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Arranger: Masashi Hamauzu

Masashi Hamauzu arranges his own work, and the work of others.

Piano Collections Final Fantasy X is a great album for reflecting on Masashi Hamauzu's past accomplishments. And, in this particular season, just before the release of Final Fantasy XIII (which Hamauzu is scoring), we find even more reason to remember what all Hamauzu is done.

Final Fantasy X was composed by a trio of talented musicians: Nobuo Uematsu, Junya Nakano, and Masashi Hamauzu. The piano arrangements for this album were done solely by Hamauzu, and the pianist is a young lady by the name of Aki Kuroda.

Anyone who knows music theory quickly recognizes that Hamauzu is rooted in the French and German schools of early 20th Century impressionism. His compositions from Final Fantasy X and many other titles show this to be true, and his arrangements (be it for his own pieces or someone else's work) on Piano Collections Final Fantasy X also bespeak a style that is akin to those of Debussy and Ravel.

Now, there are some pieces where the harmonic techniques (namely, major and dominant sevenths) and style (contrasting periods of strong stacatto and legato) just wouldn't work. In particular, the main themes of Final Fantasy X, "At Zanarkand" and "Suteki da ne" (both written by Uematsu), just could not fit Hamauzu's mold. Hence, their arrangements are rather straightforward piano transpositions. "At Zanarkand," the opening track, was originally written as a piano piece, and all this arrangement does is simplify some sections and build some other sections (with grandiose arpeggiations to boot!).

That's not to say that all Uematsu compositions can't be transmogrified into the world of impressionism. Tidus' Theme, Song of Prayer, Rikku's Theme, Path of Repentance, and Yuna's Determination are all Uematsu compositions that got the impressionist-piano treatment quite well. Among these tracks, I must shower praise most on Hamauzu and Kuroda for "Song of Prayer." Taking a piece like this and adding that light, mesmerizing touch to it is fantastic. If you study the sheet music, you can see how the left and right hands will, at times, come together right at the middle octaves for massive chords (to mimic a choral feel), and other times the hands go in complete opposing directions with booming bass and decorative treble.

Hamauzu only arranged one Nakano track: "Guadosalam." This is one of my favorite tracks on the whole album, and there are very specific reasons why I like it. First of all, there are huge dynamic jumps. The piece goes from very soft to very loud, and back, in a matter of seconds. Kuroda nails the dynamic call-outs in the sheet music. Next, the shifting key changes are great. The song starts in C minor, then Bb minor, then Db minor, and finally back to C minor. While it's in Bb minor, there are two variations presented from the simple main theme. One features a bombastic, ultra-low-octave left hand and a beautiful melody in the right hand. The other variant is a pianissimo section at the end of the Bb minor section. I wish there was a whole piece arranged in the style of this second variation. It's simply beautiful.

Among Hamauzu's own compositions, of which there are plenty great tracks to choose, it is my belief that Hamauzu was intentional about choosing the best tracks pieces for a piano solo arrangement. Besaid Island, Travel Agency, Thunder Plains, Raid, People of the North Pole, and Decisive Battle were chosen for piano arrangements. Some tracks, like Thunder Plains, were obvious decisions due to their piano-centric nature. Other tracks, like Besaid Island and Raid, required some heavy modification. But the resulting product is fantastic. The tempo of Raid (and Decisive Battle) is something that most hobby-pianists couldn't keep up with. It takes a true professional to pull off those performances, and Aki Kuroda delivers.

But the slow songs are impressive as well. "People of the North Pole" is another personal favorite. Melodically, there's little more than about eight measures of original melodic material. The rest is variation of chordal power and size in the left hand, and decoration in the right hand. Filling or stripping a harmonic chord of certain decorative notes is a big part of Hamauzu's impressionist style, and each repetition of the melody is always different enough that it's worth taking that next listen. This is a very powerful arrangement; different from the battle tracks that are legitimately "different" from beginning to end, but still wondrous and enchanting for the listener.

We will see if Final Fantasy XIII continues Hamauzu's tradition of powerful melodies and interesting impressionist compositions. And we will also see, over time, if a piano arrangement CD is released for Final Fantasy XIII (though with Hamauzu at the helm, it's a near certainty that this will happen). Meanwhile, I encourage fans to check out this album, as it remains after nearly ten years one of my favorite piano albums.

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