Various recommendation and favourite lists
| music | | | classical | | | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. 40th Symphony. 1st Movement.
Although I've known this tune from my earliest childhood, I still find it pretty awesome, particularly the haunting main theme. The 1991 recording by Nikolaus Harnoncourt and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe is quite decent, and so is Herbert von Karajan's 1978 Berlin Philharmonic one; I have not yet conclusively decided which of the two is the better one, though I'm leaning towards the latter.
Anton Bruckner. 5th Symphony. 1st/2nd Movement
An interesting stylistic diversion from the pompous works of the more well-known masters of classical music. The off-scale progressions give it a slightly oriental feeling. I can imagine this being a comparatively relaxing work for an orchestra to play for various reasons, but that does not detract from its interestingness.
Antonio Vivaldi. The Four Seasons. All of it.
Best. Violin. Piece. Ever. The signature first movement of "Spring" and most of the minor-key sections (i.e. Summer, Winter) manage to, in turn, stand out against the rest in their own right. If you haven't listened to it yet (or have only listened to some inferior version - unfortunately, many are floating around out there), do so now. The 1984 recording with Anne-Sophie Mutter, Herbert von Karajan and the Vienna Philharmonic should be the one you are looking for.
Johannes Brahms. Concerto for Piano and Orchestra no. 1. 1st, 3rd Movement.
Without having heard it in action, one might assume that a grand piano would not combine well with a classical orchestra at all. (At least I was kind of skeptical at first...) This piece is quite a proof to the contrary. As is typical of Brahms, the melodies are deeply interesting and captivating. The piano, too, sounds really sweet. Having only heard one - not tagged by orchestra and conductor - version of it so far, I can't give any particular recommendations yet.
Johannes Brahms. Hungarian Dances. No. 1 in G minor.
Another of those tunes I have known since the foggy depths of the past. In fact, I woke up to its gloomy and fleeting main motif for a year or so during my elementary school years, if I recall correctly; not having gotten tired of it in spite of frequency and circumstance is probably a good sign.
Sergei Rachmaninoff. Ten Preludes. Prelude No. 5 in G minor.
A pure piano piece, marked by fairly heavy and violent passages, but connected by a rather calm interlude.
| | chiptune/VGM, SNES and below | | | Yasunori Mitsuda. Chrono Trigger. Undersea Palace. SNES SPC.
Beautiful-sounding, dark atmospheric track with that typical of Chrono Trigger blend of mechanical- and natural-sounding instruments.
Hiroki Kikuta. Seiken Densetsu 3. The Sacrifice, Part III. SNES SPC.
Easily my all-time favourite last boss theme. Starts off slightly blunt, but switches over to a captivating, conveying a climactic feeling of unrest, almost unusually variant for the SNES melody. Speakers or headphones with a good frequency response are highly recommended.
Masanori Oouchi, Masanori Adachi, Aki Hata, Hiroshi Kobayashi, Michiru Yamane. Rocket Knight Adventures. Stage 3. SMD VGM.
Vastly different in style from the other entries in this section, it sounds like something taken out of the soundtrack of a Jean-Pierre Jeunet movie and squeezed into FM synthesis. Remarkably, the quaint feeling of it seems to more come from the melody and orchestration than from the sawtoothish instruments.
Yoko Shimomura. Live A Live. Silent Labyrinth. SNES SPC.
Not having played the game it was written for, I can only speculate what kind of setting it actually was created for, but what it evokes is something along the lines of dark, abandoned architecture... something I could imagine to work well for a last or second-to-last dungeon level. Either way, a very nice song.
| | VGM, PSX and above | | | Yasunori Mitsuda. Xenogears. Awakening. PS1 PSF.
Stylistically quite similar to Chrono Trigger's 12000 BC sequences' music, but now with the possibilities of the PS1's audio hardware and with the awesome cranked up by several levels.
Motoi Sakuraba. Star Ocean: The Second Story. Field of Nede. PS1 PSF.
The Star Ocean field songs already were great back in the SNES game; while its sound engine was quite outstanding from the technical point of view, it's only the PSX's sound system that truly gets the adventurous and menacing atmosphere across.
Nobuo Uematsu. Final Fantasy X. In Zanarkand. PS2 PSF2.
Beautiful piano song. I should learn to play it some day...
Michiru Yamane, Hekiru Shiina (JV). Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Nocturne (J/E). PS1. Get an MP3.
Typically, vocal songs in video game soundtracks range from plain to outright bad. This one is one of few notable exceptions, even more so considering that the English version actually manages to not be inferior to the Japanese one (if not better). Soothing and stunningly beautiful either way.
| | VGM, PC | | | Junya Oota ("ZUN"). Touhou 12 (Unidentified Fantastic Object). Sky Ruin.
While most of Touhou's music is fabulous, this one, in my eyes, deserves the cake for being a positive stilistic diversion from the majority of the others. The author, in the official commentary, compared the feelings this song evoked in him during composition with Laputa: Castle in the Sky, and indeed, something about the style of the chords and choice of instruments seems strongly reminiscent of Kimi wo Nosete. (As for similarities to the rest of the movie's soundtrack, having not seen the film nor obtained the soundtrack, I can't make a judgement)
Ryu-Lighter. samidare. Atomosphere2 (goodend). OGG Vorbis.
While somewhat repetitive - as typical of songs stylistically leaning in the Trance direction - the slow progression of chords and the piano part nevertheless manage to keep the song interesting, while beautifully bringing across the rain and futuristic technology theme of the game and adequately conveying a feeling of achievement and ending.
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