Kingdom Hearts combines two of my favorite things: Square-Enix characters, and Disney. Unfortunately, it turns out that the accompanying video during the concert wasn’t allowed to have any footage from the actual Kingdom Hearts games, but they were still able to throw together clips from Disney movies, 1999 and earlier. The music is all from the game, though, so if you’re a little rough on the lyrics to “Hakuna Matata,” no worries - you won’t need it for this clip.

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Who likes Final Fantasy VII music? Thought so. This song doesn’t really need an introduction, but I’ll go ahead and let you know that this was the encore piece from a Black Mages concert. The Black Mages is Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu’s rock band, and that him on the organ to your left. He’s fun to watch, so keep an eye on him. The orchestra is conducted by the Play! symphony conductor, Arnie Roth.

Enjoy!

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You know, concert etiquette today asks that audiences remain quiet during performances until the end of each piece. I’m not sure I agree with that. Sure, you don’t want to be obnoxious or in anyway bothersome to those around you trying to appreciate the performance. At the same time, as both a performer and composer myself, I believe it’s somewhat respectful to let the orchestra know you’re enjoying a performance as it goes.

That said, my apologies that I couldn’t find a video of this with less crowd and more music. ;) It’s the Video Games Live performance of works from the Metroid series. Enjoy!

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The Play! Symphony is one of the premiere orchestras specializing in video game music. This week, we’ll listen to their performance of “Castlevania Orchestral Suite,” a collection of some of the more popular Castlevinia melodies. They’ve even managed to throw in “A Toccata into Blood Soaked Darkness” - then again, what Castlevania performance would be complete without it?

The original game’s music was composed by Kinuyo Yamashita, though Michiru Yamane has helmed the majority of the series’ compositions. Both are among the better known female composers in the business.

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There are very few video compositions that I might even consider more beautiful than this piece right here. Uematsu’s “Theme of Love” from the Super Nintendo’s Final Fantasy IV remains one of the series’ most popular compositions to date, even making its way into some Japanese schools’ music curricula.

This particular performance is from 2004’s Tour de Japon, based on the 20020220 soundtrack released a couple of years prior. Taiz? Takemoto conducts the orchestra you see above as they make their stop in Yokohama. Enjoy!

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This week, we’ll listen to the Hirata Wind Band perform a concert band arrangement of a song I’m sure the majority of you will recognize. It was performed as part of the Izumo Joint Concert back in June of ‘06.

There are even a few solos thrown in from a clarinet, trumpet, bass, and piano, with some of them even using famous (non-game) melodies as part of their solos. Recognize any?

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This week’s concert takes us to Play!’s tour through Norway, listening to a non-Nintendo video game theme. We’ve done non-Nintendo themes before, all the way from Final Fantasy VII to Metal Gear Solid 3, hopefully showing you that there’s more to quality video game music than just Koji Kondo.

The Halo theme, presented here in a special concert arrangement, was written by Martin O’Donnell with notable help from Michael Salvatori. O’Donnell has a Masters of Music Degree from the University of Southern California. You may have heard more of his work before, such as the Flintstones vitamins commercials. His kids sang in those commercials.

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As many of you know, I’m a music education major - meaning I have to be familiar with a lot more instruments than just my own clarinet. Interestingly enough, the double reed instruments (oboe and bassoon) have turned out to be my favorite among the instruments I’ve had to learn. It’s one of the main reasons I’m presenting you with a bassoon quintet tonight!

This video is of the Oberlin quartet, but they’ve gone ahead and added a fifth player on Contrabassoon. There’s a smothering of Super Mario music to enjoy here, so I think you’ll enjoy it. Plus, if you need something more than just five bassoons to impress you, don’t worry - there’s some beatboxing thrown in as well.

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Some of you may have seen this video before. Heck, you might have even seen it on our site. Hopefully you never tire of the Super Mario Bros. 2 Overworld Theme, because it’s this week’s Friday Night Concert. (I’m finishing up percussion methods in less than two weeks, so I’m celebrating by giving you another dose of double-mallet marimba plus xylo. Tee-Hee.)

This is a senior percussion recital by Christine over SUNY Fredonia, which of course doesn’t strive for the same accuracy and precision as the University of Illinois percussion majors, but it’s still an impressive performance. What really throws me is the use of the same exact piece for the encore… but props for the impressive xylophone solo. Now just replace it with some quality vibraphones, and we’ve got ourselves an evening.

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This week’s concert is actually part concert, part video game footage. Most of you probably won’t mind - the point is that you’re getting to hear some great video game music. Tonight, you get the Eminence Orchestra’s performance of the Metal Gear Solid 2/3 Theme by Harry Gregson-Williams. If you’re not familiar with Gregson-Williams, he is a former school music teacher and now a famed film composer. Maybe you’ve heard the soundtracks from The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Kingdom of Heaven, or the Shrek trilogy. Yeah, that’s him.

Gregson-Williams also scored Call of Duty 4 for EA, and returned for Konami’s upcoming Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.

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