# Nobuo Uematsu



## LordBlackudder

Praised for having an incredible gift for melody; Nobuo Uematsu born March 21, 1959 is a Classical composer and also member of a Rock band.

Having never had any music lessons he taught himself to play by reading guitar magazines.

Most known for composing the music for the Final Fantasy video game series; he has also composed film soundtracks, anime, and concerts.

ACHIEVEMENTS

- Highest selling Video Game soundtrack.
- Stateside Video Game Music concerts.
- Distant Worlds concerts.
- First ever Opera in a Video Game.
- First time Video Game Music performed by world famous orchestras.
- First time Video Game Music wins Japan Gold Disc Awards.
- Named one of the "Innovators" in Time Magazine's "Time 100''.
- Use of Lietmotif in Video Games.

NOTABLE WORKS

- Theme of Love
- Aerith's Theme
- To Zanarkand
- One Winged Angel
- Prelude
- Fanfare
- Opera ''Maria and Draco"


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## humanbean

Excellent thread. Uematsu's music has had more play time in my pre-classical teenage years than any pop/rock musician. I used to listen to the chopin-esque piano arrangements of his music nearly every night before bed.

Though, I just can't get into the orchestral version of "One Winged Angel" (above). The original PSX version however, is one of my favorite video game compositions. Obvious influences from Rite of Spring.

Here's one of my favorites:






And another:


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## Lisztian

I was a huge final fantasy fan in my youth - listening to this music is very nostalgic for me.


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## Argus

Lisztian said:


> I was a huge final fantasy fan in my youth - listening to this music is very nostalgic for me.


Yeah, pure nostalgia. FFX music seems to be stuck in the recesses of my mind more than any of the others even though I can't have heard this music for nearly a decade.
















Some of the cheesiest synth tones ever known to man.


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## Pizzicato

My favourite and imo best piece Nobuo Uematsu ever composed. Sorry One Winged Angel but you'll have to deal with being second best.


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## Krisena

Argus said:


> Yeah, pure nostalgia. FFX music seems to be stuck in the recesses of my mind more than any of the others even though I can't have heard this music for nearly a decade.
> 
> *videos*
> 
> Some of the cheesiest synth tones ever known to man.


I'm sorry to dissapoint, Argus, but of those tracks, only Mi'hen Highroad is composed by Uematsu. The other two are works of Masashi Hamauzu.


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## matsoljare

Here's some take i just recorded myself, coincidentally:


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## BurningDesire

EDIT: nevermind Krisena beat me to the punch


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## BurningDesire

Nobuo Uematsu is one of my favorite composers, and for good reason. His beautiful music really got me into instrumental music as a kid, and its just amazing stuff. He and many other Japanese composers are way overdue for some appreciation for their amazing work, with an amazing sense for harmony. Japan is like the new Vienna or Paris.


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## PetrB

If you are of another generation not affected by the nostalgic pull of the music from the video games played in childhood, it is just adequate, well written but highly derivative film / anime music. Nothing truly 'classical' about it, and nothing which stands very well on its own. That is one response from another generation, with a perception not colored by sentimental attachments.


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## BurningDesire

PetrB said:


> If you are of another generation not affected by the nostalgic pull of the music from the video games played in childhood, it is just adequate, well written but highly derivative film / anime music. Nothing truly 'classical' about it, and nothing which stands very well on its own. That is one response from another generation, with a perception not colored by sentimental attachments.


That is not fair. I don't love his music just because I loved the games it was attached to. There are games I love far more than those Nobuo has scored, and the music in some of those games is honestly kinda bland. Whether we're gonna call Nobuo's music "classical" is irrelevant. Any music, save for the oldest can be called derivative of something else. We can call Stravinsky derivative of Debussy and Rimsky-Korsakov, Beethoven derivative of Haydn, Salieri, Mozart and Bach, if we want to. Nobuo has composed wonderful music that is beautiful and imaginative and has alot of personality, and it need not be attached to the games or other works it was composed for for it to be enjoyable.


