Discography of Final Fantasy V

The music of the video game "Final Fantasy V" was composed by regular series composer Nobuo Uematsu. The "Final Fantasy V Original Sound Version", a compilation of almost all of the music in the game, was released by Square Co./NTT Publishing, and subsequently re-released by NTT Publishing after the game was brought to North America as part of the "Final Fantasy Anthology". An arranged album entitled "Final Fantasy V Dear Friends", containing a selection of musical tracks from the game arranged in multiple styles, including live and vocal versions, was released by Square/NTT Publishing and later re-released by NTT Publishing. Additionally, a collection of piano arrangements composed by Nobuo Uematsu, arranged by Shirou Satou and played by Toshiyuki Mori titled "Piano Collections Final Fantasy V" was released by Square/NTT Publishing, and re-released by NTT Publishing.

The music received mixed reviews; while some reviewers enjoyed the soundtrack and found it to be underrated, others felt it was only of middling quality. Several songs, especially "Dear Friends", remain popular today, and have been performed numerous times in orchestral concert series such as the "Dear Friends: Music from Final Fantasy" concert series, named after the "Final Fantasy V" song, and the Orchestral Game Concert series. Music from the soundtrack has also been published in arranged and compilation albums by Square as well as outside groups.

Concept and creation

Uematsu had originally calculated that the game would require more than 100 pieces of music, but managed to reduce the number to 56. He has stated that he developed the ideas for the music by first reading through the script and creating the titles for all of the songs, then composing melodies to match the themes of the story and titles.cite web | author=Eng, Kei | date=1992 | title=Final Fantasy V: Original Sound Version Liner Notes | url=http://www.x111.com/ffmo/Liner_Notes/ff5osv.php | publisher=Final Fantasy Music Online | accessdate=2008-03-26] Uematsu felt that the sound quality of the soundtrack for "Final Fantasy V" was much better than that of "Final Fantasy IV". He also claimed that this resulted in the soundtrack release requiring two CDs as opposed to the one CD required for the "Final Fantasy IV" soundtrack. Uematsu has stated that he would have preferred to keep the soundtrack to one CD, in order to keep the price of the album low.

Albums

"Final Fantasy V Original Sound Version"

Infobox Album |
Name = Final Fantasy V Original Sound Version


Cover size = 150
Type = Album
Artist = Nobuo Uematsu
Released = December 7, 1992
November 26, 1994 (re-release)
October 1, 2004 (re-release)
Recorded = Sunrise Studio
Genre = Video game soundtrack
Length = Disc 1: 60:02
Disc 2: 70:22
Label = Square/NTT Publishing
NTT Publishing (re-release)
Producer = Nobuo Uematsu
Last album =
This album =
Next album = "Final Fantasy V Original Sound Version" is a soundtrack album of video game music from "Final Fantasy V". The album contains the musical tracks from the game, composed, arranged, produced and performed by Nobuo Uematsu. It spans two discs and 67 tracks, covering a duration of 2:08:30. It was released on December 7, 1992 by Square and NTT Publishing with the catalog number "N33D-013~4", and re-released on November 26, 1994 and October 1, 2004 by NTT Publishing with the catalog numbers of "PSCN-5015~6" and "NTCP-5015~6", respectively.cite web | author=Gann, Patrick; Schweitzer, Ben | title=Final Fantasy V Original Sound Version | url=http://rpgfan.com/soundtracks/ff5ost/index.html | publisher=RPGFan | accessdate=2008-03-24]

A single was released in 1992 titled "Final Fantasy V: 5+1", consisting of the "Opening Theme", "Main Theme of FINAL FANTASY V", "Harvest", "Dungeon", and "Battle 1" tracks from the soundtrack, as well as the previously unreleased "MATOUYA no doukutsu" ("Matoya's Cave") from "Final Fantasy". It was published by NTT Publishing and had a catalog number of "NO9D-012" and a length of 14:46. [cite web | title=Final Fantasy 5+1 | url=http://ffmusic.info/ff5_1.html | publisher=ffmusic.info | accessdate=2008-03-25] A single named "Final Fantasy V Mambo de Chocobo" was also released, containing the "Mambo de Chocobo" track from the game, as well as three unused tracks from the game and a compilation mix track. The single was released by NTT Publishing in 1993; it covered a duration of 16:14 and had a catalog number of "NO9D-016". [cite web | title=Final Fantasy Manbo de Chocobo | url=http://ffmusic.info/ff5manbo.html | publisher=ffmusic.info | accessdate=2008-04-05] Nine tracks from the soundtrack were included in a bonus CD titled "Music From FFV and FFVI Video Games" that shipped with Final Fantasy Anthology on October 5, 1999, along with songs from "Final Fantasy VI". [cite web | author=Gann, Patrick | title=Music From FFV and FFVI Video Games | url=http://rpgfan.com/soundtracks/ffanthcd/index.html | publisher=RPGFan | accessdate=2008-03-25] The soundtrack was again released as part of the "Final Fantasy Finest Box" by Square Enix on March 28, 2007 under the catalog numbers "FFFB-0002-3" along with the OSTs of "Final Fantasy IV" and "Final Fantasy VI" after the game was ported to the Game Boy Advance.cite web | author=Tjan, Mark | title=FF Finest Box | url=http://www.rpgfan.com/soundtracks/ff-finest/index.html| work=RPGFan| accessdate=2008-04-23] [cite web | author=Square Enix Music Online | title=Final Fantasy Finest Box - Album Information | url=http://www.squareenixmusic.com/albums/f/ff4-6box.shtml| work=Square Enix Music | accessdate=2008-04-23]

