Games in concert image
© N/A

Related Links

1

Dutch Radio Presents Game Music Concert

Putting together an orchestral concert is always an enormous undertaking.  Getting a small army of musicians through rehearsals, picking a suitable concert hall, getting enough publicity to actually fill said concert hall – all of these take some serious work and preparation. 

However, if that orchestral concert happens to feature a full program of nothing but music from video games, the complications have at least doubled.  Getting the sheet music from many of these scores is extremely difficult – if not impossible – unlike classical music which is often readily available.  And with the prospect of having to obtain permission for each individual piece from a different publisher (with more bother if video segments are to be shown), it's a wonder any of these concerts come to pass. 

And yet, a live orchestral game music concert, complete with choir and guest soloists, did indeed take place on Sunday, November 26th in the Dutch city of Utrecht.  Despite its location in a city with a population of only 283,000, the show was an amazing success and the quality rivaled even the established international concert tours of Play! and Video Games Live. 
 
 

The secret in this case was teamwork, which of course is no secret to the people of the Netherlands.  A country less than a third the size of Virginia must have learned some lesson in order to single-handedly push back the sea from its shores and still find the time to establish colonies on all the continents other than Antarctica. 

As it happened, people from Gamer.nl, the main video game portal in the Netherlands, brought the idea for a concert to Dutch public broadcasting company NCRV.  The reaction from NCRV was very positive, and they even already had connections with an orchestra.  Soon, the Metropole Orkest was brought in, American game composer Christopher Lennertz was contacted and agreed to conduct the concert, and the rest was history. 

Of course not everything was quite as easy as that makes it sound.  One of the major hurdles was bringing the music to the orchestra.  Although licensing wasn't a problem due to Gamer.nl's strong contacts with game companies and NCRV's solid reputation, preparing the music for the orchestra was a different matter.  Lennertz was able to supply sheet music for a few of the pieces that he wrote, but the vast majority of the pieces had to have new arrangements made specifically for this ensemble. 

Tom Trapp and Martin Fondse have been arranging music for the Metropole for years.  Since the orchestra plays a lot of jazz and contemporary music – incidentally they've worked with a number of big names like Burt Bacharach – it means they're set up a little differently than a regular symphony orchestra.  Saxophones, electric guitars, and drum sets may not show up in a lot of classical music, but they fit well with many of the game music pieces that were selected for the concert. 

Not only did Trapp and Fondse have to tweak some of the pieces to fit the orchestra, many had to be arranged from scratch using only the original sound files.  Turning bleeps and bloops into a symphony is enough of a proposition, but it's nothing short of amazing what was accomplished in so short a time. 

Hilversum, where the Metropole holds its rehearsals, is a scenic town about twenty miles from Amsterdam.  Unlike the nearby metropolis, Hilversum has a great many trees of all kinds, small, picturesque houses, and rather a quiet feeling to it.  Despite that impression, it's the main center for radio and television broadcasting in the Netherlands.  As such, it boasts an impressive music center complete with recording studios, a large music library, and other facilities right across the street from Sony BMG.  The original building was started in the 1930s, and received numerous add-ons through the 1960s. 
 
 

Musicians of the Dutch Concert

©

It was an intense few days, but it was well worth the time, and the orchestra remained good natured.  The last day of rehearsals brought the choir in to run through their parts, and some of the special guest performers as well. 

The concert itself took place in the city of Utrecht, less than thirty miles from Amsterdam, but the fourth largest city in the Netherlands in its own right.  The city dates from around 47 A.D., and is a charming mix of the very modern and the very antiquated – much like elsewhere in the Netherlands.  In another show of partnerships, the concert was made the closing ceremony of the Dutch Gamedays – a collection of video game-related events in Utrecht that included a developer conference. 

The performance hall was a fascinating example of that earlier mentioned, "very modern".  From the central train station, one walks through a sprawling shopping mall, and finally comes to the music center without ever having to go outside.  The concert hall was an enormous octagonal shaped room with stadium seats mounted almost vertically on all sides for a rather impressive view.  Unfortunately the seating was limited in order for all the audience members to be able to see the screens, and the seats that were available filled very quickly once the doors opened. 
 
 

At the appointed time the master of ceremonies came out on stage to say a few words, and then introduce Christopher Lennertz who proceeded to conduct the opening.  The familiar strains of Halo 2 flooded through the hall as concert credits using the Halo font flashed across three huge screens suspended above the stage.  It was quite a beginning, and music from Battlefield 2 and World of Warcraft soon followed, now with footage from the appropriate game projected onto the screens.  An interesting twist was that the videos included a lot of in-game action instead of showing only cutscenes, a fact that really pulled gaming memories into the experience. 

