Yoko Kanno - The Warsaw Collection

[Jormungand]

Below is a (mostly) complete list of orchestral material recorded with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and/or Chorus featuring the music of Yoko Kanno. I plan to revisit this thread and populate the list with youtube links, eventually culminating in a Warsaw playlist.

FAQ
Q: Does this collection represent all of Kanno's orchestral work?
A: No. This collection excludes all orchestral work prior to Kanno's first involvement with Warsaw in 1994, including Kanno's anime debut Macross Plus, the Nobunaga's Ambition arranged albums, the ultra-rare art music CD album 'The Creation', and others.

Furthermore, the collection excludes all orchestral work recorded in studio sessions as well as those recorded by orchestras other than Warsaw. This represents a significant portion of Kanno's orchestral work, and thus this collection is by no means "complete".

Q: What characteristics do the Warsaw recordings have compared to Kanno's other orchestral recordings?
A: The main feature of the Warsaw cordings is the orchestra itself and the recording quality. Kanno has worked with the WPO/C more than other groups and has done so over an impressive span of almost 20 years. The group is considered one of the finest orchestras in the world (among many fine orchestras!) and their musicianship is evident in their performances. Furthermore, the high quality of the recordings is a testament to excellence in modern orchestral recording.

The majority of orchestral work in film and anime these days seems to be recorded in a studio. Recording in an actual orchestral hall allows orchestral instruments to really "breath", as the hall is their native environment and is designed specifically to highlight the unique sound of the full orchestra (and the thousands of combinations of its individual parts).

Kanno's work in particular is perfect for Warsaw and the hall, given her heavy borrowing from classical composers spanning all eras of orchestral music. Listeners will also notice influences from contemporary film composers freely mixed with Kanno's classical roots.

Q: Why are some Warsaw recordings missing from the Escaflowne list?
A: This collection seeks to document Kanno's compositions, thus Hajime Mizoguchi's Warsaw works are excluded from the list.

Q: How current and complete is this collection?
A: This collection is mostly accurate up through 2011's Macross Frontier: Sayonara no Tsubasa. Some albums have ambiguous credits making occasional guesswork necessary (GitS in general, unreleased tracks, etc.)

Q: How is the collection ordered?
A: The collection order is based on the original anime release date, or album release date if not an anime work.

Q: What's the point of all this?
A: I believe this collection to represent the highest quality of orchestration, performance, and orchestral recording in the contemporary anime/game industry. The Warsaw performances are matched only by Kouchi Sugiyama's DQ recordings, in my opinion.

I have highlighted in light green those recordings that I consider to be essential Kanno listening. Those interested in orchestral composition and orchestration will find lots to draw inspiration from here. Furthermore, those who have found themselves uninterested in orchestral music because of the excesses, poor arrangement, poor performances, and cliche writing of mainstream orchestral game/film soundtracks will find this list refreshing. Truthfully I don't believe you can swear off orchestral music until you've become a regular listener of classical music, but this is a great place to start. It's important to understand the way orchestral music is supposed to sound, and how different it is from the usual representation of the genre in contemporary games and film.

Enjoy!

---------------------------
1994
Nobunaga's Ambition: Tenshouki
The Hawk of Turbulent Times
Distant Fields
Crescent Moon on the Lake
Summer Squall
Spring Waves
Supreme Ruler Suite -Warsaw Edition-
Wind Orchid
Flowery Wind
Encampment Under the Moonlight
Shining Battlefield
Yonder Dreams

1996
The Vision of Escaflowne
OST 1
Flying Dragon
Dance of Curse
Murder
Escaflowne
Angel
NE ZU MI
Wings

OST 3
Arcadia
Epistle
Farewell
Scrappy
Shrilly
Revenge
Illusion
Blaze
Again

lovers only
Memory of Fanelia
Zaibach
Bird Cage
Chain
The Story of Escaflowne ~ End Title*

1997
X
Subaru
Arashi

1998
Song to fly
The man in the desert
The Ship
Hallelujah*

Cowboy Bebop
OST 3
Ave Maria

Brain Powerd
OST 1
Run
Ground Zero
War Ship
On the Earth

OST 2
Lost memories
Prism
Aurora
Warriors
Morning grace
Smile
Tribe
Nervous
Walk by myself

1999
Turn A Gundam
OST 1
Memory of military boots
Springing from the Earth
The first advent ~ The god's scorn
Second advent ~ The shore touched by the god's claw
The third advent ~ Something lurking beneath the earth
Final shore ~ Oh, to meet again
Girls rule
Quiet landing
Tracing the axis of light
Like a rooster
The Song of a Stone
Felicity

OST 2
White Falcon
Drum Head
Triad
Jig
Lily~The Lily That Won't Bloom Under the Moon
Morning of NOCIS
Wooden airport

OST 3
Exit
Vesper Bell
Heavy Duty

2000
Escaflowne movie
Into GAEA
Take my hands
Dance of curse II
Black Escaflowne
We're flying
Final Vision

2002
Turn A Gundam movie
Willgem Take Off**
Silent Prayer
Queens Valley

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
OST 1
fish ~ silent cruise*

OST 3#
Thrace***
know your enemy***
East of the Peninsula
sacred terrorist
CHRisTmas in the SiLenT ForeSt***

be Human
FAX me*

(unreleased tracks)
brass & percussion version of Aramaki's theme

2003
Wolf's Rain
OST 1
tip toe waltz
my little flower

OST 2
shiro. long tail's
rain of blossoms
separated
night owl
forest of death*
friends
float
trace
sad moon
go to Rakuen*

2005
Genesis of Aquarion
OST 1
Aquarius
high spirit
Carthage Nova
brown horses
sal
Sei Aquarion

OST 2
Vatican Dance
Sonata of Legendary Technique
Heavens Gate
Exodus
BLAQARION
Toma's Oracle
Vector Return
First love Final love
Rena's Dandelions##

2006
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex movie
tempest
human step ~ aramaki's theme###
remedium

2007
Ragnarok Online II
Kings Joy
5 years war*
Red Wolf*

unreleased tracks
Castanets
Baby Cat

2008
Macross Frontier
OST 1
Frontier 2059
Vital Force
TALLY HO!
The Target
Bajura
Take Off

OST 2
Prologue F
Test Flight Delight
shadow of Michael
Battle Frontier

2011
Macross Frontier movie
the isle of mayan
F refrain
---------------------------
*Denotes recordings where sound effects were added during post-production.
**First two minutes is new material; next two sections are "Triad" and "White Falcon" from OST 2.
***Warsaw is featured in a support role.
#Warsaw is credited on track 14, but only a trumpet is featured. That trumpet part is curiously credited to not one but two Japanese performers. This isn't a Warsaw track.
The credits in general for this album are a little suspect. For example, neither Shinozaki nor Warsaw are credited for the strings performance in track 7. Track 8 is entirely uncredited, but is definitely a Warsaw performance.
##Kanno records herself singing over this track.
###Warsaw performs the "human step" section only.