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Leonard Weiss would like people to consider the theme to Super Mario Bros, that slinky eight-bit bop composed in 1985 by Japanese sound designer and Nintendo executive Koji Kondo.
“This was composed essentially for two electronic sounds at once. Going back 40 years in video game history, you can’t write a chord,” Weiss says.
“So one voice goes bom bom bom bom and plays the chord but spread out, while another voice plays the tune. And then a percussion track goes underneath.
“The technical limitations inspired such amazing creativity, and these super-catchy tunes. Koji Kondo is such a genius.”
Weiss is not some video game music fanatic, or rather, he’s not just some video game music fanatic.
“Don’t get me started on my extensive Nintendo console ownership,” he laughs.
Weiss is an ANU and US-trained conductor noted for symphonic repertoire, opera and contemporary music. He has waved a baton for the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Deutsche Oper Berlin, among others.
Now he is conducting the Queensland Symphony Orchestra concert The Music of Video Games, and he’ll have the full resources of strings, brass, woodwind and percussion to convey the Super Mario Bros theme, along with other highlights from the gaming world.
The concert spans retro favourites like the themes from Tetris and Sonic the Hedgehog to the sweeping and evocative worlds of Final Fantasy, The Legend of Zelda, L.A. Noire and Journey.
It’s surprising the QSO has not had more concerts dedicated to gaming – the last one was back in 2013 – given that according to Weiss, it’s the most listened to music genre in the world.
“The video game music industry is bigger than the film music industry, and 80 per cent of Australians play video games,” he says.
“I think it will become increasingly prominent.”
Interstate, the trend is on an upswing. Just this week the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is performing Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy, while in early July, Orchestra Victoria played Indie Symphony II with music from Baldur’s Gate 3, Hades II, and Undertale.
The Sydney Symphony Orchestra played music from Elden Ring at the Opera House in March.
“There are some amazing games that have amazing scores,” QSO chief executive Michael Sterzinger says.
“Everyone experiences music in a different way, and we’ve got the right programs, whether you like to hear Beethoven in the Concert Hall, see a movie with an orchestra, or a relaxed performance if you’ve got sensory needs.”
Weiss says orchestras have moved past identifying themselves as strictly classical.
“That feels somehow stuffy and dated,” he says.
“Video games can be so many different worlds. There are so many different types of music that we can play as video game music and we’re used to hearing as video game music, and that’s really amazing.”
ABC Classic even has a weekly program on the topic, Game Show, whose host Meena Shamaly will present the QSO’s gaming-themed concerts.
Like Hans Zimmer and John Williams in film soundtracks, the genre has its major stars. Alongside Konji and Sonic’s Masato Nakamura there stands the likes of Jessica Curry, the English composer whose elegiac music for apocalyptic 2015 game Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture won a BAFTA award.
Then there are composers who straddle film and gaming, like Harry Gregson-Williams, famous for Ridley Scott movies but also Call of Duty and several Metal Gear Solid games, which the QSO will showcase.
Australian Christopher Larkin’s work from adventure game Hollow Night will get a run as well.
Weiss is looking forward to conducting the catchy theme from Tetris, which is based on the 19th-century Russian folk song The Peddlers.
“We have an amazing orchestration of that which was done for a London Philharmonia Orchestra album about a decade ago.”
Weiss reckons the intimacy of gaming makes its music especially powerful for fans.
“The fact we are the ones driving that story so often builds a special connection to the sound worlds of these games,” he says.
QSO plays The Music of Video Games at the Concert Hall, QPAC, July 24-25.
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Nick Dent is a Culture Reporter at Brisbane Times, covering arts, entertainment and things to do in the city.Connect via email.From our partners
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