical, glowing) piano.

I'll need to hear more samples before I can make a judgment on this.

The cover, outside of the weird glowingness, is pretty standard fare for DG these days.

More samples can be found here, btw:

http://www.4players.de/4players.php/spi … index.html

gave the CD two complete listens today. it does divert quite a bit from the original material, but that was to be expected. i'm not very familar with the music nobuo did for LO and BD, but if i had to pick a favorite from his newer compositions, i'd pick A Mighty Enemy Appears! from LO arranged by hamaguchi, because it's closer to his older battle themes and captures the feeling of uematsu's battle themes quite well.

Terra's Theme is solid, but i just don't like when they disrupt the melody all the time, i've heard better. Liberi Fatali might be one of my favorite arrangements of this track, there is enough power behind it to warp you 10 years back into the game. maybe because there isn't much clutter in there, i wonder if it's allright to phrase it like that? the FF VII track is pretty complex, i need more time to decipher what's going on there.

i need a few more listens until i can decide which tracks are the best for me, i'm kinda disappointed there wasn't room for the rad racer track.

this will be a love or hate album, i'm almost sure of it

Serpent Trench ftw.

I like the Blue Dragon arrangements too.

i agree, serpent trench is getting better with every listen. BD is masterfully arranged.

aww c'mon,, you never heard my shread version...
http://www.rpgamer.com/music/2003/music070503.html

Wow.

While I still prefer the piano version, considering what you had to work with, that's one pimp arrangement you got going there sir. And 7 years old, Woot!

I wanted to turn it off after thirty minutes. Unfortunately, there was another forty left. I don't think anyone doubts Nuss' technical chops. What's missing is the musicality, the phrasing. Part of the problem is that most of the arrangements seem designed to show off said technical chops (plenty of arpeggios, tricky leaps, consecutive thirds and so on). Impressively played, yes, but I found I wanted to listen to the much simpler original versions, without the florid yet empty elaborations.

good stuff!

i'm very much into 70s/80s hardrock/metal myself and i can appreciate what you did there