OCR01164 - Final Fantasy VII 'Jenova for Classical Piano'

[djpretzel]

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

[Rexy]

I loved it when it came to VGMix, and I still love it now. :D The range of performance techniques brought upon the player have done well to build up a cleverly done piano arrangement for the site to take in, something in which the site hasn't seen in days.
One thing that I never noticed until a few listens later was that he's got a squeaking chair - make sure your volume's up at around 2:25 to hear it.

But leaving that recording glitch out, this piece works well within OCR's library. Sweet job Noir :)

[- sketch -]

I love FFVII's complex sound. I love piano arrangements. I love 7 minutes of godliness. I love this ReMix.

Thank you, sir, for giving me 7 more minutes with which to torture my roommate's farther. Rock (softly) on.

[Don-Don]

i like this remix a lot, nicely done

[phantomINTELLECT]

Masterfully Done Sir!

[TheBeav]

Man...I'm so glad you got this approved. I had it way back when it was a WIP, and I loved it then...heh, its in an even better bitrate than now. But I'll say this, its still a masterful piano piece, and I listen to it everyday at least twice.

Great job, and I'm glad it came through.

[jessthemullet]

It's been a treat to hear this song as it has come along. Now, in it's final form, it's awesome. I love it. There's more skill in three measures of this piece than I have in my entire body. Good stuff.

[tgfoo]

Mmmmmmm......Lovin this. As a piano player myself I love a good piano arrangment. This is beyond good. Seriously, great stuff.

[RocketSniper]

Noir, I was somewhat surprised when I found out that this had gotten onto OCR AFTER your battle medly, considering that when you posted them in the WIP forum, the battle medly was nearly a WEEK after the JenovaD mix.

Anyway...

Great song.

[King Matt I]

8O

... 8O

...Absolutely amazing! This song rocks. If I could play piano like that, I'd never leave that piano bench. Not even to eat. I'd probably die very quickly (not to mention in my own biological waste), but I'd die on a piano bench, so I think I'd be worthy of mention.

Basically, awesome work. Thumbs up all the way.

[Noir]

Sheet Music:

I know this hasn't been brought up in this post yet, but I thought this would be a good time to say so. I'm getting A LOT of emails about sheet music for this, several per day now. I started writing sheet music for this while I was practicing, so I could solidify the arpeggios. I started getting requests while it was on WIP, so I went ahead and finished it. It's in PDF format, a 113K download. I just wish there was a sheet music section on OCR.

http://www.oberlin.edu/student/ebarker/Jenova.pdf

Knock yourself out :)

- Eric

[Freemind]

I have heard this remix, when it was first posted at WIP boards.This is a great piano remix.I love the playing style, which is very professional :wink:

[leena fighter]

8O

This is really good. I downloaded it because I love Jenova's theme, and this mix definitely did not disappoint. It really was masterfully done, I love piano arrangements, and this is just so pretty. It still maintains the general eerie-ness that the original had in some parts, but it also flourishes and ... aww hell this is a good remix and everyone knows it, saying anything else won't change a thing :)

[SasukeKonoha]

Very well done :) Takes a good hand to take a song like Jenova, fast-paced and techno.. And make it into a slower paced piano piece like that.

[Dread Pirate Salty Pete]

You guys have no idea how many times Eric has dragged me into the TIMARA studio or Dascomb TV lounge or whatever and forced me to listen to this piece, whatever form it may have been in at the time. Although I'm thus thoroughly sick of listening to it, it's excellently done. This man loves Uematsu and loves the piano and will someday be writing music professionally. You'll see. In the meantime, download this Mix and enjoy. Now, if I can just get him to stop bashing Chrono Cross and do some arrangements from it, we'll be in business.

[Ovid]

honestly, i didnt really like this remix. the piano seems too quiet at times and i dont really think that the classical piano goes with the JENOVA theme. Also, it seems like the song is the same thing for 7 minutes.

[Simoom]

it seems to be decently played, but it just seems too plain a piano mix to me, these types always sorta bore me, but that's probably just my opinion.

[Fieari]

In no way is this the same thing for 7 minutes. I just listened to this while reading the sheet music along with it, and my appreciation grows even more. The play and counterplay... the call and responce... the passing of the theme, the emphasizing of different beats in order to change the entire feel from one section to the next even if the notes on one hand are identical both times through. This is beautiful! I appreciated it before (I also have the WIP higher bitrate version)... but now I appreciate it all the more. I'm very glad this made it onto OCR.

