Hunting the Elusive

This is more like a first look/first listen for Promise (B002SCP7CY, barcode: 4560107150344), 2800 yen. As previously covered here, Promise is basically a symphonic/classical instrumental treatment for selected songs in Makoto Shinkai’s Byousoku 5cm, Kumo no Mukou, Yakusoku no Basho, Hoshi no Koe and Kanojo to Kanojo no Neko, all of which are composed by TENMON. It’s hard to believe, but it’s been ten years since Makoto Shinkai and TENMON started their collaboration with Kanojo to Kanojo no Neko. Eminence Symphony Orchestra recorded the music for this album at the Trackdown Scoring State, Sydney Fox Studios Entertainment Quarters.

By the way, please don’t ask me to rip this album. You really should support the creators of this and buy the thing. It’s pretty easy to get, and shops like CDJapan also have it in stock, so you can avoid the high base shipping fees imposed by Amazon: I shipped it EMS from CDJapan to Australia (because I wanted it fast), got it within three days (shipped on Tuesday, before official launch date), for 1500 yen. Bundling would naturally be better value for shipping.

Presentation-wise, this is a regular music album, with a standard CD-case size. Like other albums nowadays, however, Promise doesn’t use a jewel case, instead having a flip-open hardcover, adorned with Makoto Shinkai’s gorgeous art, of course. It’s a cosmic scene from the imaginings of Byousoku 5cm.

There is an obi, as is normal with most Japanese releases, which carries the barcode for the product. If you take it off, you get a somewhat cleaner cover, but there is the usual technical text on the back cover.

Inside, the CD is on the left hand side, while there is a liner booklet stuck to the right hand side. The booklet is not detachable. It contains introductions by both TENMON and Makoto Shinkai, as well as textual introductions to the various pieces within the CD, and pictures from the Makoto Shinkai films.

Behind the CD is what seems like four Japanese dictionary definitions of “Promise”. When I first saw it, I thought it was a listing for four bonus videos. Not so.

Promise has three tracks from Byousoku 5cm, six tracks from Kumo no Mukou, Yakusoku no Basho, two tracks from Hoshi no Koe, and another two from Kanojo to Kanojo no Neko, one of which is the bonus thirteenth track which is a piano version of the theme.

I should note that different people were responsible for arranging different tracks. The first two tracks were arranged by Shiro Hamaguchi, while Roger Lock (the guitarist) arranged the third track (a guitar version of Kanae no Kimochi). The six Kumo no Mukou pieces were arranged by Yasunori Iwasaki, while Akifumi Tada took on the last four (and oldest) pieces.

Of course, as with any arrangements in music away from their original form (in this case, from TENMON’s use of limited instruments and digital sounds to classical instruments and orchestra), there must needs be variations to the matter of the music, be it to suit the new instruments, or as part of a creative adaptive process.

So while we know and love the original sounds by TENMON, one must listen to this album with the understanding that there will be changes to arrangements. I must say I wasn’t fully prepared for some of the modifications to the music in my first listening, and was concerned that some parts of the music might have retained the tune but not the original pathos, especially for those of us who have experienced the emotional resonance of the music along with Makoto Shinkai’s works.

Track 07 (main theme of Kumo no Mukou, Yakusoku no Basho) was particularly challenging because the introduction used minor piano keys, which was quite jarring.

That said, these arrangements are not by newbies messing around with the score. The arrangers are highly accomplished anime music composers, arrangers and musicians in their own rights (look up the names on Google).

Anyway, if the music were not different from the originals, why would we buy this album anyway? What this is, is a challenge to the listener to listen to these pieces anew, to derive new meanings and emotions from the arrangements, perhaps to shake off the dust of familiar complacency.

A number of pieces were somewhat obfuscated by the new arrangements, but as one one continued listening, threads of the tunes come back to us, and in some cases, like in track 12, when the orchestra actually gets back into the original melody, the emotions and power are right there to take us to soaring heights.

Technically, no complaints regarding the mastering of the album. It’s on HQCD, which is supposedly made of materials which better preserve the original signals and sounds. I won’t claim to be able to tell the sound from normal CDs, but the instruments are really clear, especially noticeable with the piano, where it has the timbre which really sounds like you are right next to the piano (you probably are, since they might have positioned the microphone around there somewhere).