Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY concert review (17/8/2014)

This was my second orchestra that I attended to, and the first Final Fantasy concert that I attended to. I would personally say that this is an awesome orchestra concert, and I am would like to attend another Distant Worlds concert again.

Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY concerts are popular among Final Fantasy fans, often conducted by Arnie Roth, who has conducted many Distant Worlds concerts in the past. This time, he came to my country Malaysia and performed in the concert along with the Malaysian orchestra, the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO). The concert ran for three days in Malaysia, and I happened to get a ticket with the student price on the final day of the concert itself, 17th August 2014.

MPO was also accompanied by Dithyrambic Singers, a group of choirs as well as three vocalists for the Final Fantasy VI piece Opera 'Maria & Draco', which are Ho Chi Mei, Chi Hoe Mak, and James Long. Dithyrambic Singers also acted as the choir for that piece as well. During the concert, slideshows of various Final Fantasy games were also used during each piece played.

When the doors were closed and brief entrance by Arnie Roth the conductor, the orchestra wasted no time in performing the first piece, FINAL FANTASY SERIES: Prelude. Amazing orchestra arrangement that definitely captures the spirit of the original piece, and the theme was followed immediately with FINAL FANTASY VIII: Liberi Fatali piece. Another amazing choir piece with great instruments like violins, bass, horns, and trombone.

After Liberi Fatali was finished, the audience including me gave great applause to the orchestra themselves. An amazing performance by MPO, and they deserve it. Then, the conductor Arnie Roth gave some introductions, and was pleased to come back to Malaysia again. He also said that it was unfortunate that Nobuo Uematsu, a great composer for Final Fantasy was not able to attend to this concert. After that, he gave some insights on the later pieces that the orchestra will play on, and quickly played FINAL FANTASY SERIES: Victory Theme, an iconic winning theme in most Final Fantasy games to much applause. He also mentioned that this year is the 20th anniversary of Final Fantasy VI, and the orchestra will perform few Final Fantasy VI pieces. After that, they continued on.

The next piece is FINAL FANTASY IV: Battle with The Four Fiends. Notably the battle theme against the four fiends led by Golbez, it was performed splendidly and bombastically using the loud instruments like horns. Easily one of the best live battle themes that I have heard.

The fifth piece was FINAL FANTASY VII: Main Theme. A brilliant orchestra arrangement of the World Map them of Final Fantasy VII, this was bound to hit many Final Fantasy fans as one of the most iconic themes in Final Fantasy series.

After that, they played the piece FINAL FANTASY XI: Fighters of the Crystal. Notably composed by Naoshi Mizuta and not Nobuo Uematsu, I am not familiar with this piece as I do not play Final Fantasy XI, but it is another battle theme in the game and was also played splendidly. However, this is not my favourite or memorable pieces, so I lack attachment to the piece itself.

The eighth piece was FINAL FANTASY VI: Dancing Mad, the most popular theme of Final Fantasy VII. Originally used in the final boss battle against Kefka, MPO performed this piece for about 10 minutes, all-out orchestra with the horns, drums, choirs, trombone, bells, and organs. This was easily one of my favourites in the concert, and all of the audience members applause greatly as this was one of their best performances.

The third last piece before a 20 minutes intermission was Lightning Returns: FINAL FANTASY XIII: Light Eternal. Notably a piece composed by Masashi Hamauzu, this piece was also played during the game itself. Featuring an almost similar but orchestral arrangement, it was brillaintly played by the performers with an amazing sound, with slight reprisal of Blinded by Light battle theme from Final Fantasy XIII. A personal favourite of mine.

The second last piece before the intermission was FINAL FANTASY IX: Not Alone. Purely orchestral, this theme stroke on many fans as Zidane's theme in Final Fantasy IX. It was awesome as well, but I actually prefer if the piece was led by guitars and such.

The last piece was a bit of surprise, which is FINAL FANTASY Series: Chocobo Medley 2012. This was a medley of various Chocobo themes from different Final Fantasy games, and also the most playful theme in the concert. The performers cleverly synced their performance with the slideshow when it showed the video of the Chocobo Chick that appeared from Sazh's head, to many of the audience's laughs. The choir, Dithyrambic Singers also vocalised the Chocobo word letter by letter during the performance as well. After this piece ended, there was a 20 minutes intermission.

