80: Bittersweet Symphony

[The Escapist Staff]

"The melding of a high culture symphonic orchestra and music from the traditionally low culture world of videogames is not always an easy task. 'Usually when we first start - when the musicians first get on stage and they look at the sheet music and see Super Mario and Sonic and Zelda and Warcraft - they look a little on the skeptical side,' says Tommy Tallarico, a veteran videogame composer and co-creator of Video Games Live, another popular game music tour."

Kyle Orland goes behind the scenes in the world where classical music and classic games come together to make beautiful music.

Bittersweet Symphony

 

[Bongo Bill]

This is very resonant (music pun! har!) with me, as it was just Saturday I was in the audience at Video Games Live. Canceled out from under my feet twice, it was (and I'm still complaining), but it was well worth the wait.

I listen to a lot of video game music, and I relish any opportunity to go see an orchestra perform, so this was a sort of chocolate-and-peanut-butter combination.

 

[luminousshadow11]

I would love to someday experience one of the orchestrated video game tours if not many times. One of my favorite, treasured, CDs was free in an issue of Nintendo Power (I think) from when I worked at a library. Super Smash Bros. Melee: Smashing... Live by the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, one of the best musical adventures I've experienced. It's great to see video games and the amazing world of music coming together in a way like this.

Thanks for a great read Kyle!