Final Fantasy VI had some stunning pieces of music in them and the soundtrack recieved a fully orchestrated arrangment album with "Final Fantasy VI Grand Finale".
"Opening Theme ~ Terra" sets the scene with a beautiful arrangement of the piece. The strings and brass soar and fade with gusto and beauty while the wind instruments delicately dish us the main tune of Terra with panache. There's extra music insertions and different segments slotted in the song and is well thoughtout.
"Cefka" is a magical arrangement and is possibly my favouite on the album. It gives the tune an estranged-circus-with-edge feel. Its sinister but delicious and cleverly funny with it too. It reminds me of old black and white comedy music scores. "The Mystic Forest" takes the sinister part of the previous track and works it overtime in this slightly abstract arrangement of the song that doesnt get going till 1/3rd of the way through. The use of an operatic singer echoing in the distance is genius.
"Gau" uses the harpsichord with the strings to create a very regal, delicate and whimsical arrangement thats very enjoyable to listen to and remains very faithful to the original melody until the middle section gives us an almost Celtic Moon esque middle improvisational section before returning to the song one more time.
Sadly "Milan De Chocobo" really struggles for me. In essence the 5 minute song could have ten times more effective as a 2 and a half minute piece. Stretching the chocobo song into something slow and almost scary is an original take on the theme granted, but during the middle of the song it all falls apart. The beginning and end sections are great, but the middle loses it for me.
"Troops On The March" is a large scale orchestration that gives off all the grandure you can possibly manage with militant drums and harsh to the ears brass instruments. "Kids Run Through The City Corner" is much like Gau earlier with strings and harpsichord giving everything they've got.
"Blackjack" sadly lost its way with me in places too. The co-hesive sections in the song shine very well but the beginning section seemed out of control and all over the place. Hwever once the song is up and running its very plesent and chirpy. "Relm" takes the plesentness further with a surprise inclusion of bag pipes to an orchestrated piece! It's different and after many listens I'm still not sure if it works better than say a flute, but the rest of the song is absolutely stunning. "Mistery Train" is a daring and delightful madhouse piano and viole solo that isnt afriad to let it all go and throw it about. It pays off too with some ragged, angry white knuckle playing.
The closing track is "Aria Di Mezzo Caratterre" which is the famous opera song that rounds off the album with style, class, elegance and power all in one swoop. The singing is emotive and well rounded and the song gains stature as more instruments join her for a sweeping finale.
Final Fantasy VI Grand Finale has to be admired for its grand scale of its music. Some songs on here are classic adaptations and deserve bags of praise. The flip side is that the other tracks, because of the original flares and inturpretations fall short of the mark. For me the albums a case of hit and miss but when it hits - you'll definately notice! The perfect companion for any orchestra lovers or for anyone who enjoyed Final Fantasy Symphonic Suite.
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