I'd love to suggest listening to Peter Schickeili (errr... I'm not sure I spelled his name right though) sometime... he does a great radio show which explains classical music in a way anyone can appreciate it, and he's funny at that. PDQ Bach, for example, is pure genius. So for those who can't understand what's so great about this mix, listening to him might be an education you can appreciate.

[ToeJam]

this is so much better than the piano arrangement on FFVII: Piano Collections. really, you can't take a techno type tune and directly translate that to the piano. so, it's a real compliment for someone to tell you that your arrangement is better than mr. nobuo uematsu's. keep up the good work, and keep arranging more fast paced songs into slower pieces.

edit: uematsu did not do FFVII: PC. But it's still better than the piano version on that one anyway

[Noir]

edit: uematsu did not do FFVII: PC. But it's still better than the piano version on that one anyway

Sure he did. The music in FF7:PC is exactly the same, they even did a fairly good job getting the midi to match, unlike in FF8:PC, where they did a less than adiquate job with the midi. Although strangely, I sort of like "Man with a Machine Gun" better in FF8:PC than in the PS version... weird.

Anyway, that's for a different thread, I'm just babbling.

- Eric

[Arkell Freui]

It is pianists like you whom define the world of piano.


Such works are an inspiration. 10/10

this is so much better than the piano arrangement on FFVII: Piano Collections. really, you can't take a techno type tune and directly translate that to the piano. so, it's a real compliment for someone to tell you that your arrangement is better than mr. nobuo uematsu's. keep up the good work, and keep arranging more fast paced songs into slower pieces.

TAG Information on the OST reads:

J-E-N-O-V-A 2:23 Shiro Hamaguchi & Seiji Honda Final Fantasy VII Piano Collections Game



... Both are equally excellent; one emphasizes a serene atmosphere, whereas the other takes on more of a 'mezzo forte.'


In any case, good stuff on both ends.

[Oddity]

edit: uematsu did not do FFVII: PC. But it's still better than the piano version on that one anyway

Sure he did. The music in FF7:PC is exactly the same, they even did a fairly good job getting the midi to match, unlike in FF8:PC, where they did a less than adiquate job with the midi. Although strangely, I sort of like "Man with a Machine Gun" better in FF8:PC than in the PS version... weird.

Anyway, that's for a different thread, I'm just babbling.

- Eric

He was talking about Piano Collection, not Personal Computer =)

It's okay, I thought that for about two seconds at first as well.

Oh wait, remix. Dang, all I wanted to post at the moment was that, but I WAS listening to this nonstop today and printed out the sheet music and tucked it away for until I become the master of piano. Too bad I don't even know how to play the piano at all. I guess in the meantime I could hand it to my well versed music theory teacher with perfect pitch and piano skills, or that one girl, or that student who graduated already, who memorized the piano part to Rhapsody in Blue and played it at a high school concert, and who I don't even know.

[MistaZanMan]

I really enjoyed this piece. Its nice to hear some actual acoustic instruments being used on this site instead of beat machines. no offense meant to the great mixers out there, just stating my love for the piano and this well composed piece. Bravo mr. guy. Keep playin. Stay funky.

[Cadmus]

absolutely loved it. thanks so much for the sheet music, as well.

[Teh Sucks.com]

Dude.. Noir, I'll give you a nickel if you tell me what game that icon in your sig is from.

[risingson77]

I must have forgotten about this mix after I downloaded it. It just came up in random play and....I suck and should be destroyed for forgetting about this track. 8O

Very creative and inspired. This is a very compelling mix of the Jenova theme. I always liked the original, but this really sheds new light on the tune. It's nice to hear real instruments for a change on OCR, too. I'd like to hear a WAV or APE.

OK, enough clichéd gushing from me. :P Excellent work Noir, keep it up.

[pixlz]

i have a sick love for this track. by far one of the best piano pieces done on the site.

[Sooty]

I just reviewed this on VGmix (http://www.vgmix.com/song_view.php?song_id=1235&all=1) and one of the biggest flaws I mentioned was the score! How about improving it ;)

[maniacalsephiroth]

I like this remix a lot, and being a fan of both the original and the Black Mages versions, I think that the classical piano is a nice touch to this song.