After the intermission ended, they continued with one of the most popular pieces, FINAL FANTASY VII: Opening - Bombing Mission. The introduction theme of Final Fantasy VII, and it was played incredibly with live instruments. This performance also won a tremendous applause.

The next piece was FINAL FANTASY VIII: Fisherman's Horizon. A great town theme in Final Fantasy VIII, and it was played live amazingly with the backing choir Dithyrambic Singers. The piece performed was slightly different than the original piece, but it was still an amazing performance. Again, this performance won a tremendous applause.

The third piece was FINAL FANTASY XIII: The Dalmasca Estersand. A faithful rendition of the first field theme in Final Fantasy XII, performed in orchestra again with some different twists at the end. Great theme, again.

The fourth piece was FINAL FANTASY VIII: Don't Be Afraid. The regular battle theme for Final Fantasy VIII was performed in full orchestra, with the horns, violins, and etc. A great rendition of the classic battle theme of Final Fnatasy VIII, but this does not top my personal favourite of battle theme, which I will elaborate later.

The fifth piece performed was FINAL FANTASY X: Hymn of the Fayth. This was one of the two only pieces in the concert that used full vocals. An amazing, solemn performance by Dithyrambic Singers, and I can swear that I heard one or two people sobbing hearing this piece. That includes me too (sobbing in the heart).

However, the piece continued to the next one, which was FINAL FANTASY X: Zanarkand. Easily one of the most emotional piece in Final Fantasy series, this again will bring out many people's emotions due to the amazing piano work, violins, and etc. A great rendition of both Final Fantasy X themes.

The third last piece before the end of the concert was FINAL FANTASY SERIES: Battle & Victory Theme Medley. This easily was my top favourite piece played during this concert. This medley was a mix of Clash of the Big Bridge (Final Fantasy V), Fight With Seymour (Final Fantasy X), and Those Who Fight (Final Fantasy VII). I was actually surprised on how the piece Fight With Seymour works well in orchestra, and how all three battle themes played continuously in great pacing. The medley then was closed with the Victory Theme again. Great performance that also deserved thunderous applause by fans.

The second last piece was not familiar with me. The piece was FINAL FANTASY VI: Opera 'Maria & Draco'. An opera piece backed by the MPO and Dithyrambic Singers, the main opera singing were lead by Ho Chi Mei (soprano), Chi Hoe Mak (bass baritone), and James Long (tenor). An amazing opera piece that told the tale of love between Maria and Draco with four acts. Can't say that I feel nostalgic with the piece, but it was still an amazing performance.

The last piece was FINAL FANTASY SERIES Main Theme. The main theme that was played in most Final Fantasy games. One of my favourites as well. As the piece was finished, all of us gave a loud applause, thinking that the concert is over as Arnie Roth left the podium.

But wait! Arnie Roth came back and wanted to perform an encore piece that should be played in every Final Fantasy concerts. Undeniably, that piece was One-Winged Angel from Final Fantasy VII! Again, full orchestra performance with Dithyrambic Singers singing the choir, I would personally say this was one of their best performances in this evening. The choirs, the horns, the bassoons, the violins, and every instruments played during this encore performance struck my heart as an absolutely epic piece. In fact, the conductor himself actually asked the audience to sing along in that piece, but I did not hear anyone actually sang the word 'Sephiroth' (including me due to being afraid of embarrassment). When this piece was finished, the concert ended with great applause by everyone.

This was an extremely enjoyable concert that I attended to this evening. My only real disappointments was that the pieces Eternity: Memory of Lightwaves from Final Fantasy X-2, Over the Hill from Final Fantasy IX and Prelude to Final Fantasy XIII from Final Fantasy XIII were not played during this concert. Other than that, it was an amazing performance by Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Dithyrambic Singers, the opera singers, and the conductor Arnie Roth. I am not musically talented, but I personally feel that this was an amazing concert with great orchestral performance. I had an enjoyable experience, and I really look forward to any Distant Worlds concerts in my country again.