Next up was music from Metal Gear Solid 2 featuring the most unusual special guest of the night.  "Visual artist" Eboman came on stage wearing a special suit that was built to react to his movements.  While the orchestra and choir performed, Eboman would trigger sound and video clips by twitching and jerking oddly onstage.  Not everybody knew quite what to make of it all, but it was definitely something to see. 
 
 

Afterwards, music from Killzone was introduced, and with it, Dutch composer Joris de Man who was in the audience.  The Helghast theme was a hit, and another Dutch musician was introduced next:  Popular singer Floor Jansen of the band After Forever.  She sang a melodic piece from Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles first, and then rocked the auditorium with a song from Burnout Revenge. 

Anyone who has heard the main theme from Metroid Prime may have a hard time believing it could be convincingly performed by an orchestra, but arrangers Trapp and Fondse somehow pulled it off with plenty of style.  Of course Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was a natural fit, and it sounded great live. 

One of the biggest hits of the night by far was also one of the simplest.  Giving the orchestra and choir a break for a few minutes, a lone string quartet performed the universally loved music of Super Mario Bros.  Something about the music always seems to make people happy, and applause broke out several times when new level themes were introduced.  The string quartet arrangement worked brilliantly, and for once the video footage showed someone who was actually good at playing the game. 
 
 

As if to provide an antidote to the previous mood, the darkly bombastic One-Winged Angel from Final Fantasy VII brought the concert to its intermission.  Unfortunately Square would not allow footage from the game to be shown so the screens remained dark for this segment, but it was a powerful performance on its own.  Once it ended the audience stretched their legs, got something to drink, and came back eager for more. 

The concert opened back up with a bang.  The Legend of Zelda seemed to be one of the most keenly anticipated pieces, and the audience ecstatically cheered and clapped more than once during the performance. 

Next up were three pieces connected to Christopher Lennertz.  The master of ceremonies brought attention to Lennertz's wife and parents in the audience, and took a few minutes to talk to the conductor himself.  Besides pointing out – much to the delight of the audience – the fact that in the last two years the games business has been more successful than Hollywood blockbusters, Lennertz took the opportunity to dedicate the evening to his mentor.  Film composer Basil Poledouris, who wrote such memorable scores as The Hunt for Red October and Lonesome Dove, passed away in November, and Lennertz remembered him as not only one of the kindest bosses he ever had, but friends as well. 

The orchestra performed a special arrangement of the classic James Bond theme written by Lennertz for From Russia with Love, followed by two more original pieces by Lennertz:  The classic Western music of Gun, and the stirring main theme from Medal of Honor: European Assault. 

Adventure gamers – especially European adventure gamers – are some of the most dedicated fans, and suddenly it was the moment they had all been waiting for.  Guybrush Threepwood burst onto the screen to the Caribbean music of Curse of Monkey Island, and the crowd went wild again.  That, paired with the Civilization IV African choir piece that would have felt right at home in Disney's Lion King, really highlighted the wide range of styles in this program. 

Though the PC and Xbox 360 game Overlord isn't due for release until summer next year, the audience on Sunday was due for a special preview.  The never-before-heard music was there, as was its composer who was in the audience.  Video wasn't available yet, but a slideshow of new screenshots and concept art made up for it.  It was definitely a cool bonus to hear the music months before everyone else. 

Eboman made a second appearance for a piece from Shenmue, and then the Dutch band, The Sheer, came onstage to perform their song that was featured in FIFA 07.  Performing with a full orchestra must have been quite an experience for the band, and they played their hearts out. 
 
 

In a closing ceremony before the final piece, Christopher Lennertz was presented with flowers.  Then, the other artists were called forward – Floor Jansen, Eboman, and arrangers Trapp and Fondse – and also given bouquets.  And then it was time for God of War to end the concert. 

The applause at the end was long and loud, and then a chant of "we want more!" rippled through the crowd and got stronger.  At last Metal Gear Solid 2 was played again, and it was the perfect end to a great concert.  A great showcase of the orchestra and choir, and it left the audience exhilarated and inspired. 

Looking back, it's amazing how smoothly everything went.  For a concert with such high production values to spring up seemingly fully-formed is a tribute the hard work and determination of Gamer.nl and NCRV.  One can only hope that they'll release a CD for the people not fortunate enough to attend.  In any case, a concert next year will definitely be worth watching for.