[Bass Clef Man]

While I realize you were going for more of a romantic theme, I really don't think the Jenova Theme works very well as slow as you made it. That song, well, it's supposed to be fast. If you take out the fast, you take out the essence of the song, in my opinion. It seems a little...drab.

But hey, what do I know.

[prophetik]

While I realize you were going for more of a romantic theme, I really don't think the Jenova Theme works very well as slow as you made it. That song, well, it's supposed to be fast. If you take out the fast, you take out the essence of the song, in my opinion. It seems a little...drab.
Ok. I'm not going to get mad at you. I personally think that this is the exact opposite that you just described. As I listened to this, I found this to be one of the most exciting remixes on this website, on the order of Foray to the Western Horizens by mv, Ruined World by CotMM, or BrainSickMetal by Prot. The use of contrast, through the flashy, technical runs in the theme, all the way to the musicality that Noir exhibits throughout the entire piece really shows the a) skill of Noir b)arranging skill of Noir c)one of the most original and best arrangements that I've ever heard of a theme thats been overmixed and overworked by a variety of far less-skilled musicians and programmers. I give this piece my unqualified reccomendation...to the three or four people who actually care what I think.
:twisted:

[NeOmega]

This is a great moment in a great game with a great squaresoft melody redone obviously with great skill by Noir.

This "remix" added a great element to my life.

The piano is unbelievable.

[Qcvar]

Trying to learn this... my stubby, unskilled fingers are getting in the way. Out of curiousity, just how did you pull off doing the four-note JENOVA start (Bb A F D) with one hand? (You'll need to do this once Ab G E C starts) If you just say, "skillz," I'll believe it 8O.

[BlueEnvy]

This is pretty off topic, but I thought it was interesting. Has anyone else noticed that the jenova pattern uses the same notes as the last run in Chopin's 24th prelude? The B flat A F D stuff is the same.

[Artificial_AI]

Trying to learn this... my stubby, unskilled fingers are getting in the way. Out of curiousity, just how did you pull off doing the four-note JENOVA start (Bb A F D) with one hand? (You'll need to do this once Ab G E C starts) If you just say, "skillz," I'll believe it 8O.

Thats really simple.

You slide your pinky from Bb to A, play E and C with your middle and ring finger, slide your index from Bb to A (an octave lower from the first Bb and A), and use your thumb on the lower E and cross over with your index to hit the final lower C.


I like this remix, but his use of slowing down the tempo momentarily occured so often that it lost its dramatic effect, and made me wonder if he practices with a metrognome.

[Zero_]

Wow, just wow. The parts that I enjoyed the most was around the 4 minute mark, where the remix sounds a bit more like the original and faster. I am not criticizing the slow part, but I just think this type of song is meant to be fast, and it shows at around the 4 minute mark how good this song can sound when it is fast.

Good job.

[Bummerdude]

VERY impressive pianoplay, although this may not be as fast as the original, this still have some power left in it, you have to draw out it, Noir did that successfully, so I´m just gonna download his remix, thank him for this excellent masterpiece of pianoarrangement, and then go away.

Thank you Noir for this excellent masterpiece of pianoarrangement.

:leaves:

[LadyMeny]

I should have posted this reply four or five months ago, but, alas, I had lost the link. I finally found it again and created an account just to say this.

Mr. Barker, sir! I've done it! Well, I did it months ago, but I still did it! I taught myself the entire song on my faithful piano. *swells with pride* I now play it by heart! Thank you ten years of piano!

I stumbled onto this song accidentally and I hope I do more accidents like this in the future. I just wanted to tell you, Eric Barker, that I successfully taught myself the song thanks to your posted link to the music sheet. Thank you, so much, for posting that link online.

Edit

I forgot to mention some important things. The sheet music, as far as I know, has many mistakes in it. I listened to the track and played along with it so many times until I got the correct notes. Maybe you should double check the sheet music. Here are the stuff I caught:

pg 5: #38, second measure. Left hand's first notes are G and B-flat.

*pg 10: #82, second measure. Right hand's notes are as followed: D, G and regular B; A; G, held for "..and two and three-"; D; G; regular B.
#84. Right hand: the first C is a sharp.

pg 11: #88. Along with Left hands's first notes (D and D) Right hand should play G, C, and G in the same octive as #87's right hand.

pg 12: # 94, second measure. Left hand's B flats should be played on the following counts: the first half of the count "one", the second half of counts "two" and "and".

If you had included these additions on your own, my bad. I just wanted to let you know that some parts of what you are playing aren't on the sheet music.

