Film/Computer Game Scores

Trine

Just something I've been wondering about recently...

I'm not into classical music myself, but I do love many orchestral scores written for film and particularly video games. I can listen to them for hours, yet I'd find it difficult to sit through just one piece of "traditionally" written classical music.

Take for example this piece of music, To Zanarkand composed by Nobuo Uematsu: http://youtube.com/watch?v=rLnZ5jcsRpc

I find this piece beautiful, and think it's one of the best pieces ever written for a computer game. But in a way I think it's more to do with the memory of the game, the story, the characters etc. I wonder do classical fans find it as good from a purely musical view? Are film and computer game scores looked down on as not being equal to traditionally classical pieces?

The Mad Hatter

It depends on the music. Bernard Hermann's scores have gained an almost equal status with classical music (much too late, alas, and still not quite the respect he deserves, but hopefully that will change).

The thing about 'classical' music is that it's quite complex. It's not just pretty melodies and harmony, there are layers of meaning and implication there that aren't necessarily visible on the surface, and that's the big difference between film scores and 'classical'.

Still, I personally have no doubt that there will be, at some stage, film composers on a par with the great composers of their time (and again I mention Bernard Hermann), and probably even video game composers (but first they must be recognised as the art form that they have the potential to be).

As regards Uematsu, his style is very distinctive, and he is certainly among the better video game composers - but still with something like 'To Zanarkand', you're not really hearing a great deal more than pretty melody and harmony.

Sorry, I'm trying my best to answer your question without appearing condescending (I know classical fans can do that sometimes), and I do genuinely like Uematsu's music.