Title: Final Fantasy IV Piano Collections
Composer: Nobuo Uematsu
Arranged by: Shirou Satou and Osamu Saitou (last track)
Discs: 1
Tracks: 14
Released: September 24th, 1994 by NTT Publishing/Square
Track List
1. The Prelude
2. Theme of Love
3. Prologue
4. Welcome to our Town!
5. Main Theme
6. Chocobo-Chocobo
7. Into the Darkness
8. Rydia
9. Melody of Lute
10. Golbez, Clad in the Dark
11. Troian Beauty
12. The Battle
13. Epilogue
14. Theme of Love Practice
The Piano Collections is a series of CDs in which certain songs from the original soundtracks are taken, arranged for piano and then released as albums. Final Fantasy IV Piano Collections is the first in this musical tradition.
Final Fantasy IV had a fantastic soundtrack, it stands the test of time and is one of the best in the series. The Piano Collections version however, isn't as good. While the songs picked from the original soundtrack are great, the arrangements are quite simple, and instead of elaborating on the song and bringing the best parts out, the song suffers instead. This may be because this album is the first in the series, and maybe the arranger didn't want to mess too much with Uematsu's initial design.
The album starts off with "The Prelude". FFIV Piano Collections is the only album out of the series which features a song solely dedicated to this famous tune. Standing at 3:34, the song is too long for such a simple arrangement. Although it is a beautiful melody, the arrangement is too repetitive and almost becomes a nuisance to listen to. The last parts of the song are the best, I wish the arranger could have cut the beginning short and brought out the ending parts.
"Theme of Love" is one of the better arranged pieces. You hear the main tune at the very beginning but then it winds deep into the piece with a jazzy flair and ends with a beautiful arpeggio. "Main Theme" starts off slow, similar to the way "The Prelude" starts off, and it isn't until about two minutes into the track when the melody is brought out, and you finally recognize what song is playing. "Chocobo-Chocobo" is a simple, cute and fun arrangement of the lovable Chocobo tune. "Rydia" is a beautiful song, but it feels like you're listening to the original. Absolutely no re-arranging has been done to this piece, making the listener wonder why it was even put on the album in the first place.
"Golbeza, Clad in the Dark" is the song which suffered most on this album. The original was a dark and gruesome organ piece which really showed Golbez's personality and flair. This arranged piece does away with all that leaving you with an empty feeling. It doesn't sound a whole lot like the original and is much too long for how bad of a song it is.
"The Battle" is one of my favorite songs on the album. It is a medley of all the battle themes in the game ("Battle 1", "Battle 2", "Battle with the Four Fiends", "The Final Battle"). Brilliantly arranged and played, it stands at a tall 6:44 of pure musical bliss. "Epilogue" is another excellent track that takes you through the entire end-theme. Even though it is quite a long track (7:13), its length is easily dismissible because the track has such expansive variety.
The album ends with a bonus track called "Theme of Love Practice". Taking the listener by surprise, this track is actually an orchestrated arrangement of track 2, with a piano accompaniment in the background.
The Final Word
This is one of the weaker installments in the Piano Collections series. I don't recommend this CD unless you're a hardcore fan of the Final Fantasy IV soundtrack, or you're looking to complete your Piano Collections. It's really too bad that this album is so disappointing, especially since the original soundtrack was so fantastic.
Don't Miss
Track 2 - Theme of Love
Track 5 - Main Theme
Track 12 - The Battle
Track 13 - Epilogue