Over the decades, I have endeavored to add to my collection and write reviews for every bit of Final Fantasy XI music published by Square Enix. Somehow, there was one tantalizing item that didn’t hit my radar until very recently, perhaps because I was considering audio-only releases and not concerts on DVD or Blu-ray.
I recently remedied my error by purchasing a copy of the concert DVD Final Fantasy XI Vana♪Con Anniversary 11.11.11. After my first watch/listen, I was floored. As of today, I’m still recovering from the waves of positive energy from the great musicianship and deep nostalgia for a realm that will forever live in my memories.
As the DVD’s title indicates, this is a recording of an orchestral concert that occurred on the auspicious date of November 11, 2011. It also coincided with the annual Japanese festival celebrating all things FFXI, “VanaCon” (the US had an equivalent run of similar events called the Final Fantasy XI FanFest — I’ll be mentioning that event shortly). When any game-specific festival occurs, concerts are commonly part of the experience. But a full orchestra concert, plus piano work from the illustrious Kumi Tanioka? Now that’s a rare treat.
The entire concert runtime is about 90 minutes. However, the “Opening” and “MC” sections (spoken-word introduction and commentary from FFXI team members and musicians) consume roughly 20 minutes. Furthermore, this is in the era before Square Enix started getting localization-friendly with their videos, so don’t expect any English subtitles. Subtract that time, and we’re looking at just over an hour of solid orchestral music.
Part One
The concert is split into two parts. The first part opens with a tight, well-rehearsed medley of the “Vana’diel March” versions. For the uninitiated, “Vana’diel March” themes would play during the main menu/login screen, and also during key cutscenes. With the release of each major expansion, Naoshi Mizuta composed new Vana’diel Marches with each major expansion (and the “Wings of the Goddess” title theme subbing in as a de facto “Vana’diel March #5”). Hearing each march in succession is a lovely treat. Make no mistake, the melodic differences between each of these marches are more vast than, say, the variations of the Dragon Quest “Overture” across each entry in that series.
(It is also my understanding that this particular medley has been featured at several performances in the Distant Worlds concert series. I think this is a fitting piece to include at other concerts!)
After this sizeable introduction (running a full eight minutes in length!), we get a one-two punch of San d’Orian goodness. First up is the beautiful environment theme for the forest around the Kingdom of San d’Oria, “Ronfaure.” This is one of a handful of Uematsu-composed tracks from the base FFXI OST presented in this orchestral format, and it is absolutely sublime. It represents all of the original’s grandeur, and the layering of each orchestral section further enhances the sense of adventure. The wind ensemble, as well as some solo woodwind statements, really stand out in this performance.
But things get even more exciting with the next track, “Griffons Never Die.” This is the theme for the Kingdom of San d’Oria as it appears in Wings of the Goddess, where adventurers are experiencing the world of Vana’diel 20 years in the past. From a composition standpoint, I think this might be one of Naoshi Mizuta’s strongest themes from this particular expansion. As for the arrangement? Once again, sublime. The textures between string and brass, particularly, are such a step up from their synthesized originals; I just can’t get enough of this arrangement. Hayato Matsuo handled arrangement on this one, and I definitely think he was the right man for the job, given his history of working with Koichi Sugiyama on Dragon Quest arrangements and with the Basiscape duo Sakimoto/Iwata on several projects (see Ogre Battle 64).
After basking in these beautiful environment themes, I got thrown for a major curve with the next two performances, both of which are battle themes for major endgame events in two of Final Fantasy XI‘s expansions. First is “Fighters of the Crystal,” a battle theme utilized for the infamous “Ark Angels” battles near the end of the Rise of the Zilart story. I didn’t think I would enjoy this arrangement, as the source composition isn’t one I found myself loving in my younger years. But this arrangement didn’t just do the Ark Angels justice. It reignited my spark for all things Zilart.
Solid as that arrangement was, though, nothing can top my love for the Treasures of Aht Urhgan battle theme “Ragnarok.” The introduction is bright, but not in a happy way: more like a flash of light indicating a war to end all wars. (Those who know the story are aware of the clash between Odin and Alexander.) I’ve always loved the punchy 6/8 militaristic march on this one, and the move from sweeter tones to pure cacophony and back again — it’s just such a treat.
Final Fantasy XI Vana♪Con Anniversary 11.11.11 closes its first half with the haunting vocal theme “Distant Worlds,” another Nobuo Uematsu classic. I’ve heard this theme performed by a variety of vocalists, but I’ll always favor the original singer for this one, Izumi Masuda. Fortunately for me, Masuda was on-hand for this performance, and I just love how expressive she is throughout her performance of this famous piece. Brava! Encore!
Part Two
We needed an intermission to recover from the emotional powerhouse that is “Distant Worlds,” didn’t we? Well friends, let’s all buckle our seatbelts, because things are about to get wild. After two great battle themes in Part One, the whole orchestra comes out swinging with “Awakening,” the battle music for the final boss event in the base version of Final Fantasy XI, the Shadow Lord (not to be confused with NieR‘s similarly-named antagonist). The rhythm on this piece has always been the thing to pull me in. Triplets everywhere! The only thing this arrangement was missing? Xylophone! Those decorative triplets in the upper registers deserve some serious xylophone, but I’m not hearing it. Even so, this arrangement is so strong, I’m willing to overlook the lack of pitched percussion. Pulling back to just wind and strings for portions of the piece was an excellent, emotive choice.
