Chrono Piano Album -Through Time and Space-
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Album Title: Chrono Piano Album -Through Time and Space- |
| Record Label: Video Games Live |
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| Catalog No.: N/A |
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| Release Date: March 15, 2015 |
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| Purchase: Download at iTunes |
Overview
Laura Intravia has already made quite a big mark on the video game music world. Originally being a performer and arranger for Video Games Live, Intravia has gone on to work on several fan arranged projects, and recently was a guest singer for Pokémon Symphonic Evolutions. She has also worked alongside Austin Wintory in several of his projects (MONACO, Soul Fjord) and even helped arrange Wintory’s Journey piano album, Transfiguration. Thus, Through Time and Space: Chrono Piano Album is a continuation of Intravia’s arrangement ability, this time tackling on Yasunori Mitsuda’s famous Chrono scores. What results is a short, but sweet EP that really highlights Intravia’s continued success while bringing back fond memories of Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross.
Body
The EP opens with “Cogs of Fate,” a proper prologue into Chrono Trigger, beginning with a lovingly arranged version of “Yearnings of the Wind.” Pianist Brenden Shapiro performs the track flawlessly, before briefly stating “A Premonition” and launching into a very faithful arrangement of “Chrono Trigger.” All in all, the track is very well done and does a great job of capturing what made Chrono Trigger’s score so memorable. Moving on, we have “Souls of the Forest,” a faithful piano recreation of “Secret of the Forest,” which is extended in a style highly reminiscent of some of Square Enix’s own Piano Collections albums. It’s a melancholic track, but it’s also beautiful in a very intimate way.
“The Enlightened One” continues with an introspective but adventuring mood, focusing around “Schala’s Theme” and “Corridor of Time,” and is another solid track that builds upon the Chrono Trigger main theme. “Battle for the Ages,” brings more of a foreboding sound to the album, beginning with “Lavos’ Theme,” and then entering into the dynamic and exciting “Showdown with Magus,” which again incorporates using the main theme. It’s a great arrangement on both themes, though it leaves me wishing for more piano-styled battle themes.
The EP closes out with two themes from Chrono Cross. “Scars of Time,” is a pretty straightforward take on Chrono Cross’ main theme, functions almost exactly the same as “Cogs of Fate,” and is well arranged and enjoyable, despite not doing anything too significant to the arrangement. We end on “Radical Dreamers,” a piano cover of the ending theme to Cross. The theme itself is also somewhat melancholy, but meditative, and acts as a beautiful ending theme to the game. Intravia here doesn’t mess with a good thing, and again keeps the piano arrangement simple and true to its origins. Intravia herself takes on the vocal role, sounding quite lovely, and demonstrating her distinctly soprano vocal range, while blending her role seamlessly with the piano score. All in all, a wonderful and fitting way to end this piano EP.
Summary
Through Time and Space again demonstrates Laura Intravia’s skill as a music arranger, being a short but exceedingly pleasant take on the Chrono scores. However, if there’s only one complaint that I have, it’s exactly that: the length. I’m really left wishing for more music, or a full album of piano covers! Hopefully we’ll get a more substantial release from Miss Intravia in the near future. In the meantime, however, this is worth the price, and will appease both fans of the Chrono series and fans of Laura Intravia.
Do you agree with the review and score? Let us know in the comments below!
3.5
Posted on March 31, 2015 by Julius Acero. Last modified on March 31, 2015.
About the Author
Julius Acero I recently graduated with a BA in Cinema & Media Arts from Biola University in LA, and am currently attempting to break into the film and television industries. I grew up listening to and learning from classical music and famous film scores, and absolutely fell in love with the orchestra at a young age. When I was 10, I began playing Nintendo games and became enamored with the music from Super Smash Bros., The Legend of Zelda, and the Mario series, just to name a few. Now, I continue to follow scores and composers, both eastern and western, and am continually surprised by the power and emotions behind their works. Above all, I am blessed to be part of such a creative community, and hope to further hone my own skills through this wonderful art form!
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