Fantasia - Toccata and Fugue

[TheEyeOfStone]

I can see that it's been commented on already, but when the "marching tombstone" @ 8:14 showed up, I hit the ceiling. As far as I was concerned, it was an animate Coffin with magical powers. When the cascade of light followed at 8:22, I thought that God had arrived and I distinctly remember feeling that I wasn't ready to be judged. I was less than ten. It was a long time before I could be persuaded to watch this scene again and then only with difficulty.

[anvr26]

I used to watch this when I was 3,4,5,6, years old..... Now Im 22, studying music at college.

[marios22y]

TORRENTZ EU SEARCH:

fantasia 720p ac3 1940

for 2hr movie in HD

[generalbullmoose]

STILL Disney's best ever, as far as I'm concerned.

[al1936ful]

This must be the 1982 re-recording. It's not on the new DVD release, is it?

[squashballferg]

wow, this is so reserved compared to the original. seems like the the orchestra lost its balls in the 60 years between recordings. shame

[Kurremkarmerruk1]

Stokosky's intent and the sense of his orchestration have been inconsiderately trampled on for a higher sound quality...

You can find the original version on YouTube named "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor - Fantasia (1940)".

Judge by yourself.

I yearned for a remastered version of "Fantasia" in DVD (hard to come by, here), but if the soundtrack will be this one and not the original, I shall never buy it, not even for one euro.

[Kurremkarmerruk1]

They marred all shamefully by replacing the original performance with this one! Hopeless, incompetent imbeciles! It is enormously inferior to the original playing conducted by Stokowsky: compare the final chord of the toccata, and even more the end of the fuga, how it was tremendous and vibrant, and how here is lifeless; it had neither been kept the amazing final crescendo, turned over to a weak diminuendo; the time is often changed...

[WarriorcatsBoards]

Remember when this was bach?

[ez2me2009]

Very well done! Perfect synch. Bravo!

How dare you, Disney, not to offer the great sound quality of the Irwin Kostal re-recording of 1982 on the new Fantasia Blu-ray!!!

HD video quality with lo-fi sound... That is Fantasia on blu-ray. Do you really want to make even more money and produce a new re-recording in 5 years, for a new collector edition?

[Aureliano661]

Wonderful

[al1936ful]

Technically, the sound is better than on the original soundtrack, but otherwise, this doesn't sound remotely like Stokowski. I have heard Stokowski conduct this on a modern, hi-fi CD, and there is just no comparison. And there are some sections here that sound as if Irwin Kostal had tampered with Stokowski's orchestration.

The 1940 original soundtrack of "Fantasia" is so much better!

[Francise05]

Blue Man Group at 2:15!

[bloodbred]

Me thinks it be a tooth. :-D

[MrTristo99]

Is there any way you can put up some of the other Irwin Kostal versions on here? I'd love to hear them!

[EyeShotFirst1]

I am currently working on a project similar to this.

[LLJtbone]

LEOPOLD!!

[PandaMishima]

@LLJtbone

Bugs Bunny did know how to exploit it.

[wwhc43a]

Irwin Kostal, winner of a few academy awards for scoring, should receive more credit (although he did receive two academy awards for his work, including the Sound of Music). He did the 1982 Fantasia remake.

Bravo, Irwin.

[MsVaqueroS]

Divine,

[Riddler95]

Were the 1982 re-recordings ever released on CD?

[RadioGuy8604]

@Riddler95 Yes they were, but they have long been out of print. I got mine on ebay.

[Riddler95]

@RadioGuy8604

I just picked up Fantasia on Blu-Ray, the movie has never looked or sounded as good as it does on Blu-Ray.

The audio mix is quite good for a movie from 1940, but you can hear the age of the audio, but the movie has never sounded as good as it does on Blu-Ray.

Disney didn't include the 1982 Re-Recording on the Blu-Ray.

[Riddler95]

I got the 1982 Fantasia CD! Mint Condition.

[rougeleader302]

If you think about the composer Bach, and the era he lived in, I think this song is an Easter piece the beginning being Good Friday, transitioning to Saturday, then Easter Sunday.

[rougeleader302]

my logic is sound right?

[teemuruskeepaa]

The '82 version is extatic. A good era for emotional expression, awesome philosophy.

[billyguns2]

This is a travesty. Many of the the theatres where FANTASIA played originally were set up with early stereo sound systems. Whoever had this idea should be shot.

[RadioGuy8604]

@billyguns2 Think back to when this version was released. In 1982, we did not have the techniques for restoring film or film soundtracks the way we do today. Not only that, but home video was still largely a luxury item available to only those who could afford it. To keep their titles in circulation, while not detracting from a pleasurable viewing experience, Disney had very little option but to rerecord the soundtrack. They did the best they could with what they had at the time.

[TheStockwell]

@billyguns2 The original FANTASIA went much further than stereo. A gentleman I knew told me about seeing the film in its original London release. He said it was in what we'd now call multi-channel sound with speakers all over the place and sections of the orchestral coming from every corner of the theater. 4-channel sound called "Fantasound." What remains of Stokowski's recording comes from a then-high quality 1950s telephone (!) transfer by RCA.

[TheGacktfanatic]

@billyguns2 you just can't appreciate great art can you. This movie is a piece of art and I don't appreciate you dising great art enough said.

[Vegetth87]

mmm it sounded warmer, i think it's the recording. I'm not sure, but i think this one was recorded directly on CD, while in 40s it was on Vinyl. And i think this one has also some effects on it, like some kind of reverb, while in the 40s version it has not.

[miniroll32]

It would have been recorded directly to a hard disk drive. And I think the reverb is coming generally from the hall it was recorded in - thats what I don't like. On the original, the microphones where much closer to the instruments, so it sounded more clear and intimate.

