Many have experienced the peculiar sensation of waking up in the morning, jumping in the shower, eating breakfast or finishing an essay and absent-mindedly humming the tune to an unrecognizable song. But then, while shampooing hair, pouring coffee or spell-checking, the realization hits: “I’m singing the theme song to Halo.”
The hypnotic tableaus and strikingly lifelike action scenes of video games are gripping, but a key aspect of a game that most people can recognize within an instant is its soundtrack. When the game play is taken away and the unaware morning humming begins, the soundtrack reveals itself to be its own absorbing experience.
Andy Brick, an award-winning film and game composer, conductor and symphonist, is taking that experience a step further by bringing it into the concert hall.
Brick will guest conduct the Eugene Symphony at the Hult Center on Saturday evening to celebrate the music of beloved video games of the past few decades. The performance will include everything from Super Mario Bros. to World of Warcraft to The Legend of Zelda.
“It’s totally different than hearing the music coming from your TV speakers at home,” Brick said. “It doesn’t compare at all. It’s a magnificent experience.”
“PLAY! A Video Game Symphony” was produced by Jason M. Paul and premiered in Chicago in 2006. The Eugene concert is part of a world tour that has included the cities of Sydney, Prague and Stockholm.
The symphony features between 12 and 16 different pieces from games such as Halo, Shadow of the Colossus and Silent Hill and is accompanied by giant displays of memorable video game play moments projected above the orchestra.
“It really is a nice retrospective of all the big games,” Brick said. “The games that we go through present such different styles. Super Mario Bros. is kind of like big band music that’s written for an orchestra. Same thing with Sonic the Hedgehog; it’s got a very playful vibe to it. And then there are pieces like Halo or Oblivion that have a little bit more of a Wagnerian style.”
Paul, the creator of the first video game music concert series in the U.S., called “Dear Friends — Music from Final Fantasy,” has always loved video games. He created PLAY! in the hope of producing a symphony that featured a variety of music from his favorite blockbuster games.
“I enjoy the art and the culture,” he said. “The development of this show is commensurate with my passion for video games. It is a representation of me and my life. My whole life has revolved to a certain extent around video games.”
Brick also has extensive experience with video games as a composer for hit titles such as The Sims II and Stranglehold. From 2003 to 2007, he conducted the world’s first Symphonic Game Music concert in Leipzig, Germany.
He estimates that during the past decade he has conducted 150 different game pieces.
Because PLAY! is so big and travels so widely, the show has no continuous orchestra. This is the part of the symphony that Brick enjoys the most. As PLAY!’s principal conductor and music director, he gets the chance to conduct some of the best orchestras around the world during the tour and enjoys seeing how each orchestra — and audience — reacts to the material.
“It’s a great opportunity to present the kind of music that really resonates with the younger generation through these very established orchestras,” he said.
Some of the more avid gamers who attend Saturday’s show will get an extra treat in addition to the “ultimate audio and video experience,” Paul said.
Jeremy Soule, the composer for games such as Morrowind, Oblivion and the Guild Wars series will be in attendance, and Brick hopes to get him on stage and speak with him about his experiences as a fellow game composer.
“The story behind the composing of the pieces is quite magnificent,” Brick said.
Though Brick enjoys many aspects of composing, conducting and orchestrating game music, he especially appreciates the impact that PLAY! has on audiences and the traditional orchestral music scene.
“It’s my hope that we will start to see larger audiences at all kinds of symphonic concerts — be it concerts for games, for films, or straight, legitimate repertoire concerts,” he said. “And I think [PLAY!] is doing that … it’s really bringing people back to the orchestra.”
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