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railentheWe’ve all got that one thing. You know, that one thing that you just absolutely
I’ve got that sort of relationship with the soundtracks of the Final Fantasy series. (Some of you knew this a long time ago, eh-heh…) I remember getting stuck, bringing up the menu, and just listening to the music until I got an idea for what I was supposed to do next. I could go on and on about that music—but that’s another of the 100 Things. Right now all we need to know is that I made a point of knowing A LOT about it, getting my hands on as much of it as possible, learning the back stories behind why THIS track here and not THIS track.
Perhaps the most iconic theme from the series is the Prelude. It’s the little twinkly harp melody that you hear at the title screen for almost every game in the series. Once you hear that, you know what kind of game you’re playing. Final Fantasy and the prelude are almost the same; it seems like you can’t have one without the other. 25 years, after all, is a long time.
I jumped into the Inter-webs—digging through link after link, speculation after speculation, until I hit pay dirt at last. There had to be a story behind this little song, and it just had to be absolutely epic and inspiring. I find a link that looks pretty official and I learn…
…that the composer, Nobuo Uematsu, wrote this lovely little gem on request at the last minute—and it took him all of ten minutes to do it. I never knew that…and it just added to the song this level of awesomeness. It takes considerable talent to be able to do something like that. The Prelude has been a part of my word for as long as I can remember, and almost every time I hear it I learn something new about the composition.
I love learning new things about the things that I like. It makes me like them even more.
Audio from Grooveshark's service. I do not own that piece of lovely aural gold.
</legal stuff>
This is WebStory!
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Apologies if I do not make much sense--- I want to murder my ovaries with a chainsaw right now
Date: 2012-06-19 07:17 pm (UTC)I love the Prelude so damn much. It's one of those tunes I want played at my funeral, preferably when I'm led out in the casket. Because this track is the essence of fantasy and the sublime, so when I go everyone knows I've gone to my literal final fantasy world. (Though at the beginning of the service I want the Leisure Suit Larry theme because it would be completely inappropriate. Fun fact: that theme song was yet another last minute addition that's become an iconic ear worm over the years.)
First time I heard the prelude was in FFIX when I reached the Crystal World (AKA: Final Dungeon) which is canonically the beginning of existence since it is where the original crystal of all life itself comes from. You hear a haunting, distorted version of the prelude as you wander through what is (according to Sakaguchi) the origin point for the ENTIRE SERIES. The design of the place is beautiful yet cold, dark and ominous, despite the brightness of the crystals the place SCREAMS premonition. Even though the prelude is still on a harp it's not the same optimistic dreamlike melody that invigorates us: it's an unsettling, fragmented and menacing piece. Even though it's still got echoes of beauty about it, the entire track comes with a gloomy presence, as if to say that the fairest things in life cannot exist without something negative. Another interpretation is that since this is the center of life and death, the harp represents the beauty of life whilst the ominous strings represent the foreboding of death. But ultimately it says: this is where the element of all Final Fantasies lie. So go stop your brother, Zidane, or we're not getting another title!
Funny you should mention IX and "Big-Breasted Bitches" XD
Date: 2012-06-19 08:40 pm (UTC)Like this?
(LOL SHERLOCK IS APPROPRIATE FOR EVERYTHING.)
Mine just stopped fighting me for the SECOND TIME this month. It’s one of my meds, it screws them up a bit.
It’s such a pretty little song, and to come from such a simple, humble beginning—I mean, it was a case of Throw It In (but we can see that some stuff just thrown in is pretty epic *COUGHKEFFESR*), and yet it’s endured for 25 years this December! The essence of the phenomenon (for it can be called this without exaggeration) distilled into a simple progressing arpeggio, built on with strings, woodwinds, brass, and the soaring voices of a choir, is perfectly represented by this melody.
(Funny you mention IX; I’m using Firefox for my forum-ing and LJ-ing today and my theme is KUJA.)
It’s such brilliance that brings me to wonder why there’s so much debate as to whether the music is art or not. Doubters can listen to the Distant Worlds performances…I’m telling you, it’s transcendent.
Bonus Did You Know!
The vocalist for the concerts and the albums, Susan Calloway, was hand-picked by Nobuo Uematsu himself. He heard her once and began thinking “Hmm…” He heard her sing Distant Worlds, and the rest is history.
Also
Date: 2012-06-19 08:49 pm (UTC)twitlytem
Date: 2012-11-07 01:17 pm (UTC)