back to article London Philharmonic to give videogame music concert

Angry Birds, Super Mario Bros and Tetris are about to go classical in a new concert and recording by the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO). Composer Andrew Skeet, who's worked on movies like Ridley Scott's Robin Hood and Garth Jennings' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, is the conductor for the medley of video game …

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  1. Admiral Grace Hopper
    Joke

    Manic Miner?

    Oh.

  2. Captain Underpants
    Thumb Up

    Good!

    The Japanese had the Orchestral Game Music Concerts back in the 90s, the Yanks seem to have a good few universities where music and gaming nerds combine (presumably For Great Justice!) and the EU had the Play! Videogame Symphony concerts from 2006 to 2010.

    It's surprising just how good some videogame music is (yes, even the older stuff), so it's always nice to hear that interpretations of it are spreading further afield.

  3. I know better

    Forget the children, what about Rob Hubbard?

    Hello, Crazy Comets, Monty on the Run. Where's Hubbard's entries?

    1. lpopman
      Thumb Up

      titular thingy

      His cover of the theme to Capcom's Commando is particularly awesome, as is his Chicken Song medley.

      Time to dig out my HVSC and have a listen :)

      Memories....

  4. Sir Runcible Spoon

    Sir

    I can't make it at this short notice, please tell me they are going to record this and make it available?

    Zelda tunes are legend :)

    1. A. Coatsworth Silver badge
      Happy

      Nintendo will

      It's not the same show, but Nintendo is organizing symphonic concerts in Los Angeles and London to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Zelda, and will be recording them to include the CD as a bonus in Skyward Sword.

  5. Philip Storry
    Megaphone

    Total Annihilation...

    What they need to do is one of the tracks from the Total Annihilation soundtrack. That was a superb bit of work, which stands out to this day.

    1. Limbo
      Thumb Up

      Thumbs up for TA

      I always despair at how TA gets left out of mind when people mention game soundtracks.

      Full orchestral and even changed in-game dependant on what was happening, not bad for 1997 and lets not forget the difference a game has when everything, even projectiles, are 3D objects and not just pixels that magically travel through solid cliffs

    2. Tim Almond
      WTF?

      TA

      Nearly always overlooked. The cool thing about TA was that the music that was played was appropriate to the level of action. If you were just building things, you got some ambient music playing, as forces approached, you'd get the epic "March Unto Death".

  6. Mark Reed
    Thumb Up

    UMGSO has been doing the same for years with great success.

    University of Maryland's Gamer Symphony Orchestra has been doing the same for years staging concerts with huge success.

    More information and concert recordings are available (free) from:

    http://umd.gamersymphony.org/

    I strongly recommend their 2009 rendition of Still Alive from Valve's 'Portal'.

    1. Kane
      Go

      @ Mark Reed

      This was a triumph...

      1. lpopman
        Go

        obligatory sing along

        I'm making a note here, huge success!

        1. Kane
          Go

          obligatory sing along

          It's hard to overstate my satisfaction.

  7. MikeyD85
    Unhappy

    I wish

    I knew about this earlier. :sad:

    Or that they toured the UK. :sadder still:

  8. Alistair MacRae
    Thumb Up

    There's also Final Fantasy Distant Worlds at the Albert Hall in November

    I have tickets, I'm excited!

  9. Stretch
    Megaphone

    Please!

    Na na. Na na na na na na na. Na na na na na na.

    Katamari Damacy!!!!!

  10. juice
    Unhappy

    Y'know. 7 hours isn't really enough notice for a one-off show...

    You get the feeling that someone forgot to promote this concert, given that it's only just popped up on places like el Reg and the Beeb (and over there, it's been dumped in the kiddies Newsbeat section, despite mostly involving games which are older than the average Newsbeat reader - http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/14738688)

    If I'd found out about this a day or two earlier, I'd have been there!

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Monkey Island!

    That should be good to cover. There's a band that has done it and it worked out quite well, could see it going down ok orchestrally too.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYZXNVHVfhc

    Anyone into strange orchestral covers could do worse than find Alarm Will Sound performs Aphex Twin.

  12. Godwhacker
    Megaphone

    Oh God not the Mario theme again

    Please. Just don't. I'm sick of it and I don't want to hear another version of it. There are thousands upon thousands of other tunes they can do, but if they do the Mario theme this will be a complete washout.

  13. John G Imrie

    How about

    Something from Grand Theft Auto, San Andreas.

    "Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me!"

  14. Troy Peterson
    Happy

    Yay

    Late notice, but just enough time to change my plans for tonight... Forget Planet of the Apes, going to listen to Video Game music instead tonights. Tickets purchased.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Similar thing done recently

    Similar thing done recently by the VSO (Vancouver Symphony Orchestra), a piece called "Play!" which was a concert featuring music from videogames. Went with the kids. Some really good music, good audience participation, very good.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Bunkner and Garcia, anybody?

    Bunkner and Garcia, anybody? "Pac Man Fever" as an orchestral? Or better still, "Going Berzerk" ("here comes Evil Otto push the fire buttons in...")

    Or better still, let's get the soundtrack for Tempest 2000 going.

    Or we can get very meta, and have the orchestra do a version of the Gyrus version of Toccata and Fugue in G Minor.

    The one with all the tokens in the the pocket.

  17. DJGM
    Thumb Up

    Orchestral Manoeuvres ... in Liberty City?

    Imagine the main theme from GTA IV (Soviet Connections) played by an orchestra, with the full range of classical instruments.

    That, I think, would sound many magnitudes of awesome!

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