Customer Reviews

Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke: Symphonic Suite)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The ``symphonic'' format lets Joe Hisaishi explore in greater depth the themes he created for the movie soundtrack. Indeed, this may be a better format for the music --- the sound-track chops the themes into 30 short (and redundant) bits; in this format each theme is given several minutes of development. As a result, the music is more complete and less redundant.

One slight disappointment is that the vocal pieces do not appear on this album (though the ``Princess Mononoke'' theme does get its own movement). Another disappointment is that the wooden-rattle ``Kodama'' theme isn't used, either. Despite these, this is a wonderful arrangement of Hisaishi's music.

If you by chance read my review for the Mononoke OST, then you know really really love the music from it. What we have here in this Japanese-only CD is an arrangement of 8 of the themes from the movie. The ensamble is larger, and the tracks are too.

The music of this CD is purely symphonic. It's almost as if Hisaishi took each theme and made a mini-symphonic movement out of them. The melodies are fleshed out, there's lots of orchestral color, as well as lots of great new development added. For instance in track 3, after a wonderful statement of the melody on the piano and then oboe, the strings start playing what is basically a fugue on the main motif. It's a wonderful effect, and each track on the CD has its own wonderful effect.

Perhaps the single best reason for buying the CD is the final track, entitled "Ashitaka and San", and corrisponds to the same-named track on the OST. It's one of the most beautiful pieces of music I've ever heard, and it's even better in its longer form. It's a wonderful mini-piano concerto, and would make even Rachmonioff proud.

So overall, even if this CD is expensive (though not overly so, as it costs 3,059 Yen in Japan), it's quite worth it for any fan of orchestral and/or anime music. While I would probably suggest choseing the US OST over this for price concerns, if you can afford to spend $35 on a CD, this one is surely one that warrents it.

I actually like the Original Motion Picture soundtrack better than this symphonic re-orchestration. Yes, the soundtrack CD chops the songs into bits, but they flow pretty well together. The symphonic CD pretty much just puts those bits together into longer tracks- they still follow the action of the movie pretty closely, so it doesn't necessarily make for a better listen.

Also, the recording of the U.S. soundtrack CD seems to have a better dynamic range than the symphonic (perhaps due to HDCD tweaking). Finally, the sythesized instruments are lost in the symphonic orchestration, which I liked in the score.

Even if you haven't seen the movie, the "Symphony" Soundtrack for Mononoke Hime is GREAT. Compared to the American release of the soundtrack, this 8 track cd is much better. It contains extended versions of some of the songs from the regular soundtrack. These special versions of these tracks are excellent and the piano work is brialliant. My fav tracks are 4 and 8. I don't know if anyone would like to pay the import price, but if you like great blockbuster caliber its worth it.

I've just got hold of this CD (literally - I'm listening to it for the first time as I type) and I'm not dissappointed. The music in the film itself is wonderfully suited to Miyazaki's direction and fantastic visuals, and the OST is a faithful release of that. However, perhaps because the OST was written to follow the action of specific scenes, I think that the Symphonic CD is a better music CD in it's own right, with some very powerful music that can be enjoyed even if you've not been lucky enough to see the movie. It allows a better development and exploration of the themes that Hisaishi wrote for the movie and my only gripe is that the beautiful vocal performance from the film is not included here. I suggest turning up the volume and listening to track 2 in particular with its fantastic percussion.

Actually, the one-line summary I wanted to put in was "A symphonic take of the music from the Greatest Animated Film of All Time," but there wasn't enough room.

In case you don't know, this is NOT the original soundtrack from Mononoke Hime (available, but not from here), but rather eight selections of music from the film, arranged for a full orchestra. In this case, the Warsaw Philharmonic, conducted by Mario Klemens. Included in this CD are versions of some of the most dramatic, and beautiful, music from the film. And in case you're wondering, Joe Hisaishi DOES perform here, providing piano on a few of the pieces.

A different take on the music, this is definitely worth it, along with the OST album, if you can find it!

