Misplaced Pages

#671328

93-630: Final Symphony is a symphonic concert tour first held at the Historische Stadthalle Wuppertal in Wuppertal (Germany) on May 11, 2013. The concert tour features arrangements of video game music selected from the Final Fantasy series, specifically Final Fantasy VI , VII , and X . It is divided into three acts: a symphonic poem for VI , a piano concerto for X , and a symphony for VII . The concert

186-610: A Meet and Greet session with the guest of honor Chris Hülsbeck, Yuzo Koshiro and Takenobu Mitsuyoshi. The concert featured 14 titles selected from Chris Hülsbeck's library of titles throughout his career, including his most famous works The Great Giana Sisters , Turrican II: The Final Fight , as well as lesser known works from the short movie soundtrack Licht am Ende des Tunnels and the original concert composition Karawane der Elefanten . Arrangements ranged from many different styles, having influences of jazz, big band, cinema, concertos and experimental electronic soundscapes combined with

279-748: A concert of music from Final Fantasy V , VIII , IX , and XIII . It features long arrangements like the Final Symphony concerts. The majority of the music was originally composed by Nobuo Uematsu, while the Final Fantasy XIII suite was originally composed by Masashi Hamauzu. Valtonen created the arrangements for the Final Fantasy V section, Wanamo worked on the VIII and IX portions, and Hamauzu arranged his own compositions from XIII with orchestration by Valtonen. The concert

372-560: A continuous urbanized area since 1850. During the succeeding decades, "Wupper-Town" became the dominant industrial agglomeration of northwestern Germany. During the 20th century, this conurbation had been surpassed by Cologne , Düsseldorf and the Ruhr area , all with a more favourable topography. From 5 July 1933 to 19 January 1934 the Kemna concentration camp was established in Wuppertal. It

465-578: A large number of historic sites have been preserved, such as: The US 78th Infantry Division under Major General Edwin P. Parker Jr. captured Wuppertal against scant resistance on 16 April 1945. Wuppertal became a part of the British Zone of Occupation , and subsequently part of the new state of North Rhine-Westphalia in West Germany . Wuppertal currently has a population of about 355,000. The number of inhabitants more than doubled in 1929 as

558-501: A more traditional medley. The concert series was followed by Final Symphony II , a similar concert tour by Merregnon Studios which began in 2015 with music from Final Fantasy V , VIII , IX , and XIII . Thomas Böcker first began producing orchestral concerts of video game music in 2003 with the first Symphonic Game Music Concert in Leipzig , Germany. In 2008, he, through his production company Merregnon Studios , began

651-429: A part of a medley featuring Amiga video game music for PLAY! previously, Symphonic Shades featured all new exclusive arrangements using a more experimental approach, while also referring to Hülsbeck's own personal interpretations more extensively. Tickets for Symphonic Shades were sold out after six days, prompting the producers to schedule a second concert that would be performed to another sold-out audience at 23:00 on

744-481: A piano performance by Katharina Treutler . Nobuo Uematsu supervised the production of the album. The album was published by X5 Music Group , who had previously published the Symphonic Fantasies Tokyo (2012) album for Merregnon Studios. It was released as a digital album on February 23, 2015, while a preview of the album was performed on British radio station Classic FM on February 21. Prior to

837-597: A remarkable ten consecutive doubles between 1993 and 2002. During 1996 , they even won the European Cup as the first and so far only German side, beating Italy 's SFT Como in the final. A year later, they narrowly missed out on back-to-back trebles, losing to French side CJM Bourges in the newly christened EuroLeague's final. In 2002, the club withdrew from the Bundesliga due to financial troubles, their then-main sponsor Gold-Zack Werke filing for insolvency

930-494: A result of the Barmen – Elberfeld merger. The economic boom of the 1950s and 60s saw the establishment of new industry headquarters and with it an influx of workers, including migrant workers from Turkey , Greece and Italy . Population numbers during these times of as-yet unparalleled growth peaked at about 423,000 in 1963; in the 1970s, a period of steady decline followed in the wake of industrial losses. As of 31 December 2022,

1023-678: A series of four concerts of video game music that used longer, more elaborate arrangements of themes from the individual pieces of music from the games. This Symphonic series of concerts stood in contrast to the more standard concerts, which played straightforward orchestral versions of individual songs. The four concerts were Symphonic Shades – Hülsbeck in Concert (2008), Symphonic Fantasies: Music from Square Enix (2009), Symphonic Legends – Music from Nintendo (2010), and Symphonic Odysseys: Tribute to Nobuo Uematsu (2011). Both Symphonic Fantasies and Symphonic Odysseys featured music from