[gerryu21220]

@miniroll32 The reverb was added by Buena Vista Records. It was not on the original, digital theatrical release. Here, it's been compressed and reverb added for both the Lp and CD release. Sounded amazing in the theater, like a live orchestra was playing. Nothing like what ended up on the Lp/CD. :(

[Vegetth87]

This one is clearly done in a recent period. if you listen closely you can hear Violins on left side and Cellos and Basses on the right side, like in the modern orchestra. Stokowski used to conduct the ancient orchestra style with Violins I on the left, Violins II on the right and cellos and basses in the middle.

[miniroll32]

Do you not think that Stokowski's recording method compliments the film better? Obviously, I understand if classical purists don't like the original, but I think the more defined recording of the instruments links better to whats on screen.

[Vegetth87]

i don't get. This one is recorded more definited, but the 40s match better the music coz first was recorded the music, then they made the cartoon on the play. With 82 re-recording they tried to fit in time, but it's almost impossible.

I prefere this one, not for the sound, but for some music phrases i prefere in this way, the crescendo in the end is not stopped for example, while in 40s ediction it's softer... it's only a matter of taste i guess

[Vegetth87]

@miniroll32 read the info. The movie it's the 40s, the recording it's 1982. It's done pretty well though

[Rubberman202]

One of the most reognizable music openings, next to Beethoven's Symphony No. 5.

[Ninooo94]

beautiful! i can finnaly play it on the church organ :)

[Riddler95]

I hope on the Blu-Ray of Fantasia they include both the 1940 Soundmix and the 1982 Soundmix.

[pookerville]

I recognize this piece from the opening of the 1975 movie "Rollerball" with James Caan. Lots of classical music was used in that movie, and this tune towered above them all!

[Jorfapigo]

17 years ago I saw this movie for the first time...

This is like the 100th time I see it, and still gives me the chills... Great, Epic.

[Baritonenclarinet]

Hardest thing I've had to play (or, more accurately, try to) in my band class. Then again, I'm only in high school, but still, you have to gape at a piece that tries to hand a tuba player pages of sixteenth notes WITH some thirty-second and even a few sixty-forth notes thrown in.

Never have I seen a piece so awesome, and yet, so impossibly hard. Hoping to play it for band and orchestra festival this year, but something tells me the band director will abandon it for something easier.

[pamelawalker1]

my school is marching to this song this year im excited :) were going to look like a piano at the begining.

[Ninooo94]

love it, finally i can play it on the churchorgel ^^

[KnappDrumm3r]

I remember seeing this movie for the first time and being amazed by this song when is was 4...

I'm 14 now.

[Kelakar95]

Same I saw this when i was 7 and this was my fav song, then i grew older and forgot about it then rediscovered it and its my fav again :D

[loveloveme711]

me too!

im 15 and i still love watching this movie

[BestResponseEver]

I kinda grew up with this...

<3

[elmalyuyu]

se ha creado un genero audiovisual completamente puro

[oddnangry]

What the hell is that thing at 8:14?

[bslatky]

It looks like a freakin' rock.

[oddnangry]

A rock that moves? Of course it's supposed to be abstract, so stupid question.

[RepublicAgent]

Think along the lines of death.

[JohanStarDragon]

I must agree with your interpretation. After all no one is asking questions about the floating colored disks at the beginning now are they?

Besides, as the announcer at the beginning himself said, this is "absolute music" which has no real meaning or interpretation.

[sauron950]

Tto me, it always looked like a coffin of sorts. and it's like it's digging itself deeper and deeper into the ground

[RadioGuy8604]

@oddnangry Ah, yes, the "marching tombstone," as Roy E. Disney described it in the DVD commentary. Nobody could ever really figure out what that was, exactly. Does it symbolize death? Or is it just a moving geometrical object? No one knows.

[miniroll32]

@RadioGuy8604

Its just counter-point, like the entire Fugue sequence. The image is akin to a tombstone from an aesthetic point of view (because if they 'did' move, they would indeed waddle around as they are heavy), but the counter is that its just a geometric object that, imaginatively, represents the movement of bass tones.

[PandaMishima]

@oddnangry

I admit it looks like an apple.

A big angry apple, pacing its way to Hell.

But that's just me.

[YmustTh3w0rldG0r0und]

@PandaMishima i thought it was a leaf that an ant was carrying in an underground tunnel to the colony

lol

[madhatter689]

other then alice in wonderland, fantasia was the only disney movie worth watching.

[sauron950]

Well, I don't really agree with you. And personally, I was never a huge fan of Alice in Wonderland when I was a kid. However, I do think that, especially for it's time, Fantasia was and still is one of the best movies that Disney has ever produced.

[jferkfjkj]

i prefer the original Stokowski version over this, but Kostal's version is still good

[nuWa88]

incredible

[Tripp1993]

THIS was the most beautiful rendtition in the history of history! Irwin Kostal- conductor. Wow, for the 2009 re-release on DVD, AND on Blu-Ray, the Kostal cut should be released.

[ensignlilyjavert]

I had to watch this for Music class and I loved it! I was like, I have to put this on my iPod!!! It's really hard to beat. This is my favorite piece of orchestral music tied with the Star Trek theme and the Nutcracker Suite.

[ShartanX]

^^

Except for the fact that it is not written for orchestra in original, but for organ ... ;)

[jtrouveroy]

having heard both, i prefer this one over the organ version...

[ainonimust]

such a classic!

[mrtyles]

lots of tempo rubato

[mrtyles]

truly a masterwork

[tweak548]

take me back to gradeschool, this video and song are absolutely amazing

[71superbee]

Made without the use of computers. Fantastic Fantasia.