The soundtrack CD for Mononoke-Hime is wonderful. The Symphonic Suite CD presents longer versions of the main themes raised repeatedly in the film (and its soundtrack CD), and with far less repetition. Personally, I think it is wonderful to listen to the full score of each theme, as it truly allows the listener to peer into the mind of composer Joe Hisaishi. I also love to study and grade papers while listening to the Symphonic Suite, as the music is simultaneously relaxing and energizing. Even those unfamiliar with the excellent instant-classic anime film Mononoke-Hime, this CD is a definitely must-have and a wonderful gift.

While the OST for Princess Mononoke suffered from a multitude of short tracks, making it a very choppy (but still great) listen. Fortunately, as is done for every Studio Ghibli film, Joe Hisaishi has produced a symphonic suite based on the themes in the OST.

Without dwelling on hyperbole TOO much, let me say that this album easily surpasses the OST in both the performance of the Czech Philharmonic and the beauty and emotional content of the music. The result is a cohesive, panoramic listening experience, fully consistent with the epic nature of the film.

Oh, and for those of you who dislike costly imports, this CD will be released by Milan on May 15th!

Just listening to the 30-second samples don't do justice for this CD. That's what I did, and I thought I would be buying the same thing as the OST. I was wrong. I got an excellent arrangement of the main themes from the OST and even some additional music, and it all blends excellently. Here's the scoop on each track, with references to the OST:

#1: The main theme with the movie opening and ending combined. Sounds excellent together.
#2: A combination of "The Demon God" and "The Retreat". The Demon God plays twice through, with the ending and a flute playing between the transition from The Retreat back to The Demon God. This song is absolutely amazing orchestrated.
#3: My favorite, simply "The Journey to the West", but with an extra minute of music that transitions back to the beautifully composed ending. This song is a masterpiece.
#4: A slight remix on "Princess Mononoke", which plays through three times in three different ways. It might sound boring, but the mix of each instrument promises that you'll enjoy each rendition.
#5: Contains the song "San and Ashitaka in the Forest of the Deer God" for the first minute and a half. The rest is all new music, which sounds like a blaring fanfare for the dangers of the forest. Hard to describe, and even hard to listen to the first time. However, it is wonderfully composed. It includes a slower ending with amazing new music, as well.
#6: Contains the songs "Requiem" and "The Demon Power" with a cool transition back to Requiem toward the ending.
#7: One of the coolest songs on the CD. It is a remix of "The World of the Dead" which is wonderfully composed and arranged. It also contains "Adagio of Life and Death" in the middle and ends with the ending from "The Adagio of Life and Death II", after going back to the wonderful orchestration from The World of the Dead. This is also a masterpiece.
#8: Simply "Ashitaka and San" with one minute of repeated music and a slightly better ending.

This all amounts to the fact that these slightly better arranged tracks make this CD a must-buy. They really nailed the great points of each song and transposed each one perfectly. There's no better way to experience these songs than on this CD. Highly Recommended!

Let me start off by saying that this is a great album. It's well worth purchasing - if it's the real thing.
It's 5/5 in my book, but my review is not a good one.

About a week or so ago, I bought a copy of this album and the Japanese edition of the Spirited Away soundtrack from an independent seller on Amazon. According to this page, the record label is Tokum. When the CD came, I saw that it was listed as SonMay Records. I checked SonMay on Wikipedia, and this is what came up:

SonMay Records is a Taiwan-based music publisher and distributor known for its poor quality and extremely inexpensive versions of anime and video game soundtracks. The company generally only has the rights for distribution in Taiwan, yet actively sells and distributes their products outside of that area, and is therefore considered a "pirate" or bootlegging company.

People often unwittingly buy them, attracted by their cheap price compared to the actual expense of imported, multi-disc CDs. Due to their widespread reach, many video game-related albums in album databases incorrectly list SonMay as publisher. SonMay's releases, in particular, the SM series, are similar to the originals, save for the SonMay logo and the absence of the CD's real catalog number and any license or copyright information. The GA series are mostly song compilations not traceable to any single album.

The CD I purchased looked highly authentic, and I believed it to be so until recently when I saw the Wikipedia entry. Another Taiwanese bootlegging company that has been making trouble with Joe Hisaishi and other composers for Anime and Japanese video games is EverAnime, so be careful with those as well.