[Featured Coverage] Distant
Worlds: Music From Final Fantasy
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| Photo Credits: Dewan Filharmonik Petronas (Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra) |
20th August 2014, Kuala
Lumpur- Distant Worlds: Music From Final Fantasy was
held in Malaysia Philharmonic Orchestra
over the last weekend from 15th
August 2014-17th August 2014. Our team from wljack.com was given an opportunity to do a coverage on the event. It
was indeed a pleasant afternoon with a wonderful musical experience.
Just
in case you are non-gamer or you do not know about Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy
is a renowned RPG game franchise
which is well-loved by the gamers for its memorable stories, amazing graphics
and last but not least its beautiful musical pieces. Distant Worlds is a concert that brings all of these elements especially
the great music LIVE to the fans!
Truly Amazing Symphony Concert With
Great Casts Of Musicians!
The
show was conducted by Arnie Roth, a
Grammy-winning artist who has been working closely with Nobuo Uematsu (the legendary composer for various Final Fantasy
games) and Square Enix as the music
director and conductor of concerts related to the franchise. He and the orchestra
have delivered an outstanding performance on stage.
Besides
the orchestra itself, the concert was also complemented by the choir, Dithyrambic Singers which nonetheless
have put up an astounding performance for the audience.
Not
forget to mention, there was also a song which has featured three soloist Ho Chi Mei (soprano), Chie Hoe Mak (bass baritone) and James Long Cai Hunt (tenor) to
stage an opera scene which is very prominent in FF games series.
A Treat For Final Fantasy Fans and Music
Lovers! Compiled Scenes From Games Brought Back Memories!
All
of the songs from Final Fantasy series are already good when they are listened
through album or during the games itself. The songs are even much better when
being orchestrated by the impressive group of musicians. All of the audiences
either the fans of the franchise or the non-fans music lovers were mesmerized
by the impressive performance played by the orchestra.
Apart
from the great music, the concert is a fun joy ride down the memory lane.
Different video compilations from various Final
Fantasy titles were shown on the screen above the orchestra during each
song. The videos consist of images and footage from in-games such as the
beautiful CGI graphics that appeared in FF series since Playstation 1 era, the
improved and more enhanced ones from later Final Fantasy series such as FF XIV and FFXIII: Lightning Returns as well as the nostalgic 8-bits scenes
from the earlier Final Fantasy games! These videos play a great role in
story-telling as the songs from each different Final Fantasy game was played. All
of these have brought back the memories that could warm the fans from inside!
I
personally love the videos compilation during the Chocobo Medley. It was fun too as Arnie Roth actually asked the fans to sing along with the words “C-H-O-C-O-B-O” listed on the video as
the song is played.
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Memorable Opera Scene From Final Fantasy
VI Came To Live!
As it is the 20th year anniversary
for Final Fantasy VI, the orchestra
has featured more songs and exclusives from FFVI into the Distant Worlds
concert this time.
One
of the most memorable moments from Final
Fantasy VI is the opera scene. The concert this time has made the opera
scene came to LIVE! Instead of just being a musical piece, they have blended in
choir singing, soloist performance and also narrative for the song “FFVI: Opera ‘Maria & Draco”!
Without
further ado, Roth invited the
soloist to stage and also introduced a narrator for the scene. The narration has
provided an additional story-telling element for the audience. Without a doubt,
the performance from the soloists was spectacular!
Various Moods Delivered Through The
Concert!
All
of the songs gave a different feeling to the audiences as they were played. Some
songs such as “FFX: Zanarkand” have
made the fans teared up while some songs such as “FF Series: Chocobo Medley” and “FF Series: Battle & Victory Theme Medley” has cheered the fans
up! All of the audiences could experience different emotions throughout the
concert but would definitely agree that the song which totally matched the
feeling by the end of the show was “FF
Series: Victory Theme”! It was really a great concert!
Distant Worlds Never Let The Fans Down!
Triumphant Encore Song – “One-Winged Angel”!
Distant Worlds: Music From Final Fantasy
was
really a brilliant concert and never failed to amaze the fans! However, due to
the limited time for the show, not all pieces from the games were able to be
played on stage. At the moment when Roth
announced that it was the end of the show and started playing “FF Series: Main Theme”, we couldn’t
deny that some fans have a sad look on their face because the song they wanted
to hear the most was not listed on the programme list.
But Roth never let the fans down as he came
back on stage after the finale of “FF:
Main Theme” and played the most EPIC boss song ever in Final Fantasy Series, “One-Winged Angel”! All of the fans cheered
in joy! Roth even asked the
audiences to sing-along as the breathtaking song was played. He stated that it’s
okay for the audiences to not know most of the lyrics as they only need to know
one word… “Sephiroth!”.
Thus,
the concert reached an end and all of the audiences have stood up and gave a thunderous
applause to the marvelous performers!
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| Me (WLJack) and my girlfriend Josephine reviewed Distant Worlds: Music From Final Fantasy 2014 in Malaysia |
We
personally enjoyed the concert very much! Million thanks to Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) for
giving us this opportunity to attend the show!
Photo
credits: Malaysian Philharmonic
Orchestra (MPO)
Published
by WLJack.