SECTION 10

#1732798091672

1116-527: A spatial impression of Wuppertal being larger than it actually is. The city is known for its steep slopes, its woods and parks, and for being the greenest city in Germany, with two-thirds green space of the total municipal area. From any part of the city, it is only a ten-minute walk to one of the public parks or woodland paths. The Wupper Valley was, along with the Ore Mountains and before the Ruhr ,

1209-538: A year later. After a decade-long stay in amateur divisions, Barmer TV returned to the second-tier 2nd Bundesliga North in 2014. Wuppertal co-hosted the 1998 FIBA World Championship for Women as one of seven host cities. In roller hockey , Wuppertal club RSC Cronenberg are one of the most successful German teams, having won the German championship and the German Cup in both men's and women's competitions. In total,

1302-598: A young elephant named Tuffi was put aboard the Wuppertal Schwebebahn (monorail), as a promotion for the Althoff Circus. The swinging tram upset the elephant, and she trumpeted, charged, and plummeted 12 m (40 ft) into the river below. Tuffi suffered minor injuries; she lived until 1989. In 1999, the Schwebebahn had its thus far only fatal accident . Between 1873 and 1987, Wuppertal

1395-540: Is Cronenberger SC from the district of Cronenberg . Their greatest success to date is reaching the 1952 German amateur football championship final which they lost 5–2 against VfR Schwenningen . Today, they play one tier below WSV in the Oberliga Nordrhein . Famous players include Günter Pröpper who scored 39 of WSV's 136 Bundesliga goals and West Germany international Horst Szymaniak , as well as Cronenberg's Herbert Jäger who represented Germany at

1488-406: Is a unique German initiative to educate youth from the age of 4 to 18 in science outside the school program. The current mayor of Wuppertal is Uwe Schneidewind of Alliance 90/The Greens , who was elected in 2020. The most recent mayoral election was held on 13 September 2020, with a runoff held on 27 September, and the results were as follows: The Wuppertal city council governs the city alongside

1581-407: Is produced and directed by Thomas Böcker , with arrangements provided by Finnish composer and musician Jonne Valtonen , along with Roger Wanamo and Final Fantasy X composer Masashi Hamauzu with consultation from Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu . The original works were composed by Uematsu and Hamauzu, and an introductory piece was composed by Valtonen. The premiere concert was performed by

1674-417: Is the first concert consisting entirely of new Final Fantasy arrangements in over ten years, since 20020220 - Music from Final Fantasy . Böcker and the arrangers intended the arrangements in the concert to be "about telling the stories of the games". In order to "capture the atmosphere of the games", they limited the concert to three games from the series, so as not to spread the concert too thin. They chose

1767-446: The Final Fantasy series composed by Nobuo Uematsu . Böcker has said that he considers Uematsu to be "the most famous composer of video game music and in general one of the most influential", and that Uematsu's 20020220 - Music from Final Fantasy concert in 2002 was a big influence on his own concerts. By May 2012, Böcker was working on a concert of music solely from the Final Fantasy series, titled Final Symphony . The idea for

1860-530: The Orchestral Game Concerts series, Symphonic Shades focused on one specific composer in its entirety, which was a very uncommon concept for video game orchestra concerts at the time, and the first of its kind in Europe. The use of specific themes would be utilized in all subsequent Symphonic shows produced by Böcker and his Merregnon Studios. Böcker stated the reason to focus on Hülsbeck

1953-478: The 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki during his stay with the club. In handball , Wuppertal's most successful team is Bergischer HC , playing in the top-tier Handball-Bundesliga which they were promoted to for the second time during 2013, reaching 15th place during the 2013–14 campaign and therefore staying among the top scorers for a second consecutive season. BHC originates from a 2006 cooperation between

SECTION 20

#1732798091672

2046-467: The 2009–10 season , looks back on a rich and eventful history since its establishment as the result of a 1954 merger between the two main Wuppertal clubs SSV 04 Wuppertal and TSG Vohwinkel 80 . The club spent a total of seven seasons in the top flight of German football, three of which in the Bundesliga , which they were promoted to during 1972. In their first season in the nationwide first division,

2139-545: The Final Fantasy VII and X sections of the concert. In December 2016, Laced Records released the Final Symphony album on double CD and triple vinyl, as well as a double album combination with the Symphonic Fantasies Tokyo album. The Final Symphony album was re-released as a lossless digital album on Bandcamp for streaming and download on January 1, 2021. The album was highly praised by critics. Stephen Meyerink of RPGFan described it as "the absolute top of