Track listing{| class="collapsible collapsed" border="0" style="width:70%"! style="width:12em; text-align:left" | Disc two! |
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colspan="2"

Reception and legacy

Critical opinion of the soundtrack was mixed. Some reviewers, such as Ben Schweitzer of RPGFan, found it to be of medium quality, saying it "suffer [ed] from occasional compositional problems" and was simply "in the middle" of the soundtracks of "Final Fantasy IV" and "Final Fantasy VI". Other reviewers disagreed, with Jason Strohmaier of Soundtrack Central finding it to be an underrated album, while Jeremy Althouse of Soundtrack Central felt that it was on par with Uematsu's other works. [cite web| author= Althouse, Jeremy; Strohmaier, Jason| url=http://www.soundtrackcentral.com/stc/reviews/ff5osv.htm| title=Final Fantasy V Original Sound Version| publisher=Soundtrack Central| accessdate=2008-03-26] Reviewers were also of mixed opinion about "Final Fantasy V Dear Friends"; finding it to be of fair quality, though Jason Strohmaier took issue with some of the synthesized instruments and Freddie W. of RPGFan concluded in his review that the album was "a mixed bag of moods, emotions, and ideas that would only appeal to those who loved Final Fantasy V." [cite web| author= Lau, Aaron; Strohmaier, Jason| url=http://www.soundtrackcentral.com/stc/reviews/ff5df.htm| title=Final Fantasy V Dear Friends| publisher=Soundtrack Central| accessdate=2008-03-26] "Piano Collections Final Fantasy V" was well received by reviewers such as Patrick Gann of RPGFan, who found it to be "amazing" and on par with, if not better than, the piano arrangements for the music of the other "Final Fantasy" games. He also enjoyed the artistic license taken with several of the songs, finding the album to be the most "abstract" of the "Piano Collections" series.

The Black Mages, a band that arranges music from "Final Fantasy" video games into a rock music style, has arranged two pieces from "Final Fantasy V". These are "Clash on the Big Bridge" from their self-titled album, published in 2003, and "Neo EXDEATH", an arrangement of "The Final Battle", from ', published in 2008. [(February 19, 2003). "The Black Mages". DigiCube. SSCX-10080] [(March 19, 2008). "The Black Mages III: Darkness and Starlight". Sony Music Distribution. DERP-10002] Lyrical versions of "Music Box" and "Dear Friends", sung by Risa Ohki, appeared on ', a compilation album produced by Square. [(June 25, 1994). "Final Fantasy: Pray". NTT Publishing. PSCN-5006] Additionally, lyrical versions of "The Day Will Come" and "Home, Sweet Home", sung by Risa Ohki and Ikuko Noguchi, appeared on "". [(November 25, 1995). "Final Fantasy: Love Will Grow". NTT Publishing. PSCN-5041]

Uematsu continues to perform certain pieces in his "Dear Friends: Music from Final Fantasy" concert series, the name of which is taken from the "Final Fantasy V" song. [cite web | author=Schnieder, Peer | title=Dear Friends: Music from Final Fantasy | publisher=IGN | date=2005-05-11 | url=http://music.ign.com/articles/513/513292p1.html | accessdate=2006-03-01] The music of "Final Fantasy V" has also appeared in various official concerts and live albums, such as "20020220 music from FINAL FANTASY", a live recording of an orchestra performing music from the series including "Dear Friends". [cite web| url=http://www.rpgfan.com/soundtracks/20020220/index.html|title=20020220 - Music from FINAL FANTASY| publisher=RPGFan| accessdate=2007-04-01] "Opening Theme", "Waltz Clavier", "Town Theme", and "Main Theme of FINAL FANTASY V" were played by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra in their second Orchestral Game Concert in 1992 as part of a five concert tour, which was later released as an series of albums. [(September 15, 1992). "Orchestral Game Concert 2". Warner Music Japan. WPCL-709 ] Additionally, "Main Theme of FINAL FANTASY V" was performed by the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra in the "" concert series. [cite web| url= http://www.squareenixmusic.com/albums/dvds/tourdejapon.shtml| title=Album Information - Tour de Japon: Music from Final Fantasy DVD|publisher=Square Enix Music Online|accessdate=2008-02-22] Independent but officially licensed releases of "Final Fantasy V" music have been composed by such groups as Project Majestic Mix, which focuses on arranging video game music. [cite web | author=Rzeminski, Lucy | title=Project Majestic Mix: A Tribute to Nobuo Uematsu - Gold Edition | publisher=RPGFan | date=2002-07-02 | url=http://www.rpgfan.com/soundtracks/pmm-gold/index.html | accessdate=2008-08-13] An arranged version of "Clash on the Big Bridge" appears in the soundtrack of "Final Fantasy XII". [cite web | author=Gann, Patrick; Schweitzer, Ben | title=Final Fantasy XII OST | url=http://rpgfan.com/soundtracks/ff12/index.html | publisher=RPGFan | accessdate=2008-03-26] Selections also appear on Japanese remix albums, called "dojin music", and on English remixing websites. [cite web | title=Game: Final Fantasy V (SNES) | url=http://www.ocremix.org/game/final-fantasy-v-snes/ | publisher=OverClocked ReMix | accessdate=2008-03-24]

References

External links

* [http://na.square-enix.com/uematsu/ Nobuo Uematsu's official website]
* [http://na.square-enix.com/music/tunes/ff/ Square Enix's official music store]