Customer Reviews

Final Fantasy VI: Piano Collections

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Truly impressive. There isn't enough time of day to describe the beauty behind this soundtrack. Though the game Final Fantasy VI is almost a decade old now, its music is still some of the most powerful compositions I've heard... EVER. And yet it goes so unnoticed because it's music made for a video game. Luckily, this CD captures the essence of 13 of the game's better songs in grand piano style. This range covers so many emotions to a tee; evil and devious, mysterious and foreboding, bright and cheery, calm and peaceful, and slow and melancholy. It sends cold chills down my back whenever I listen to them, and any music that can do that is worth knowing. If you're into piano music, listen to this CD! And if you're a video game music fanatic, listen to this CD! Of course, that high price is a little intimidating. Hope you can somehow work around that.

Wow. This album is quite a work of art. ^_^ Track-by-track, I gave 9 pieces above a 9/10. 01 Tina is my favorite track, its haunting beauty permeating every note and carrying itself into the listener's heart. Other notable favorites are as follows:

08 Johnny C. Bad, which I give 9.8/10 for its trueness to the style depicted, its accuracy to the original, its focus on the melody, and its flawless arrangement to piano.

12 Celes, which I give 9.8/10 for its complexity of rhythm (hemiola, or three-against-two a predominantly used device), beauty, clarity, and strength of melody, and tie-in with the emotion of the original character and scene.

07 Kids Run Through the City Corner, which I give 9.7/10 for its beauty of melody, simpleness of accompaniment, and attention to preservation of the original.

Overall, I would rate this album 9.2/10. It is a work of art, and a beautiful arrangement of some of gaming's greatest triumphs in the realm of music. I highly recommend it to game music and piano music enthusiasts alike. =)

Like I said WOW this ff piano collection is probably my favorite of all time and the game too! If you've played the game you will be astonished at the closeness the piano pieces have to the original sound from the snes. Every piece in the album is excellent! This one is defintely a keeper!

Even though this music was written for a video game (a damn good game I might add), it is every bit as professional as anything you'd see in a cd store. Nobuo Uematsu has the ability to write music that absolutely gushes emotion, and most of the renditions on this CD do the songs justice. From the melancholy of Terra's theme to the insanity of Kefka's theme, you'll be moved as if by a magic spell by Nobuo Uematsu's magic wand of music. Worth every penny.

Beautiful Music. Very classic orchestra for such great classics for FF VI. There were a couple weird tracks like the chocabo music sounds like they are drunk birds and Relm's theme music is pretty but there is a bag pipe that plays and is off key to the orchestra. But the rest is amazing.

Final Fantasy VI Grand Finale holds the distinctions of being based on the greatest video game soundtrack ever and of being my first arranged game soundtrack. So this disc has high expectations to live up to. About half of its tracks I am totally satisfied with the way they were done. A few follow their original game versions rather closely and sound terrific performed by real instruments. In others the arrangements vary slightly from the originals, but the changes follow the spirit of the OSV closely. I'm especially happy with the excellent version of the game's opening theme.

However, there's a slightly different story to other tracks on the CD. In some arrangements there are small changes that hurt an entire piece. For example, an otherwise perfect rendition of Relm's theme is ruined for me by blaring bagpipes. Others have changes that make them considerably different from the original versions. One example would be "Gau", which although a nice arrangement in its own right, doesn't posess the eye-watering quality of the original.

Most Final Fantasy fans will probably feel that this CD doesn't live up to the original soundtrack it is based on. Of course, many Final Fantasy fans - myself included - feel that the original soundtrack is one of the greatest musical achievements ever. A hard label to live up to. I must credit the arrangers for having a cinematic vision when they went about embellishing these compositions. I remember when I first got the CD, listening intently and envisioning the characters moving through my own little Final Fantasy movie as the music progressed. Fond memories, to be sure. So while this CD may not be the dream Final Fantasy VI arranged collection, it is nonetheless an interesting and entertaining one which fans should be hesitant to miss.

Spinach Rag is probably one of the very best piano peices Uematsu has written. That song alone is worth the purchase of this CD.

The problem though is that there are a number of other songs on this CD that really aren't very good at all, like Stragus & Johnny C Bad. Cefca (or Kefka as was the translation in America) OST (original Sound Track) was probably my favorite song of the Final Fantasy series, but this piano version, like the Orchestral Version on Grand Finale was just a letdown and did no justice to how great the song really could be.

On the other hand, Gau, Spinach Rag, and Kids Run Through the City Corner, more than make up for the CD's shortcomings, and on the whole the album is pretty good. Coin Song is nice, if simple and slow. Same goes for Tina. Celes is a pretty darned good song, but if you really want a good version of this song the piano version is not the one to focus on. Listen to the 23 minute Dream Oath Opera, and focus on Aria Di Mezzo Caratere (or however that's spelled) song within that Opera. There is a slightly remixed version of that song on the Grand Finale CD that I would highly recommend over this version of the song.

All in all, if you love the work of Uematsu, like listening to simple, but pretty piano songs, or are a fan of Final Fantasy this is a CD that is actually worth the money to buy. But perhaps you should pick up Grand Finale, Celtic Moon, FITHOS LUSEC WICOS VINOSEC, Final Fantasy 7's or 9's piano soundtracks, or Uematsu's Symphonic Suite first, as all are much more impressive works than this selection.

The piano collections of Nobuo Uematsu's series of Final Fantasy scores have proven to be just what the doctor ordered, considering that he was creating such spectacular music for such a "lowly" medium as the 'video game' before there was even a moderate respect for the art. Better yet, there was a far less than moderate respect for 'scores' to video games at the time. Considering the severely limited sound capabilities of the Super Nintendo, Uematsu's masterful compositions were not given their proper representation with what the current technology had to offer. But, even with such restrictions, Uematsu's music was no less than engaging. It makes perfect sense that his music should finally be played acoustically to help the other half realize the significance of his work, to spell it out for them. And, this collection is no exception.
Final Fantasy VI still stands out as the greatest of the series, and Uematsu's score is perhaps his most profound. With all of these collections, one who has heard the original scores cannot help but think that some of the pieces have been belatedly embellished to the point that they digress from their original forms, and therefore the original score, but the ones that remain faithful are well worth the time and/or purchase. "The Mystic Forest" and "Coin Song" are what appeal to me the most. The both of these titles are more beautiful and haunting to me as I'd realized they had the potential to be. Just gorgeous. "Celes", "Mystery Train", and "Waltz de Chocobo" are also well worth mentioning. If you are already familiar with this or any of Uematsu's other Final Fantasy scores (as I am), you are already prejudiced towards this release, and so forth. If you are new to his music, I can comfortably recommend that you know of this man. Who knows? You may have have been missing something.

Final Fantasy VI has always had the best soundtrack of all the gemes. This Piano collections makes it greater. THe complexity of the songs is fully captured by the Piano. This is a must have for Fianl Fantasy fans.

TERRA or TINA is just enough to buy the cd. Actually, I started playing the piano for 3 reasons:

-Terra (piano version)(INCLUDED IN THE CD) --- Final Fantasy VI
-To Zanarkand --- Final Fantasy X
-Greensleeves --- Xenosaga Episode I, OST

If you listen to them you will end up taking piano lessons like me...give them a try.