2232-459: The Final Fantasy X music, was one of the composers of the original pieces he arranged. Uematsu, who composed music for all three games, served as a consultant for the project, though he did not arrange any pieces. When they first began the project, Böcker, Valtonen, and Wanamo took a few months to play through the games, watch playthrough videos, and read reviews and analyses of the games. They did not research other arrangements that have been done of

2325-922: The Oulu Symphony Orchestra at the Oulu Music Centre, the St. Gallen Symphony Orchestra at the Tonhalle St. Gallen , the Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra at Culttz Kawasaki and the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz at the Pfalzbau Ludwigshafen. In December 2014, Merregnon Studios produced an album for the concert. Unlike prior Merregnon Studios concert albums, the Final Symphony album did not record of one of

2418-678: The Turrican II main theme. In a review Original Sound Version stated: "No lasers, no smoke machines, no backing track and no display screen with footage of the games. This was what I was hoping for: a serious concert that even people without game knowledge could appreciate. [...] Sinfonia Drammatica was awesome." Additionally, the Duisburg Philharmonic performed nine arrangements from Symphonic Shades at their 3. Familienkonzert on 3 December 2009. Both Hülsbeck and Shimomura expressed hope that Sinfonia Drammatica could open

2511-624: The Vorwerk Kobold vacuum cleaner . The Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy and the European Institute for International Economic Relations are located in the city. Barmen was the birthplace of Friedrich Engels . Wuppertal in its present borders was formed in 1929 by merging the industrial cities of Barmen and Elberfeld along with the communities of Vohwinkel , Ronsdorf , Cronenberg , Langerfeld and Beyenburg . The initial name Barmen-Elberfeld

2604-860: The line from Wuppertal to Solingen (operated as the S 7) and the Prince William Railway to Essen (now S-Bahn line S 9), all of the branch lines connecting to main line in the city of Wuppertal are now closed. This includes, among others, the Düsseldorf-Derendorf–Dortmund Süd railway (the Wuppertaler Nordbahn ), the Burgholz Railway , the Wuppertal-Wichlinghausen–Hattingen railway , the Wupper Valley Railway and

2697-450: The mainline through the valley are the RE 4 ( Wupper-Express ), RE 7 ( Rhein-Münsterland-Express ), RE 13 ( Maas-Wupper-Express ), RB 48 ( Rhein-Wupper Bahn ) and four Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn services: the S 7 , S 8 , S 9 and S 68 (peak hours only). Every 30 minutes, it is served by a long-distance ( Intercity-Express , InterCity , EuroCity ) service in each direction. With the exception of

2790-420: The 1995–96 European Cup Winners' Cup , losing the final in five sets. After the wide-reaching retreat of Bayer AG from less popular professional sport during 2008, the club acquired the name Wuppertal Titans and later A!B!C Titans Berg. Land . However, the loss of their main sponsor eventually resulted in the team having to terminate during 2012. Presently, they once more play by the name of Bayer Wuppertal in

2883-511: The 2014 performances, and a new encore piece, "Suteki da ne", was performed at the Tampere concert. The Tokyo concert was the first video game music concert in Japan to receive a standing ovation, according to Merregnon Studios. It was described by both Dengeki Online and Famitsu as magnificent, with a bold and refreshing style that was met with "thunderous applause". The London performance

Final Symphony - Misplaced Pages Continue

2976-502: The Bundesliga before returning to the 2nd division and re-introducing its old name. After the establishment of BHC in 2006, LTV lost its financial base and was relegated several times, currently playing in the fifth-tier Verbandsliga. In volleyball , SV Bayer Wuppertal was one of Germany's leading men's teams for many years during the 1990s and 2000s. The team was part of the well-known mass-sports club originating in Leverkusen and

3069-601: The Cologne Philharmonic Hall, and would spawn 3 direct successor concerts, as well as branch out into numerous side shows. In late 2007, Thomas Böcker announced that he is producing Symphonic Shades , a concert exclusively dedicated to the music of Chris Hülsbeck, taking place on 23 August 2008. The WDR Radio Orchestra Cologne was chosen to perform due to Winfried Fechner, manager of the WDR Radio Orchestra Cologne, wanting to gauge

3162-567: The Corkscrew Railway . Thus, there were once 31 stations in the Wuppertal area, including nine stations on the mainline. Nowadays only ten are serviced any more. Wuppertal Hauptbahnhof is the location of the lost luggage services for Deutsche Bahn . The Wuppertal Suspension Railway , a suspended monorail , serves the city and its surroundings. It has operated since 1901, with new cars added beginning in December 2016. In 1950,

