Sound Current: Concerto: The Extraordinary World of Concerto Gate

By Jeriaska . April 6, 2008 . 11:20am

Hiroki Kikuta’s latest album is the first by the composer for a game published by Square since the sequel to ~~Secret of Mana~~ Soukaigi was denied an English-language release. Concerto: The Extraordinary World of Concerto Gate features tracks by the musician from the massively multiplayer online PC title Concerto Gate. While Kenji Ito was the co-composer of the score, his songs do not appear on this album. Though the game’s turn-based battles, super-deformed graphics, and anime full-motion video intro all firmly place Concerto Gate within the framework of a traditional Japanese RPG, you can hardly tell by Concerto's cover art by Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema. >From the 1899 oil on canvas painting “Spring,” the contrast could hardly be starker between the visual realism of the soundtrack's ornate frontispiece and the fantasy elements of the game.

Published on the musician's private label Norstrilia, the album opens and closes on original image tracks not found in the game. The songs serve as a subtle feature insinuating the soundtrack's existence independent of the MMO. Furthermore, the track list categorizes individual songs according to musical terminology rendered in Italian, shifting the title of Concerto into a historical rather than game world context. The album begins with with a brief explosion of harmonious strings, sounding in unison, followed by the gradual unfolding of the Ouverture melody. Reminiscent of the artist's previous introductory sequences, here there is less of the foreboding mood attending the discovery of the massive tree of Mana at night. Rather, these sounds that are original to the album publication portray the delicate blossoming of spring.

The body of the soundtrack includes themes that are as light and airy in their implementation as the flowing robes of Tadema's romanticized figures from antiquity. The lightness and precision of Mormorando, Misterioso, Soave and Serioso make for less than impressionable videogame tracks at first listening, but they make up for their understated nature through greater replay value and utility as atmospheric backdrops. The contours of harp sounds, chimes and wind instruments are perhaps better suited to dramatic cut-scenes than dungeons, due to their jarring contrast to a sudden random encounter.

Sonoro's pensive mood is created through the use of strings sounding a repeated minor chord within an echoing chamber. The melody is mirrored by rounds of chimes and is accompanied by a trumpet, adding a regal touch to the ensemble. The entire collection of instruments subside, giving way to wood percussion and the rumbling of drums. The reverberating strings work effectively at conveying the empty expanses of a cavern, while the martial trumpets and drumrolls hint at the bravery of the protagonists. Ostinato contains many of the same musical elements but with a swifter tempo marked by increased drama. The track starts off in medias res, trumpets again signaling the presence of conflict. The mood is underscored by steady rhythmic percussion, and chimes sound forcefully at the end of each musical phrase. The tone backs off from its insistent forward push only briefly, retreating into one of the musician's well executed changes of tone, where a contemplative melody played by wind instruments is offset by the brief clash of a struck gong.

Perhaps the most triumphant moment of Concerto comes with Selvaggio. Reminiscent of the soaring Labyrinth theme from Soukaigi, the song upon its immediate impact gives the listener a sense of rising emotional intensity. The steady roar of wind instruments are followed by an energetic piano accompaniment and the sound of rustling bells. The song's elements are captured in their entirety within the explosive introductory beats, but the excitement of the theme lies in following its organic progression as it builds in strength, levels off in tempo, and swiftly ends, only to return upon the loop. Appassionato serves as a lowkey companion piece, built upon a similar melody. The mood is now weighed down by an oppressive weight, alternating between the radiant tone of flute sounds playing high on the register and the fearful minor chords encroaching upon their presence.

Having been denied Soukaigi, and receiving Lost Files and Alphabet Planet as imports, we are perhaps accustomed to soundtracks by Hiroki Kikuta being stand-alone items, evocative of memorable videogames but detached from any existing title. Concerto, while his first original score in some time, remains indicative of the composer's qualms with the videogame music industry. Having chosen the illustrations of a long deceased English painter as an insignia for his project, one receives the impression that at least on this project the creators of interactive media have yet to realize its true potential as a collaborative endeavor. Nevertheless, the music of the Extraordinary World of Concerto Gate organically captures the bittersweet delights of spring.

Images courtesy of Square Enix and Norstrilla.