ReMix: Final Fantasy VII 'Beyond Midgar'

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Justice prevails. Or rather, persistence, both on our part and on Susie's (alias BogusRed), as this piece was originally posted to the judges panel for evaluation way back in January of this year. It actually was about to pass, by a narrow margin, when I checked out the thread and read Daniel B.'s comments about a significant amount of hum being present on the recording. I then remembered the piece back from when I had first listened to it; my initial impression was that it was a very solid arrangement but that the recording was sub-par and would prevent it from passing the panel. It's a testament to the ReMixer's arrangement and performance that with so noticeable a hum (at least on headphones) it was about to pass, but I insisted that if at all possible, we ask for a cleaned up recording. Well, it took over five months, slowing down the process considerably, and Susie might be annoyed with me for being picky, but I'm quite glad I can post this improved version whose production values do its arrangement and emotional impact justice. Ultimately I think asking for a cleaner version of the arrangement was both a compliment to the mix and a little selfish on my part - I like it, will want to listen to it in the future, and want a clean version with which to do so, and figure a lot of other folks would, too. So without further adieu, I present Beyond Midgar, a flowing, dynamic solo piano arrangement from fan favorite Final Fantasy 7 - despite my best, funk-infused Starfox efforts, we've landed squarely back in Squareland once again :) But this is a good thing, or at least not a bad thing, as BR's take on the FF7 main theme is very emotive stuffs. Wingless opines with visceral hyperbole:

"I don't think we should have reservations on a piece simply because the artist doesn't max out their piano skill to 100 in a song. Sometimes, restraint is beautiful. Hell, sometimes I play with 100 lb. weights on my hands, for fear my true power would destroy the piano.

I enjoyed this. For me, this was like watching somebody draw a perfect circle freehand. Nothing fancy, but the entertainment comes from seeing clean and unfettered discipline. A girl and a piano and that certain imperceptable *something* binding the two together."

This was called a conservative arrangement by some on the panel, but I think the conservative aspect is more the lack of elaborate running passages and impressario piano skills than adaptation and interpretation of the source material. As John so eloquentafiably points out with his edumacated phrasing skillz, there's a certain art to simpler, more stripped-down arrangement; if this had been played without the same attention to dynamics, for example, it would fail on so many levels. But they're there, and keep the cool side cool and the hot side hot, McDLT-style. It's not a whiz-bang peformance and doesn't culminate in a torrent of activity, which some may be expecting and feel disappointed at the lack of, but the understated tone, clarity (compositionally, and now sonically as well), and overall delivery make this a mix I'll come back to and which speaks and says plenty without any call for more ornate or emphatic implementation.

― djpretzel