3255-1115: The London Symphony Orchestra at the Philharmonie de Paris , the Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen at the Stadthalle Reutlingen and the Dortmunder Philharmoniker at the Theater Dortmund . This approach was continued in Böcker's later production Symphonic Memories – Music from Square Enix , which premiered in 2018 with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra at the Konserthuset Stockholm and has since been performed by

3348-537: The Nordbahntrasse, a 22-kilometre (14 mi) cycle route across the city 2020. Main sights include: In football , Wuppertal's most popular club is Wuppertaler SV which currently play in the Regionalliga West , the fourth tier of the German football league system . Playing their home games at the city's Stadion am Zoo , the club, which enjoyed its last season in a nationwide division during

3441-684: The People's Republic of China), Hamburg (Germany), Berlin (Germany), Munich (Germany), Vienna (Austria), Melbourne (Australia), Birmingham (United Kingdom), Newcastle (United Kingdom), Stuttgart (Germany), Wrocław (Poland) and Malmö (Sweden), with each performance location handled by a different orchestra. In 2024 and 2025, additional performances are planned in Edinburgh and Glasgow ( Scotland ), as well as in Ottawa and Vancouver ( Canada ) and Des Moines (United States). A video of

3534-662: The Philharmonic Hall in Essen. Wuppertal The city straddles the densely populated banks of the River Wupper , a tributary of the Rhine . Wuppertal is located between the Ruhr ( Essen ) to the north, Düsseldorf to the west, and Cologne to the southwest, and over time has grown together with Solingen , Remscheid and Hagen . The stretching of the city in a long band along the narrow Wupper Valley leads to

3627-600: The Stockholm performance of the Final Fantasy VI Symphonic Poem was released on October 11, 2014, and a full album recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios was released on February 23, 2015 by Merregnon Studios . The album, along with the concerts themselves, were heavily praised, both for the quality of the performance and for the quality of the arrangements, which overlaid themes from multiple pieces rather than relying on

3720-1067: The Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra under conduction from Eckehard Stier, with guest performer Benyamin Nuss joining the orchestra on piano. Following the initial performance, Final Symphony was performed in several other venues. It was first performed in London (United Kingdom) at the Barbican Centre by the London Symphony Orchestra on May 30, 2013. Between 2014 and 2024, additional concerts took place in Tokyo (Japan), Aarhus (Denmark), Stockholm (Sweden), Tampere (Finland), Amsterdam (Netherlands), San Diego (United States), Baltimore (United States), San Francisco (United States), Auckland (New Zealand), Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region of

3813-517: The album's release, the only available recording of the concert was a video of the Stockholm performance of the Final Fantasy VI symphonic poem by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, released on their website on October 10, 2014. A physical version of the album was released on Blu-ray on September 16, 2015. A promotional mini-album was released on April 23, 2015, containing the Final Fantasy VI symphonic poem, and one part each from

Final Symphony - Misplaced Pages Continue

3906-472: The album, declaring it not only the best album Merregnon Studios had ever produced but also "one of the best video game music albums ever made". He noted both the complexity and quality of the arrangements, calling them out as superior to the ones in Symphonic Fantasies and Symphonic Odysseys due to their narrow focus, as well as the "world class" performance of the London Symphony Orchestra on

3999-406: The audience went on for so long that Arnie Roth had to stop the cheering crowd due to another concert being scheduled 30 minutes later., and Andreas Hackl stated at Square Enix Music Online that despite not being familiar with the material prior to the concert, the show was "definitely worth it". During an interview with freelance writer Audun Sorlie, Sorlie stated that even though he had stepped off

4092-521: The biggest titles from game developer Square Enix . Chris Hülsbeck himself stated the concert was a personal highlight for him, and the "defining moment" of his life. A visibly emotional and touched Hülsbeck could be seen at the concert itself, and after returning to his home in San Francisco, he wrote an open letter thanking the fans as well as the WDR and Merregnon Studios for all the support, noting

4185-602: The choir accompanied with strong brass sections in his Apidya arrangement, wanting to make his arrangement very emotionally effective. Koshiro arranged his given material in an impressionist classical style similar to 19th century Johannes Brahms and Anton Bruckner , reminiscent of his previous work in Actraiser . Several unique elements were used to create a rich sound, some by using an emulated C64 backing track recorded by Hülsbeck himself for Symphonic Shades piece, while Gem'X made use of ceramic cups. Hülsbeck noted that

4278-483: The club reached a remarkable fourth place and qualified for the UEFA Cup for the first and only time in its history. After a first-round defeat by Polish side Ruch Chorzów and another two widely unsuccessful Bundesliga campaigns, the club disappeared from the top flight again, though, and has yet to return. During 2004, the club merged with local rivals SV Borussia Wuppertal to form Wuppertaler SV Borussia , though

