Yasunori Mitsuda

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Yasunori Mitsuda

Yasunori Mitsuda (光田 康典, Mitsuda Yasunori, born January 21, 1972) is a Japanese video game composer, sound programmer, and musician. He is best known for his work with composing video games such as Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Shadow Hearts, Shadow Hearts: Covenant, Xenogears, Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht, and Mario Party.

Biography

Early life

Mitsuda was born in Tokuyama, Japan, and raised in Kumage District.[1] He took piano lessons as a child, but he was more interested in sports and never took music seriously. For a while, he wanted to become a professional golfer. He also got interested in PCs at an early age, and he taught himself to program simple songs and games. While in high school, Mitsuda rediscovered music, inspired by Vangelis' Blade Runner and Henry Mancini's The Pink Panther film scores.[2]

After high school, he moved to Tokyo and attended the Junior College of Music. Despite the school's low prestige, Mitsuda received solid instruction from his professors, most of them practicing musicians who would take Mitsuda to gigs with them to help carry and set up equipment. At the cost of being used for free physical labor, Mitsuda got a first-hand view of the Japanese music world and valuable training both in and out of the classroom.

Veteran Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu showed Mitsuda an advertisement for an opening in the music department at the software game developer Square (now Square Enix), the same development where he was currently employed. Mitsuda sent a demo which won him an interview at the game studio. Despite the "disastrous" interview (as he describes it), Mitsuda was offered a position on the company's sound team in April 1992.

Career

Although his official job title was "composer", Mitsuda found himself working more as a sound engineer. In 1994, he gave Square's vice president, Hironobu Sakaguchi, an ultimatum: let him compose, or he would quit. Sakaguchi assigned the young musician to the team working on Chrono Trigger. Mitsuda was allowed to compose the majority of the tracks for the game under the watchful eye of Uematsu, in the end arranging fifty-four tracks (Uematsu composing the remaining ten, having Noriko Matsueda assist him with one). Mitsuda revealed in 2004 that Uematsu offered to help him on the soundtrack after he developed a stomach ulcer due to his working so hard.[3] Following Chrono Trigger, Mitsuda composed the soundtrack for Front Mission: Gun Hazard, again with Uematsu. According to Uematsu, Mitsuda worked so much that he eventually defecated blood out of stress and physical problems.[4]

The Chrono Trigger soundtrack proved extremely popular with fans. Mitsuda worked on four more titles for Square, the last being Xenogears in 1998 (he also composed the soundtrack to Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht). He then went freelance, although he continued to work closely with Square Enix on projects such as the Chrono Trigger sequel, Chrono Cross. He has also released non-mainstream-game music, such as his CD Sailing to the World (which includes a selection of music from a little-known game called "The Seventh Seal"). A new acoustic arrangement of the music from Chrono Cross was quoted by Mitsuda as planned for release in 2006, despite it being previously rumored to emerge in July of 2005. However, such an album has yet to be published.[5] An artistic collaboration with Masato Kato, creator of the Chrono series, called Kirite and featuring music, art, and stories, was released on May 18, 2005.

According to a March 2009 interview with Nintendo Power, Mitsuda is currently working on "undisclosed projects" for the DS, Wii, and PS3.

Concerts

His music from Chrono Trigger was performed live by the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra in 1996 at the Orchestral Game Concert in Tokyo, Japan. The first symphonic performance of his music outside of Japan took place in 2005 at the Symphonic Game Music Concert in Leipzig, Germany when music from Chrono Cross was presented. A suite of music from Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross is a part of the symphonic world-tour with video game music Play! A Video Game Symphony, where Mitsuda was in attendance for the concert's world-premiere in Chicago on May 27, 2006. His suite of Chrono music, comprising "Reminiscence", "Chrono Trigger", "Chrono Cross~Time's Scar", "Frog's Theme", and "To Far Away Times" was performed. Mitsuda has also appeared with the Eminence Symphony Orchestra as a special guest.[6] Recently Video Games Live has begun playing popular melodies from Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross.

Music written by Yasunori Mitsuda will be an important part of the Symphonic Fantasies concerts in September 2009 which are being produced by the creators of the Symphonic Game Music Concert series, conducted by Arnie Roth.[7]

Musical style and influences

Yasunori Mitsuda's music often show Celtic, Indian, Caribbean and East Asian influences. The strong Celtic influences are particularly evident in his soundtrack for Chrono Cross in songs such as "Another Termina" and "Dragon God" as well as in his Xenogears arranged album, Creid. Mitsuda's style is difficult to pigeonhole, however, since he is able to compose music in several different styles depending on the demands of the project. For example, the Chrono Cross track "Chronomantic" sounds Caribbean, while the song "The Great Sneff's Troupe" from that same soundtrack is East Asian in flavor. A number of his other compositions show strong Indian influence, such as the Chrono Trigger tracks "Corridor of Time" and "Schala's Theme" and the Chrono Cross tracks "Time's Grasslands" and "Time's Scar" for example. Mitsuda's music translates well to jazz, as well. The album The Brink of Time consists of several arrangements of his Chrono Trigger soundtrack performed by a live jazz band called Guido.

His music is frequently minimalistic, and he has cited Minimalism as an influence.[8] His final battle themes for Chrono Trigger and Xenogears are based on only a few chords each, with the latter containing only two. Mitsuda has always acknowledged popular cinema as a strong influence on his work. This is particularly evident in various battle themes he has written, such as "Gale", which is used in both Radical Dreamers and Chrono Cross. The main theme from Chrono Trigger is another example of Mitsuda's cinematic side. He has cited Maurice Ravel, J.S. Bach, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Claude Debussy, Robert Schumann, Antonín Dvořák, and Gustav Holst as his favorite classical composers.[9]

I think [game music] is something that should last with the player. It's interesting because it can't just be some random music, but something that can make its way into the player's heart. In that sense, this not only applies to game music, but I feel very strongly about composing songs that will leave a lasting impression...What I must not forget is that it must be entertaining to those who are listening. I don't think there's much else to it, to be honest. I don't do anything too audacious, so as long as the listeners like it, or feel that it's a really great song, then I've done my job.

— Mitsuda, Chrono Trigger DS Interview[10]

Sound designer credits

Discography

Video game soundtracks

Composer
Arranger
Sound Producer

Other works

Composer
Arranger

References

  1. ^ "Yasunori Mitsuda Profile" (in Japanese). Our Millennial Fair. Retrieved 2007-12-03.
  2. ^ "Yasunori Mitsuda :: Biography". Square Enix Music Online. Retrieved 2008-09-21.
  3. ^ "Power Up Excerpt". Retrieved 2007-12-03.
  4. ^ "Gun Hazard Original Sound Track Liner Notes". Retrieved 2007-12-03.
  5. ^ Daiker, Brandon (2006-05-30). ""Play! A Video Game Symphony" Interview with Yasunori Mitsuda". N-Sider. Retrieved 2006-06-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ "Passion by Eminence Symphony Orchestra Review". 2007-01-13. Retrieved 2008-10-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ Music from classic games arranged by Jonne Valtonen, Symphonic Fantasies, 2009-01-22, retrieved 2009-06-01
  8. ^ http://chudahs-corner.com/liners/index.php?catalog=SSCX-10040
  9. ^ http://palgn.com.au/article.php?id=5478
  10. ^ "Chrono Trigger DS" (Flash). Square Enix. Retrieved March 13 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)

External links

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