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Old May 30, 2018, 02:48 PM
isdapi isdapi is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Spain
Posts: 279
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I think all the people who have shared their ideas in this thread are very knowledgeable about this niche music genre of ours and the even more niche realm of VGM orchestral/symphonic arrangement albums.

I'm sure that we all want that VGMC have success in their endeavour to establish a commercially viable model to give birth to many of the projects that are already listed as "possible". So, before getting carried away about what projects or what pieces we'd would like to see performed in orchestral fashion, I'd like to discuss what are the best ways to make this venture a perdurable one.

As Aifread has mentioned before, it's likely that for a franchise as musically covered as Final Fantasy there is little room for bringing anything new to the table. Although FFIV is far from being the most covered title of the series in the various orchestral FF albums, its music has received some attention before in form of orchestral/celtic/piano arrangements. In this case, or any other case that involves FF arrangements of the main series, if you want to attract casual and serious fans of vgm I'd put emphasis on the "how" as much as on the "what".

I mean, some have said that certain pieces ("Theme of Love", "Battle with the Four Fiends") should be avoided because its overarranged status. I understand why they think so, but in my mind it's not a problem if a famous piece gets arranged in this project or only the overlooked ones, the real question is how you want to tell story of FFIV. It's a good thing that you know well enough the plot of FFIV, that's the first thing to do for adapting a title in symphonic form, then come the matters regarding structure, orchestration and the like. In short, what I'm trying to say is that if a piece/motif is essential to tell the story of FFIV there are a lot ways of including it in and that still sounds fresh and exciting (reharmonization or similar techniques).

But, even more important for this project or any future project is that the arranger (Mr. Kentaro Sato) take some creative risks. Obviously, an arranger can stretch the work of another musician to a certain point without stripping completely its identity and that's why is always better to contact the original composer in the first place for projects like these. That would be the ideal approach because this way the arranger could take advice and make its own rendition of the original material more in line with the vision of its creator.

Anyway, whatever route you decide to take in this VGMC venture, be ambitious and offer mature arrangements. There is so much potential in vgm orchestral music...
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