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## Chrythes

Maybe he meant that a classical music forum is not a place for every piece that uses strings or a piano.

I remember liking him a few years when I was playing FFX, and for a while I was particularly fond of the Tour de Japan recording. 








His music is very melodic, but it also sounds very sentimental and soon i got tired of it since I found it without much substance or variety, even though some of his melodies are indeed beautiful.


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## Krisena

PetrB said:


> If you are of another generation not affected by the nostalgic pull of the music from the video games played in childhood, it is just adequate, well written but highly derivative film / anime music. Nothing truly 'classical' about it, and nothing which stands very well on its own. That is one response from another generation, with a perception not colored by sentimental attachments.


Okay, dude, here's the two cents of a guy who doesn't play video games, but buy and listen to their soundtracks regardless: It's awesome. I don't particularily like Nobuo Uematsu, but Hamauzu, Sakuraba and Shiina? Yes, sir.

Go Shiina - Sea of Rage: https://www.box.com/s/b919806324ad3b70a97c

Masashi Hamauzu - Nascent Requiem: https://www.box.com/s/tgkpkxhp8l3213n1s5fp
Masashi Hamauzu - March of the Dreadnaughts: https://www.box.com/s/af2676715c3295794ff9

Motoi Sakuraba - Raincloud: https://www.box.com/s/cecbc8c68f7d4c574bef

This is not classical music though. I gotta admit that. We're digressing from the topic of this thread, maybe we could move to the video game music thread in the Movie Corner sub forum? I'd love to discuss this further.


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## Sonata

PetrB said:


> If you are of another generation not affected by the nostalgic pull of the music from the video games played in childhood, it is just adequate, well written but highly derivative film / anime music. Nothing truly 'classical' about it, and nothing which stands very well on its own. That is one response from another generation, with a perception not colored by sentimental attachments.


I never really played those games, yet I really enjoy his music. So there is no nostalgia value for me, just the music alone.


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## BurningDesire

Another good point to bring up: When do we call something classical and at what point does music cease being classical? To me, classical means that something part of a tradition of musical composition and performance that evolved from ancient European religious chants. But that starts to sound like all of western music, so how are we going to qualify "classical" music away from all other kinds of western music? Is it the instrumentation that qualifies it as classical? or is it stylistic elements? I somehow am skeptical of both of these, since the instruments used in the classical tradition have changed as new instruments are invented to include them, and classical music is so diverse in style that one can't realistically call it a genre, but if we go with that, Nobuo uses "classical instruments" as in instruments from the orchestra. Stylistically, you can hear the influences of many other classical composers, in addition to other musical sources, which is the case for many composers, such as Babbitt's influences including both jazz and oldie pop tunes in addition to Stravinsky and Schoenberg. Is it because he writes for video games, that we refuse to consider him part of this tradition? What an arbitrary reason.


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## Sonata

Good point Burning Desire. And yet Xanakis IS considered classical, and it sounds much less like what the average thinks of when they hear the word classica.

Honestly, I think it's strange for any music of today to truly be considered "Classical" I think categorizing "Modern classical" music would be better described as "orchestral" or simply it's sub genre, choral, opera, avant-garde etc.


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## BurningDesire

Sonata said:


> Good point Burning Desire. And yet Xanakis IS considered classical, and it sounds much less like what the average thinks of when they hear the word classica.
> 
> Honestly, I think it's strange for any music of today to truly be considered "Classical" I think categorizing "Modern classical" music would be better described as "orchestral" or simply it's sub genre, choral, opera, avant-garde etc.


Well I don't think its all that necessary to classify everything so much, but if we must, I think classical is fine, because "modern classical" works like those of Xenakis are part of this long musical tradition. Besides, plenty of classical music has nothing to do with the orchestra, and most listeners already do this sort of thing both with modern classical works and the works of the previous periods as well. I'm not sure what the answer is, but I don't think its right to exclude artists of high caliber from a highly regarded artistic tradition based on arbitrary and unclear reasons, when the classification of the tradition itself is extremely vague.


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