Distant Worlds the Music of Final Fantasy

This past Thursday I attended what may have been the most amazing thing ever, Distant Worlds Music from Final Fantasy as performed by the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra with guest conductor Arnie Roth and guest vocalist Susan Calloway. If you are not familiar with this concert, it is the music from the Final Fantasy video game series as performed by an orchestra. You can find videos of it on YouTube. You may think an orchestra performing music from a video game would be ridiculous, but Nobuo Uematsu managed to make music that was actually best performed by an orchestra even when he didn't have one to perform it. The concert has been around for eight years, at least in America where Arnie Roth brings the best he can select to local orchestras while video clips are played behind the orchestra.

This particular concert started with the "Prelude", signature notes on a harp followed by a chorus chanting along, then followed by the "Victory Fanfare" with live trumpets. Susan Calloway lent her voice to "Kiss me Goodbye" from Final Fantasy XIII "Eyes on Me" from Final Fantasy VIII and sang her song "Answers" from Final Fantasy XIV. The chorus brought a moving rendition of "Liberi Fatali" from Final Fantasy VIII and "Man with the Machine Gun" rounded out that game's contributions while Final Fantasy X brought us equally moving renditions of "Hymn of the Fayth" and "Zanarkand". There was a battle theme medley that included Clash on the Big Bridge, and a chocobo medley that was a little goofy with a clip of the baby chocobo nesting in an afro perfectly timed with Mambo de Chocobo. Honestly, as much as I love chocobos and loved this performance, it was probably the one number in the whole show that may have embarrassed the professional orchestra and chorus. I was disappointed to see "One-Winged Angel" was not on the set list, but Roth pulled it out as the encore performance, and it was spectacular, the one must for an orchestral performance. My favorite though was from Final Fantasy VI, a character theme medley starting with Terra's, a.k.a. the Overworld Theme, a.k.a. the theme of the game, followed by Kefka's theme, which still creeps the shit out of me after all these years(I'm still crying for those 16-bit castle guards) and ending with Locke's theme which is the only tune from the game badass enough to triumph over Kefka's theme.

I highly recommend you look up a performance in your area if you're lucky enough to be on the tour schedule. They were talking about it coming back, and already I can't wait. I leave you now with some pics proving I was in the front row and a couple of cosplay girls I couldn't help but snap a pic of. Tifa and a sexy moogle, kupo!