No FFVII Piano for You!

by Andrew B.

Video game music, the form of media which is very much sought after by many RPG enthusiasts. Random names like Nobuo Uematsu, Yasunori Mitsuda, Koichi Sugiyama, Kentarou Haneda, Motoi Sakuraba, Masashi Hamauzu, Hiroki Kikuta, Yoko Shimomura, Koji Kondo and even the insanely popular Yoko Kanno have done great feats with this genre. Fans of classical music won't recognize anyone from this group of talented composers, yet rabid gaming fans will applaud their efforts, going out of their way to part their hard-working cash to achieve their CDs. But there will always be one CD which has never been pumped out to my huge dismay.

It is common fact that with mostly every popular original soundtrack released for a certain RPG, scores of arranged albums hit the scene. Every Final Fantasy from FFIII has received an arranged album, FFIV onwards for its brilliant piano collections. I am a HUGE fan of FFVI's music (who seriously isn't?), it's two arranged albums - both orchestrated and piano are nothing short of amazing. Yet what has eluded me is the fact that many Final Fantasy fans enjoyed the music for FFVII, but why isn't there a piano collections album? Whether this is due to the time constraints put upon Uematsu (although, he does not fully arrange the piano pieces, there is always another who will contribute), or simply due to the fact that even Uematsu disliked the music he produced for the game. Why is there only three orchestrated tracks from the Reunion CD? It could be that, yes, this was the start of an avalanche of amazing orchestrated pieces in RPGs. But what if the earlier idea about Uematsu never likening the music to be fully arranged is true.

I don't fully know the facts about this, as I've rarely looked into the reasons why FFVII music was discarded like a dirty rag. All I know is that I would kill to hear an arranged piano piece to Tifa's Theme.. to enjoy the ecstacy of hearing Aerith's Theme in full piano. The starting ten seconds of the song is but a tease to your imagination on a piano piece. Or even One Winged Angel, think of Kefka's piano piece with more emotion and drive for raw power.

Or maybe even this whole idea is for naught when Uematsu produces the soundtrack of a lifetime for Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Maybe finally we will hear FFVII music done on orchestra and piano rather than synth and my mindless rants will discontinue.