Film and video game music

[ca88313]

Sometimes music in films and video games can be superb. Examples:

Hans Zimmer: At Wit's End (Pirates of the Caribbean) and Hummel Gets The Rockets (The Rock).

John Williams: Hedwig's Theme (Harry Potter) and The Imperial March (Star Wars).

Steve Jablonsky: No Sacrifice, No Victory (Transformers).

Kazuma Jinnouchi: 117 (Halo).

Junichi Masuda: I Got a Victory Badge! (Pokémon).

Al Hoffman, Jerry Livingston and Mack David: Reception at the Palace/So This Is Love (Cinderella).

Why is Baroque, Classical and Romantic music mainly performed by orchestras nowadays and why is film and video game music rarely performed by them (correct me if I am wrong)?

[visitor]

pshhh those are easy and big today because of the titles they composed for, but there are wonderful underrated ones that are not neccessarily part of modern pop culture.
Richard Rodney Bennet comes to mind. Sadly passed away in 2012, did some TV work and was a good jazzer....we lost a gem when he left us.

[mjames]

It's quite simple, there's just no audience for it. The ones who do care about game music don't attend concerts, and the ones who don't care attend concerts. Orchestras no longer (if they do, rarely) play music to challenge their audience, they play what guarantees a full house. Usually.

[chopinlover3]

I don't know much about game music but in regard to film music no one can equal John Williams in composing film music. My favorite is the music from Poltergeist.

[nanabush]

A LOT of game music is electronic, uses sampled instruments, or is non-linear (as in; there will be set sections/phrases that can split in different directions on the fly based on gameplay parameters).

If you want some good game music to listen to... check out the soundtracks for The Witcher 3, or Bloodborne.  VERY powerful music suited to those games, has a very 'film-score' kind of feel especially in Bloodborne.  People will sh*t on this music because it's not "like the greats" and they feel it's self-indulgent (overusing the same thing over and over, using cliche after cliche), but honestly I think the music for these games is extremely engaging, and for Witcher 3 - it really hits that Eastern-European feel... I dunno.

Game music can be performed live, and I've seen that there are concerts of "the best game soundtrack pieces", or like a Legend of Zelda/Halo orchestrated show.

But ya - a lot of games have music composed digitally, that just simply wouldn't translate well to a concert hall (look up Transistor/Fez/Bastion - a couple indie games with excellent soundtracks, that would NOT fill a concert hall sonically).  FEZ especially - very very transient music, lots of high frequency spectrum, almost no bass; it just would sound ugly being blasted in a large hall haha!  Lots of games use 8-Bit throwback styles, chiptune styles, or just lots of glitchy/SFXy elements, and are better enjoyed IN GAME, dynamically, rather than in a programmed concert.

Just my opinion - I LOVE Video Game music, love arranging it for piano as well, but I'm perfectly content knowing that it doesn't have a place on the concert stage lol.

[geoffhuang]

It's quite simple, there's just no audience for it. The ones who do care about game music don't attend concerts, and the ones who don't care attend concerts. Orchestras no longer (if they do, rarely) play music to challenge their audience, they play what guarantees a full house. Usually.

That's not true at all. There are many people who started off on YouTube who now regularly perform concerts on video game music, film music, anime music, etc.

But you just have to keep in mind that it is still a relatively new concept. In the grand scheme of things, video games and movies with songs composed specifically for the film are pretty new, while classical music has been around for a lot longer and it's "normal" to go to concerts for these things.

[perfect_pitch]

Might be a bit cheesy, but I'm trying to bring a few of the Movie themes and Video Game themes to the piano, without them losing their virtuosity...

[revanyoda777]

Here are some examples of great video game music well suited for a concert hall

Koichi Sugiyama-Dragon Quest

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Masashi Hamauzu-Final Fantasy 13 (probably my favorite game soundtrack)

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Ravel influence is pretty strong in both of these examples

[visitor]

Kingdom Hearts [III] Orchestra world tour announced , announcement just hit last night
[ Invalid YouTube link ]