4371-671: The concert exceeded all his expectations and that he would be eternally grateful for the tribute. On 4 August 2009, eight pieces of Symphonic Shades were performed by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra at the concert Sinfonia Drammatica in the Stockholm Concert Hall, along with titles of drammatica by Yoko Shimomura , uniquely combining works of a single Japanese and Western game music composer in one concert. For this occasion, Jonne Valtonen slightly revised his version of

4464-523: The concert for it to be successful despite the production costs of producing a concert of the quality they wanted. Jonne Valtonen , Roger Wanamo, and Masashi Hamauzu created the arrangements for the concert. Valtonen and Wanamo had previously worked with Böcker on the concerts in the Symphonic series, and Böcker has stated that if they had been unavailable for the project he would not have created Final Symphony at all. Hamauzu, in addition to arranging

4557-913: The concert included a concert on April 1 at the Tampere Hall in Tampere, Finland by the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, and a June 9 concert by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra at the Konserthuset in Stockholm, Sweden. Two concerts were performed in 2019, with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra on 5 July at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and one day later by the Essen Philharmonic Orchestra at

4650-475: The concert was first proposed by Uematsu in 2009 after Symphonic Fantasies ; the concert had featured Final Fantasy music as one of its four components, but unlike the other three the music had been a straightforward medley rather than a more complicated arrangement. Uematsu had asked the team to keep the arrangements similar to those in other Final Fantasy concerts , but after the concert he felt that an opportunity had been missed to create something unique like

4743-485: The day of the show. Having worked together since 2000, Böcker positioned Jonne Valtonen to be lead arranger for the show, orchestrating all the pieces to be featured throughout the concert. On April 21 of 2008, It was announced on the official website that legendary SEGA composer Yuzo Koshiro would be present at the concert and provide an arrangement of Jim Power in Mutant Planet . On May 28, Takenobu Mitsuyoshi

SECTION 50

#1732798091672

4836-452: The door for them and other composers from across borders to work together on music in the future. On December 17, 2008, a concert recording was released by Chris Hülsbeck's own label synSONIQ Records. It contains live material from the concert that is complemented by recordings before and after the public performances. The first print of the CD was a collector's edition limited to 1000 copies and

4929-609: The first highly industrialized region of Germany, which resulted in the construction of the Wuppertal Schwebebahn suspension railway in the then independent cities of Elberfeld and Barmen . The increasing demand for coal from the textile mills and blacksmith shops from those cities encouraged the expansion of the nearby Ruhr . Wuppertal still is a major industrial centre, being home to industries such as textiles, metallurgy , chemicals, pharmaceuticals, electronics, automobiles, rubber, vehicles and printing equipment. Aspirin originates from Wuppertal, patented in 1897 by Bayer , as does

5022-465: The games to be Final Fantasy VI , VII , and X , not only because they liked the music in the games but because they felt previous concerts, including to an extent Symphonic Fantasies and Odysseys , had failed to evoke the feeling of the games due to focusing on the battle music in an unbalanced manner. In an interview Böcker used Final Fantasy VII as an example, stating that only part of "the game's dark, romantic, melancholic, and hopeful story"

5115-439: The interest of a new young audience in classical music through the use of video game music after having personally attended Fifth Symphonic Game Music Concert . Symphonic Shades would differ from the previous concert series produced by Böcker, the Symphonic Game Music Concerts . While Symphonic Game Music Concerts was a continuation of the conventional orchestra game music concerts originated by Koichi Sugiyama in 1991 with

5208-422: The largest groups of foreign residents were: In total, Wuppertal possesses over 4,500 buildings classified as national monuments, most exemplifying styles such as Neoclassicism , Eclecticism , Historicism , Art Nouveau / Jugendstil and Bauhaus . The American TV station CNN recommended Wuppertal as one of 20 places worldwide to visit in the year 2020 because of the Schwebebahn, the architectural diversity and

5301-444: The management, squad and main sponsor of LTV Wuppertal and rivals SG Solingen from the nearby city of the same name . The club advertises itself as a representative of the entire Bergisches Land region. The team plays its home games at both Wuppertal's Uni-Halle (3,200 seats) and Solingen's Klingenhalle (2,600 seats). Wuppertal's past most successful club are the aforementioned LTV Wuppertal . LTV spent most of their seasons in

5394-614: The mayor. The most recent city council election was held on 13 September 2020, and the results were as follows: Wuppertal is well connected to the rail network. The town lies on the Cologne–Hagen and the Düsseldorf–Hagen railway lines, and is a stop for long-distance traffic. The central station is located in the district of Elberfeld. Regionalbahn trains and some Regional-Express trains also stop at Oberbarmen , Barmen , Ronsdorf and Vohwinkel . There are also S-Bahn stations in Langerfeld , Unterbarmen , Steinbeck , Zoologischer Garten and Sonnborn . The rail services that operate on

