Videogame Composers in the 21st Century

By Philip Michael Orlando, DMA

Faculty, Colleges of Arts & Sciences, School of Advanced Studies

Development of Videogame Musical Scores 1991-1999

In 1991, ActRaiser Goes to the Symphony, an orchestrated version of the original synthesized sounds composed by Yuzo Koshiro was another watershed in the creation of sweeping symphonic concert scores for video games. Much like the early film scores of the mid to late 20th century of John Williams, these composers drew inspiration from Hollywood film score traditions as their soundtracks were orchestrated beautifully.

These developments impacted the first generation of Japanese classically trained videogame composers following Sugiyama, which included Koji Kondo, Nobuo Uematsu and Keiichi Suzuki. They integrated their orchestral compositions into the dynamic videogame design world as Japan continued to dominate this emerging musical genre. Their mentor, Koichi Sugiyama, continued to be prolific and innovated once again by conducting concerts of his video game scores in concert hall venues.

By 1999, Uematsu’s scores and soundtracks for Final Fantasy and its sequels continued to demonstrate the increasing sophistication and orchestral artistry of videogame music and set a new standard with what have been described as “sweeping and cinematic musical scores.” His stylistic and orchestral color, the use of leitmotifs and other sophisticated musical devices permeated the broad palette of colors in his score for Final Fantasy VIII.