I confess I am a classic music fan. Or maybe that should be orchestral music fan because it's not only music from the past that I enjoy but film scores and any music that has a decent 'tune.' For quite a few years now I have been listening to ClassicFM and have discovered a great many 'new' favourite old composers and styles.
Last weekend (Easter, in case you are reading this in May) ClassicFM did a run down of the top favourite 300 pieces of classical music. All the normal composers were there, Beethoven had more entries than Mozart for the first time. There were quite a few 'one hit wonders'. And surprisingly up in the top ten were a couple of pieces of music composed for video games.
This has provoked much debate and some condemnation, but when I heard the music the only reason I knew it was from a video game was because I was told so. These pieces weren't the boom-boom-boom electronic drone that often accompanies video games but 'real' music.
It has taken a while for film music to be taken seriously, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if some of today's film composers were a little younger they might well be composing for video games. and who is to say that some of the more famous composers would not have done the same.
Many classical composers have had their melodies stolen for ring tones and hold music, and have also had pieces featured in films. And many more could be ideal background for a video game.
I was listening to Grieg's Hall of the Mountain King the other day and thought 'Now there is a piece of video game music.' It starts quietly and builds to a climax. It has a repetitive theme with little variation. The same goes for Ravel's Bolero.
The other way round, the first time I heard the piece of music called Romanza, a guitar piece by an anonymous composer, I was playing an arcade game (long, long time ago.)
So look out for video game music turning up in concerts. Who knows, maybe one day there will even by a Prom concert dedicated to such music.
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