5487-448: The men won 13 German championships and nine cups, the women ten championships and nine cups. Both teams play their home games at Alfred-Henckels-Halle . Wuppertal hosted several international tournaments, including the World Championship in 1997 ( men ) and 2004 ( women ) and the European Championship in 1992 , 2010 ( men ) and 2011 ( women ). Four institutions of higher education are in Wuppertal. The privately financed Junior Uni

5580-443: The mountain in the world of video game music arrangement". He claimed that the "complexity and passion" of the concert could be appreciated by any music fan, but urged even mild fans of the source material to immediately buy the album. He praised the album's production values, saying that it was the closest a listener could get to the live performances from their home. Joe Hammond of Video Game Music Online also enthusiastically praised

5673-402: The name change remained the only visible attribute of the merger with the club's colours and crest remaining unaltered. The additional "Borussia" was scrapped again during 2013 due to fans' demand amidst a change of leadership which was brought about to lead the club through necessary insolvency proceedings which have been completed as of September 2014. Another noteworthy Wuppertal football club

SECTION 60

#1732798091672

5766-467: The orchestra. The Finnish pianist Jari Salmela took the stage twice, first during a solo piano performance for Turrican 3 - Payment Day , and a second time accompanied by the orchestra for the finale, Turrican II . Rony Barrak provided Darbuka percussion for the Tunnel B1 suite. Most of the arrangements featured a grand bombastic sound due to Hülsbeck's strong influence from classic science fiction films and fiction. Mitsuyoshi wrote lyrics in Japanese for

5859-616: The original composition Karawane der Elefanten came to be while he experimented with oriental gamut and Egyptian melodies, and began to imagine elephants walking through the desert. During certain intervals, German moderator Matthias Opdenhövel would inform the audience on the background and origin for the upcoming pieces to be performed, as well as provide commentary on Hülsbeck's illustrious career. Like Symphonic Game Music Concerts before it, Symphonic Shades made minimal use of stage show elements, opting not to make use of video screens or other forms of imagery. A small amount of light production

5952-404: The other three arrangements, especially the Secret of Mana section. He encouraged Böcker to take more liberties with the source material if the opportunity arose, and hoped that another concert could be created in the future. Böcker proposed Final Symphony later that year to Uematsu, and got approval from Square Enix while coordinating a Tokyo concert of Symphonic Fantasies . Final Symphony

6045-411: The performances but was instead a studio recording of the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios , produced especially for the album. The version of the concert recorded was the one used in the final performance in Tampere, rather than the one originally performed by the London Symphony Orchestra in 2013. The performance was recorded on December 15–17, was conducted by Eckehard Stier, and featured

6138-424: The pieces, as they feel the general approach to video game music orchestration is very different from their style. They then got together to propose which tracks would be arranged, and decide which soundtracks worked best as a piano concerto , a symphonic poem , or a symphony . They chose a symphonic poem for VI , a piano concerto for X , and a symphony in three movements for VII . As director and producer, Böcker

6231-484: The plane only few hours before the concert and made it in the door 2 minutes prior to the event, it was one of the most "personal and important experiences" in his life to pay tribute to one of his childhood heroes. Winfried Fechner was overwhelmed by the success of Symphonic Shades , and immediately green-lit another production to be done in cooperation with Merregnon Studios for 2009. The 2009 concert would later be revealed to be Symphonic Fantasies and focus on

6324-408: The poem was going to follow the story of the group of heroes, before Wanamo made Terra the focus, and ended up dropping the themes of the other heroes due to length. The Final Fantasy X piano concerto was arranged by Hamauzu not to tell the story of the game, but to express the "continuum" of the series through the lens of the game. While inspired by the game's story, Hamauzu also drew inspiration from

6417-423: The recording. Classic FM noted the album as a "spectacular arrangement" that they compared to the best of film music while naming it their album of the week. The Final Symphony album reached the top position on the iTunes Classical Charts in over ten countries, as well as the top five classical albums on the Billboard charts and the Official UK Charts . Final Symphony was followed by Final Symphony II ,

6510-436: The rest of the franchise to make the concerto more than "a series of separate scenes and stories". He feels that a hallmark of Böcker's concerts is that they are not limited to directly translating the original works, but instead tie them to a wider creative process. Valtonen created the three movements of the Final Fantasy VII symphony to show three aspects of the game's setting. The first movement, "Nibelheim Incident", follows