Next comes the secret, special surprise I had no idea existed until quite recently. It’s Kumi Tanioka, co-composer of the FFXI base OST and talented pianist, performing solo piano pieces as an interlude. And this is where I go back to the American Final Fantasy XI FanFest. I was lucky enough to attend the 2008 FanFest, and while there, I got to briefly meet Kumi Tanioka and witness her perform five of her own unique arrangements from the Final Fantasy XI musical library on piano (technically, a weighted keyboard). I was floored by her work. Ever since then, I have lamented that the official Final Fantasy XI Piano Collections (both of them) do not feature any Kumi Tanioka. Given her incredible self-arrangement and performance on Piano Collections Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles in 2021, I always believed she’d do a great job with her own FFXI piano album.
Well, friends: this may not be a whole album, but it’s so good, and the inclusion of the video component is so wonderful, I think it might make up for my own selfish vision. Tanioka opens her set with her arrangement of Naoshi Mizuta’s “The Sanctuary of Zi’Tah,” an environment theme from Rise of the Zilart. Coming in at five minutes, this is a solid, serious, lengthy arrangement. After stating the melodic theme, Tanioka weaves in clever arpeggiation, some powerful chord strikes on the upbeats, and octave shifts for the final melodic presentation. Witnessing this recorded video performance took me right back to that special moment in December 2008. Except this time, she’s performing on a grand piano instead of a keyboard. If only I’d been in the audience! This DVD is the next best thing.
Tanioka’s next performance is a self-arrangement: her composition for the “Gustaberg” area theme (outside the city of Bastok). “Gustaberg” has, for as long as I’ve known anything about Final Fantasy XI, been one of my favorite pieces. Hearing the original composer arrange and perform her work with the limitation of a single grand piano and her own two hands is sheer joy for this fan. Again, her approach of “state the melody, then elaborate and build” is utilized to great effect. This is a softer piece, and keeping that softness without shifting into boredom or monotony is a fine balance. Kumi Tanioka truly made magic with this one.
To end the Kumi Tanioka block, we transition from a piano solo form to piano concerto, full orchestra backing her performance! This arrangement is “Four Nations, One Sky ~ A Tribute to the Cities.” The medley presents the themes for San d’Oria, Bastok, Windurst, and finally Jeuno. This medley was arranged by the seasoned orchestral guru Sachiko Miyano, and the end result is something spectacular. Tanioka’s lead is stellar, the orchestra is beside her every step of the way, and conductor Masahiko Enkoji holds the balance perfectly. Within this medley, I was most taken with the Federation of Windurst portion, but all four sections were solid.
Sadly, Kumi Tanioka isn’t featured across the entirety of Part Two. But that’s okay. The next piece, “A New Horizon – Tavnazian Archipelago,” is also arranged by Sachiko Miyano, so that masterful touch is still present. This includes some lovely pitched percussion matching the winds on fun ostinato stings, while strings soar on the melody and low brass holds the harmonic structure intact. I think I had forgotten how much I enjoyed this fine environmental piece from Chains of Promathia until I heard it, once again, in the context of this orchestra. Nicely done!
Next up? “Sword Songs ~ Battle Medley,” featuring battle themes from nearly every expansion. This is another one that has appeared on Distant Worlds tours, and while it’s certainly a great selection of music in one fell swoop, there are sections where the tempo is so intense that I felt the orchestra would fall out of sync for a measure or two. From a performance perspective, I think this is the weakest part of the concert. Still an impressive recording, if slightly flawed.
Our penultimate piece is another battle theme, and it’s one that Naoshi Mizuta comes up to introduce, as it was (at the time of recording) one of his newest works. Yes, I’m talking about the battle music for the Abyssea content expansions, “Melodies Errant.” If you, like me, put hundreds of hours into grinding max levels and merit points for your character’s main and alternate jobs, and you didn’t change your in-game audio preferences, you have heard this song hundreds of times on loop. So, maybe you don’t have an affinity for it anymore. But I must say, this orchestral version of it? This is “chef’s kiss” quality stuff. The moves from bombastic to mere whisper, and the shifts from bright Lydian modes to clashes of dissonance and diminished chords from the source composition, were all brilliant. At the end of this piece, the lights come on, and the audience gives a standing ovation. Rightly so. This should be the end of the concert.
But not so fast! We do get an encore in the form of “Main Theme ~ Final Fantasy XI Version.” To be clear, that’s not the main theme of Final Fantasy XI. This is the “Main Theme of Final Fantasy,” first crafted by Nobuo Uematsu, and updated by him for the FFXI OST back in 2002. It’s a majestic, fitting encore for an incredible performance.
Features
I’ve focused primarily on the concert audio. But I’d like to briefly speak to the visual component. As with many video game orchestral concerts, the audience sees the orchestra performing, and behind the orchestra is a large screen with in-game footage, timed to serve as a sort of music video with each piece. When watching the DVD, sometimes the viewpoint shifts from the camera recording the orchestra to the pre-recorded footage of the game. Sometimes the editor gets fancy with split-screen views or 50/50 layering. Most importantly, the footage includes great close-ups of the performers, especially when a soloist has their moment in the limelight, or the conductor is putting his all into his work. The video footage of Kumi Tanioka’s solo performances, as I mentioned earlier, was also a delight.
Finally, there is a bonus feature on this disc, though it is likely uninteresting unless you can speak Japanese. Running 12 minutes total, this bonus video offers behind-the-scenes footage showcasing rehearsals and brief interviews with composer Naoshi Mizuta and other key members of the FFXI team, as well as key members of the orchestral performance.
Conclusion
All told, Final Fantasy XI Vana♪Con Anniversary 11.11.11 is a treat for the eyes and ears, and something that long-time fans should strongly consider adding to their collection. I only wish there were more arrangements, or rather, more whole concerts to indulge in!
Almost 15 years out from its time of publishing, as I write this review, the DVD is still in stock at some online retailers, including CDJapan. Get it before it’s gone!
