Gift Guide: For the Classy Classical Lover
Video game music is full of metal-loving guitarists, but what about classical fans who appreciate an epic orchestral rendition? If you’ve got someone like that on your gift list, have no fear — we have just the thing. Here’s a list of all the unfiltered grandeur your orchestra-loving friends crave.
Kanto Symphony: Music from Pokemon Red and Blue
Buy Kanto Symphony: Music from Pokemon Red and Blue (CD)
Every kid who played first-generation Pokemon back in the 90s imagined something far grander going on than what the pixelated graphics and eight-bit sound conveyed. With a wave of their pen, composer Braxton Burks has made those dreams reality: this epic reorchestration of Pokemon Red and Blue’s original soundtrack reveals the drama at the score’s heart.
Best for: those on an epic journey, grown-up Gameboy kids, people who can’t get enough of Symphonie Fantastique
Time & Space
Buy Time & Space (CD)
Are Pokemon Red and Blue too old-school for you? Try music from Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum! If your taste in vintage Pokemon is a bit less vintage, you might enjoy this collection of Braxton Burks’ more recent Pokemon orchestrations. Well-known video game musicians like Kristin Naigus, Reven, and the Videri String Quartet bring these soaring arrangements to life.
Best for: those on a more recent epic journey, grown-up Nintendo DS kids, folks needing BGM for their regular Pokemon Go jaunts
Ori and the Blind Forest
A truly magical soundtrack, Ori and the Blind Forest moved us all to tears when we first heard it in 2015. Gareth Coker has established himself as a master of emotional composition, making full use of featured guest Aeralie Brighton's ethereal vocals. The sensitive nuance of the Ori soundtrack is in part due to heartfelt performances by a live orchestra and featured soloists. (We also stock the sequel soundtrack, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, which is a powerful return to the emotional storytelling of the original.)
Best for: those who enjoy crying when playing games, those who enjoy crying when listening to music, people with big sensitive hearts, fans of soaring female vocals
Hero of Time
Buy Hero of Time (CD)
This Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time album smashed its $50,000 Kickstarter goal with a thousand backers and lives up to high expectations. Arranger Eric Buchholz has credits to spare, including orchestrating Ori and the Will of the Wisps and touring with Lindsey Stirling, and he’s united the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra with some of the biggest names in classical video game instrumentation for Hero of Time. The result is an album worthy of any symphony hall.
Best for: live performance aficionados, avid instrumentalists, people with really good sound systems
The Last Guardian Original Game Soundtrack
Buy The Last Guardian Original Game Soundtrack (vinyl)
Fans of ICO and Shadow of the Colossus collectively rejoiced when the long-awaited Last Guardian was released. Like its predecessors, The Last Guardian’s soundtrack is sweeping and emotional; unlike them, it benefits from the PS4’s orchestral capabilities. That includes the London Symphony, by the way — yes, THE London Symphony. They recorded this album! And the composer conducted them! How cool is that? This is, in other words, the real deal. And the music is to die for.
Best for: people with lots of feelings, orchestra snobs (we are too), those with a soft spot for cute animals
Zelda Cinematica: A Symphonic Tribute
Buy Zelda Cinematica: A Symphonic Tribute (CD and vinyl)
Sam Dillard is a prolific orchestrator whose Cinematica series transforms iconic game soundtracks into film score-esque glory. Listening to his innovative take on the Zelda series, a movie isn’t hard to imagine. Series fans will delight in the cleverly intertwined musical motifs from Zelda games across the years, and lucky newbies will have the opportunity to be swept away for the very first time. (Maybe one of them can make this movie? We need a good video game movie!)
Best for: major cinephiles, creative dreamers, people who spend their long commutes pretending they’re in a movie
Resurrection of the Night: Alucard’s Elegy
Buy Resurrection of the Night: Alucard's Elegy (CD)
This Castlevania homage was arranged by Wayne Strange and Tim Stoney, composers known for their work on orchestral VGM mainstays like Video Games Live and Symphony of the Goddesses. They bring that epic orchestral flavor to the Symphony of the Night soundtrack, while still managing to integrate the original’s hard-driving guitar and vocals into a synergy that’s something to behold.
Best for: committed goths, genre blenders, classical musicians who are also metalheads (there are a LOT)
Children of Termina
Buy Children of Termina (CD and vinyl)
Rozen has made his name blending symphonic instrumentation with electronic drive, and this album shows him at his best. Guest singers Julie Elven (Horizon: Zero Dawn), Celica Soldream (Era II: Vocal Codex), and Reven (Final Fantasy XIV) ground these arrangements with haunting vocal lyricism and hard-hitting belts. The result? A no-holds-barred journey into the darkness at this Zelda game’s heart.
Best for: classical fans who don’t know they like EDM (yet), EDM fans who don’t know they like classical (yet), people who like good singing
Echoes of the First Dreamer
Buy Echoes of the First Dreamer (vinyl)
Chamber orchestras are orchestras, too. Martin O’Donnell wrote the award-winning score to Golem, an indie VR game, after working on the scores of Halo and Destiny. Yes, Echoes of the First Dreamer is by the Halo composer. This album-only project is a musical prequel to Golem: gentle and relatively minimalist, it tells a lyrical story of its own. A small orchestra dominates, but a number of the tracks are for piano solo, if you’d like to take it down a notch.
Best for: hipsters who like something a little different, indie kids, lovers of small-scale intimate projects, peacemakers
BattleTech Collector’s Edition Score
Buy BattleTech Collector's Edition Score (sheet music book)
Score? Score! This is the full orchestral score for BattleTech, in sheet music form. It’s not a soundtrack, but folks with access to an orchestra (or people who love score study) will dive headfirst into this one. BattleTech itself is a strategy game starring giant robots, but its soundtrack is quite organic; the occasional electronic backbeat is dominated by more ancient instruments. Follow along with the score and watch it all happen.
Best for: orchestral instrumentalists, conductors, music grad students, current and future composers