Masashi Hamauzu -- Five Piano Duets from "Piano Pieces SF2" (duet with Verdegrand)

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Five Piano Duets from the album 'Piano Pieces "SF2" ~Rhapsody on a Theme of SaGa Frontier~' by Musashi Hamauzu, played by myself and Verdegrand.

Note that Hamauzu changed the original name of these pieces as they appeared in the actual SaGa Frontier 2 OST -- so I have added those beside the new names, as they appear in 'Piano Pieces "SF2"' album. The list of pieces played are as follows:

00:11 "γ" 1 (originally called: 'Außenwelt' -- Outside World)
03:03 "γ" 2 (originally: 'Interludium' -- Intermission)
04:59 "γ+" 1 (originally: 'Zufall' -- Coincidence)
07:17 "γ+" 2 (originally: 'Heimatlose' -- The Homeless)
09:00 "γ+" 3 (originally: 'Rückerinnerung' -- Flashback)

[γ is the ancient Greek letter 'gamma']

This project has been a real labour of love, and has been ongoing for some time -- with many stops and starts along the way. My eternal thanks to Verdegrand (whom I'm sure that everyone reading this is already subscribed to -- but just in case, 'subscribe NOW' for a real plethora of amazing vids, from the Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy Piano Collections, to mind-blowing Zohar interpretations, to truly epic Castlevania medleys, and that's only naming a few! http://www.youtube.com/user/Verdegrand) for not only doing the collab with me, but for sorting through all the technical issues with professionalism and patience for the duration of the project. It's such a pleasure to work with someone who is such a nice guy and also so pro at the piano -- a real privilege indeed!

The pieces come from the very rare 'Piano Pieces "SF2" ~Rhapsody on a Theme of SaGa Frontier~' album, originally released over a decade ago (1999) -- and contained, for perhaps the first time ever, the actual piano score with it, pre-dating even the Final Fantasy IV Piano Collections and its subsequent score by about 3 years! Of course, the released score was absolutely tiny (photocopiers set to 'enlarge' a necessity here), and were included as part of the booklet, but still, it was a great advance in piano based videogame music -- Musashi Hamauzu was somewhat of a pioneer in that regard -- to be perhaps the first to release the score of his music for his fans to play! Thank you Hamauzu Sensei!

The album has since seen a reprint last year, the tiny booklet with the score inside once again included :) I thoroughly recommend it!

The five pieces themselves represent a real range of styles, whilst showing off Hamauzu's distinct voice and many of the characteristics which have remained and matured with him as a composer over the years. The deep sense of irony in "γ"1 as an industry like second piano is played against a cheerful and floating top melody -- to the soothing "γ"2 which, like "γ"1 has a very ambient flavour, much like Hamauzu's best work in other projects. "γ+" 1, 2&3 are more involved pieces with a lot of staccato, the particular way that it is used (usually in short bursts) now somewhat of a trademark for Hamauzu. "γ+"1 has a very positive spirit, "γ+" 2 is quite ambiguous, almost ominous and "γ+"3 is very attacking, played at a slighter faster tempo than the original to really end the five piece medley with aplomb :P

On a different note, for those of you who like to read, I've written a novel which can now be found on Amazon Kindle. Here is a link to the US store. The book is also available in other territories too, like the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy etc. Check it out!

http://www.amazon.com/Kierkegaards-Apple-ebook/dp/B005GLG2PK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UT...

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Piano
• Pieces
• SF2
• Rhapsody
• on
• Theme
• of
• SaGa
• Frontier
• duet
• Außenwelt
• Aussenwelt
• Outside
• World
• Interdium
• Intermission
• Zufall
• Coincidence
• Heimatlose
• Homeless
• Rückerinnerung
• Ruckerrinerung
• Flashback
• Masashi
• Hamauzu
• Verdegrand
• ピアノ小曲集
• サガフロンティア２の主題による狂詩曲
• 浜渦
• 正
• 志

[ivrine67]

This is excellent. You picked my favorite songs from the album too~

[bradleypianoman]

The dissonance in 1st piece that is.

[bradleypianoman]

The dissonance in this piece is to die for.....

[KenshinXSlayer]

This is music :)

[TheAsasdfasf]

Get me a new saga !!!!!!!!!

[Raidon90]

@32bitSmoky Indeed, best meal ever! :)

really amazing

[3llianX]

Masterful playing, this is amazing work. You and Verdegrand make an impressive team.

[CleverDjembe]

FANTASTIC MUSIC

[Sorcerer88]

by the way, the titles are partly incorrect, it's "Außenwelt" and 'Rückerinnerung' is better translated as "Reminiscence". Also, note that 'Heimatlose' is a noun in plural (several homeless people), though the translation is still correct. i'm german, so trust me ^^ hamauzu lived in germany as well in his youth, that's why he has so many german titles. i hope he'll continue to do piano music!

[Sorcerer88]

yay! awesome! i love hamauzu and the SF2 arrangements, it's a gift of you to play them for us! i didn't even know they were for piano duet though and that there was a score, i'd die to get that.. anyways, great job, hamauzu would be proud =)