6603-408: The same day of the Symphonic Shades world premiere. The artwork for the concert was provided by Hitoshi Ariga, most noted for his work on the Rockman manga series and The Big O . The two concerts were held back to back on August 23, 2008. The first performance took place at 20:00 and the second at 23:00 local time at the Funkhaus Wallrafplatz in downtown Cologne. Both concerts were preceded by

6696-420: The second and third tiers, before they merged with Wuppertaler SV's handball section in 1996 to form HSG LTV/WSV Wuppertal . The handball combination was promoted to the Bundesliga after its inaugural season, finishing 8th before dissolving again in 1998. However, the mere departure of Wuppertaler SV still allowed LTV Wuppertal, whose professional team were renamed HC Wuppertal , to play another three seasons in

6789-414: The stages of her life through the game, as she escapes from slavery, faces her amnesia, discovers the source of her powers, and saves the world from the insane Kefka Palazzo . Final Fantasy VI was the first Final Fantasy game that Wanamo had played, and he wanted to tell the story of the game as it felt to him. Wanamo has described the arrangement as the most difficult one he had done to date. Originally,

6882-402: The third-tier Regionalliga, unable to promote with their current financial set-up. Perhaps one of the most successful Wuppertal sports clubs was the women's basketball team of Barmer TV (known as BTV Wuppertal between 1994 and 2000, BTV Gold-Zack Wuppertal between 2000 and 2002 and Wuppertal Wings internationally). An 11-time German champion and 12-time German Cup winner, they won

6975-476: The villain Sephiroth in his journey through the game; the second, "Words Drowned by Fireworks", explores the relationship between Cloud Strife , Aerith Gainsborough , and Tifa Lockhart ; while the third movement, "The Planet's Crisis", depicts the final clash between Cloud and Sephiroth. He tried to "bring out both the darkest moments as well as the heart" of the game. The first performance of Final Symphony

7068-734: Was a symphonic tribute concert held twice in Cologne, Germany on 23 August 2008 featuring video game music . The concert was held in honor of the German-born video-game composer Chris Hülsbeck , and featured orchestral arrangements exclusively based on Hülsbeck's works throughout his 22-year-long career. The concert was produced and directed by Thomas Böcker , with the majority of arrangements provided by Finnish composer and musician Jonne Valtonen , and with contributions by Japanese video-game composers Yuzo Koshiro , Takenobu Mitsuyoshi , and additional assistance from Adam Klemens. The concert

7161-523: Was also praised by critics; Joe Hammond of Video Game Music Online , Ed Williams of The 405 , and Mariusz Borkowski of Gamemusic.pl all praised the concert for its powerful performance as both video game and classical music, and Audun Sorlie of Original Sound Version noted the fierce applause and standing ovations at both the London and Wuppertal performances. In 2016, Final Symphony made its North American debut. Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi

7254-680: Was announced to be attendance and provide his arrangement for Apidya . Both Koshiro and Mitsuyoshi had worked with Böcker in the past, with Koshiro providing a track alongside Valtonen on the Merregnon project in 2004, while Mitsuyoshi recorded the music for WCCF with the assistance of Böcker and Valtonen in Prague during 2007. Though some of Hülsbeck's music had been featured in the Symphonic Game Music Concerts and Valtonen having provided an arrangement of Turrican as

7347-609: Was being portrayed by solely orchestrating the battle music from the game. Böcker wanted to focus on "longer pieces [and] deeper storytelling" than other concerts like the Distant Worlds series, so as to offer fans "something they really never heard before". Final Symphony was the first concert produced by Merregnon Studios without outside financial support, and Böcker regards it as the riskiest venture Merregnon Studios had undertaken to date, as they could only rely on their own belief that audiences would respond strongly enough to

7440-499: Was changed in a 1930 referendum to Wuppertal ("Wupper Valley"). The new city was administered as part of Prussia 's Rhine Province . Uniquely for Germany, it is a " linear city ", owing to the steep hillsides along the river Wupper . Its highest hill is the Lichtscheid , which is 351 m (1,152 ft) above sea level . The dominant urban centres Elberfeld (historic commercial centre) and Barmen (more industrial) have formed

7533-513: Was due to his own childhood memories of the composer's music, his value to the German fans and for being a true "melody maker" in the same vein as Nobuo Uematsu . The name of the concert was inspired by Hülsbeck's first noted composition, "Shades", which launched his video game career after being featured in the German magazine 64'er in 1986. A website was set up for the concert, providing news updates, interviews and other announcements leading up to

