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| Patrick Gann |
Cover art, date, tracklist, date, and more. Europeans, take note!
07.12.10 - 5:46 PM
As announced previously on this site, the CD release for the Square-centric "Symphonic Fantasies" concert is on its way. We now have more details.
The tracklist is broken into five parts. See below:
1. Fanfare Overture (original composition by Jonne Valtonen)
2. Fantasy I: Kingdom Hearts (Yoko Shimomura)
3. Fantasy II: Secret of Mana (Hiroki Kikuta)
4. Fantasy III: Chrono Trigger/Chrono Cross (Yasunori Mitsuda)
5. Fantasy IV: Final Fantasy (Nobuo Uematsu)
It should be noted that the orchestra recorded on this album, the WDR, previously recorded the Yoko Shimomura album "drammatica," which featured work from Kingdom Hearts. It should also be noted that this is the first time since the Japanese "Orchestra Game Concert" series (1991-1995) that Secret of Mana will have an officially-recorded orchestra performance released to the public.
A European release date has been set: September 24, 2010. Currently, the Decca (Universal Music) label is set to release the album in Germany, with availability crossing all of Europe. A digital version of the album will also be released at this time.
Other regions (North America, Japan) will have their own CD releases in the future. Impatient fans will be able to import the album from Germany via online stores such as Amazon.
For European residents, the deal gets a little sweeter. If you preorder the album direct from the Symphonic Fantasies website (via the WDR Shop) for the retail price of 19.95 EUR, you are automatically entered in a contest. Five copies of the Symphonic Fantasies CD will be signed by all four of the veteran (ex) Square Enix composers: Uematsu, Kikuta, Shimomura, and Mitsuda.
However, the WDR Shop will only ship to European countries. So if you live outside of Europe, your only chance of getting in on this contest is to have a friend in Europe order for you. With luck, perhaps this contest will be made available in other regions in the future!
The total track time for the CD is 73 minutes, though a sixth "encore" track will be released with the digital version. The album was recorded in concert at Cologne Germany and mastered at Abbey Road Studios in London.
Check back in the coming weeks, as RPGFan will have an interview with "Symphonic Fantasies" concert and album producer Thomas Boecker.