[Piano]

Definitely better than the piano collections version, though both arrangements aim for something different. The piano collections version aims to emulate the feel of the battle (which it does rather poorly because of the stop and start nature of the piece) and this mix is more brooding, less blood pumping and at times even menacing.

I would've like to hear more advanced harmony, but as Noir said, he aimed for Late Romantic rather than total impressionism. One minor gripe (apart from the bench) is that you can hear the dampers slamming on the strings, so that it's possible to hear some thuds in the quieter portions of the mix.

[NeoDestiny]

Trying to learn this... my stubby, unskilled fingers are getting in the way. Out of curiousity, just how did you pull off doing the four-note JENOVA start (Bb A F D) with one hand? (You'll need to do this once Ab G E C starts) If you just say, "skillz," I'll believe it 8O.

Thats really simple.

You slide your pinky from Bb to A, play E and C with your middle and ring finger, slide your index from Bb to A (an octave lower from the first Bb and A), and use your thumb on the lower E and cross over with your index to hit the final lower C.


I like this remix, but his use of slowing down the tempo momentarily occured so often that it lost its dramatic effect, and made me wonder if he practices with a metrognome.

Erm...Check this out, this is a revolutionary technique I use.

I play the top notes, Bb and then A, by sliding my ring finger from the Bb key to the A, then I play the F and D with whatever fingers I feel like using at a time, and then...Here goes, ready? I move my entire hand down and repeat the same thing at a lower octave.

It's really not that hard. =b

Also, someone mentioned that the notes in this piece sound similair to the end of a Chopin etude. Well, notes usually move in patterns, the Jenova notes that you hear in those falling arpeggios are all minor seventh chords. (D F A Bb)

Also, the metronome comment...Eww. Metronome DESTROYS some piano pieces, I can't stand listening to a completely metered piece on the piano, it destroys the piece completely. I'm glad Noir maintained a nice rubato throughout the piece.

Thank you for the sheet music, sir. =b

~NeoDestiny

[lady zelda]

Wow! This is BEAUTIFULLY done. From the very beginning, you immediately set the stage for the rest of the piece, how it gives the sense that it is fading in slowly from the shadows but proclaiming its full presence at the same time. Then you have these amazing but subtle shifts in mood, while still maintaining the same majestic undertone. And then at around 4:45, man oh man, those trills along with the improvization just make a perfect combination. I don't know how else to explain it. In short, this remix is an example of perfect use of dynamics and that is why it is so engaging throughout. Keep it up, Noir!

[MajLink]

Just listened to it and al i have to say is WOW. It was amazing, don't think i could ever hear it done better. Truly amazing work!

[Ranael]

This is an excellent remix. At times I wished it picked up the pace but it is the slow pacing that really makes this song unique. A ten out of ten.

[Superrpgman]

Let me just say that this is what I consider not only one of the few Final Fantasy remixes to actually deserve the credit that it's been given, but that it's not been given enough credit. At Ormgas, it's rated right below the lowest of the top 100.

It's a really beautiful song, don't let it go off of the top charts. It deserves it to be with the best of the best more than most songs on chart.

Please, vote 5 for it.

[Alexis]

This is absolutely beautiful. If I was coordinated enough to play piano this well, I'd want the sheet music for this. Well done....

[Shinseisa]

Sheet Music:

I know this hasn't been brought up in this post yet, but I thought this would be a good time to say so. I'm getting A LOT of emails about sheet music for this, several per day now. I started writing sheet music for this while I was practicing, so I could solidify the arpeggios. I started getting requests while it was on WIP, so I went ahead and finished it. It's in PDF format, a 113K download. I just wish there was a sheet music section on OCR.

http://www.oberlin.edu/student/ebarker/Jenova.pdf

Knock yourself out :)

- Eric

It's gone! No! Please, please put it up again somewhere!

[42]

It's Jenova, it's piano, it's beautiful, but is it really that simple? Well...
Sometimes it is the simplicity of such a mix that really highlights the strengths of a theme. There's a grace and elegance this track brings out, really tones down the energy from the source and makes it smooth and calming.
This is one track I would highly recommend.

[OA]

I think it went a little long, as the last few minutes could have been condensed a bit, but otherwise, it was really nice- great performance, a really warm recording sound, and a good arrangement that played to a lot of strengths of the source. No complaints here, this was really a nice mix. :-)