7626-602: Was followed by a several minute standing ovation. Johan Köhn of LEVEL Magazine in Sweden stated that the concert was "magnificent", Denis Brown of ONLINEWELTEN.com called the concert a "great gift not only to Chris Hülsbeck, but also to his fans", Andreas Altenheimer of demonews.de stated "I have rarely heard such well functioning transitions within medleys, as in Symphonic Shades.", Robert Dietrich of Stereology recalled that "thunderous applause and standing ovation" from

7719-463: Was in Wuppertal , Germany at the Historische Stadthalle Wuppertal on May 11, 2013. The concert was held twice that day, performed by the Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra, and was conducted by Eckehard Stier, who had previously conducted for Symphonic Fantasies in Tokyo. It featured Benyamin Nuss , who had also performed in Symphonic Fantasies , on piano for the Final Fantasy X piano concerto. The concert

7812-431: Was involved in the work on the arrangements from the beginning. He set the direction and was able to comment on the progress of the arrangers' work via e-mail and ICQ. He has emphasised, however, that Valtonen and Wanamo are "masters of their art" and were given all the necessary artistic freedom. The Final Fantasy VI poem follows the journey of Terra Branford , "the heroine born with the gift of magic". The poem explores

7905-749: Was one of the early Nazi concentration camps , created by the Nazi Party to incarcerate their political opponents upon gaining power in 1933 . The camp was established in a former factory on the Wupper in the Kemna neighborhood of the Barmen part of Wuppertal. During World War II , about 40% of buildings in the city were destroyed by Allied bombing, as were many other German cities and industrial centres (see Bombing of Wuppertal in World War II ). However,

7998-518: Was performed again on May 30 at the Barbican Centre in London, England by the London Symphony Orchestra . It was the first concert of video game music by the orchestra. Stier and Nuss repeated their performances from the premier. The following year, the concert was presented in four more locations. Stier conducted for all four performances, while Katharina Treutler replaced Nuss for the Tokyo, Aarhus, and Stockholm concerts, and Mischa Cheung performed in Tampere. The arrangements were slightly modified for

8091-881: Was performed at the Barbican Centre in London by the London Symphony Orchestra on September 12, 2015, and later an earlier performance on August 29 in Bonn , Germany by the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn. After the debut performances, the London Symphony Orchestra traveled to Japan to perform the concert there three times: in Osaka at the Festival Hall on September 27, and twice in Yokohama at the Minato Mirai Hall on October 4. 2016 performances of

8184-501: Was performed by The WDR Radio Orchestra Cologne and the FILMharmonic Choir under conduction from Arnie Roth , with guest performers Rony Barrak and Jari Salmela joining the orchestra at numerous occasions throughout the night. Symphonic Shades became the very first video game orchestra concert in history to be broadcast live on radio. Symphonic Shades marked the beginning of a series of concerts held in principally at

8277-624: Was present for concert and audience Q&A sessions at the California shows, the concert in San Francisco boasted a crowd of over 2,700 and made it the largest ever audience for a single performance produced by Merregnon Studios. Parts of the Final Symphony programme have been presented over the years by various orchestras, such as by the Munich Radio Orchestra at the Prince Regent Theatre Munich,

8370-402: Was promoted to the Bundesliga in 1978. Reacting to low attendances, the eponymous Bayer AG decided to relocate the volleyball team to Wuppertal in 1992, where there also was a Bayer-funded club. After the move, the club won various titles, including the German championship in 1994 and 1997 and the German Cup in 1995. In addition to that, they finished runners-up to Greek side Olympiacos S.C. in

8463-580: Was served by its own tram network . Wuppertal is twinned with: The Wuppertal Suspension Railway is twinned with Shonan Monorail since 2018. The Shonan Monorail is located in Kanagawa , Japan and connects the cities between Kamakura and Fujisawa . Both suspended railways made a campaign of their twinning in 2018. Symphonic Shades %E2%80%93 H%C3%BClsbeck in Concert Symphonic Shades: Hülsbeck in Concert

8556-410: Was sold out at the main retailer less than a month after the initial release. In order to ensure continuous availability of the recording, digital releases on iTunes and Amazon followed the CD, of which a second print was released on 20 May 2009. Unlike the limited collector's edition, the second print is lower in price and is shipped in standard CD trays, but still contains the booklet included with

8649-515: Was used to create atmosphere in the concert hall. Each concert ran at approx. 80 minutes. The event marked the first live radio broadcast of a video game music concert, broadcast on the WDR4 station. Despite being a German production based on a German composer, the concert had attendees from Japan, Finland, Sweden and Norway. Symphonic Shades: Hülsbeck in Concert was met with universal praise and positive reception from both critics and fans. The concert

#671328