Music

On June 29 and 30, Revo put on a series of concerts, “Revo’s Orchestra Concerts,” at Hitomi Memorial Hall, in Tokyo’s Showa Women’s University.

These performances by Sound Horizon, the collective of artists led by sound creator Revo, were part of a series of events held to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Revo’s major label debut. One of Revo’s projects is Linked Horizon. He launched Link Horizon to carry out collaborations between Sound Horizon, which tells original stories through the use of musical suites, and other works such as the Attack on Titan anime. The concert consisted of orchestral performances of Revo’s works—not only those of Sound Horizon, but also pieces by Linked Horizon. The pieces were played live by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, led by conductor Hirofumi Kurita. Kurita and the Tokyo Philharmonic have enthralled countless audiences not only with their numerous classical music concerts, but also concerts in which they play orchestral arrangements of modern music, such as their Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba orchestral concerts, the FINAL FANTASY XIV ORCHESTRA CONCERT 2022 -Eorzean Symphony concert, Galaxy Express 999 cinema concerts, and more.

Sound Horizon is known for its distinctive musical style, but this two-day concert series showed Revo’s talent as a composer and his pride as an entertainer. First, let’s look back at the daytime and nighttime shows of June 29, the first day of these joyous opportunities to experience the superb music prepared by Revo.

“Revo’s Orchestra Concerts” consisted of a total of four shows over a two day period—two during the day and two at night. The venue was Showa Women’s University’s Hitomi Memorial Hall, which has a reputation for excellent acoustics. Each show was divided into two parts. The first part was a pure orchestral concert, which began with “Onward Into the Light: An Overture” from BRAVELY DEFAULT, a classic RPG-like theme well-suited for orchestration. After this, the program was like a chronology of Revo’s works, with early pieces such as “Chronicle 2nd,” from Revo’s indie album era, followed by songs that marked his debut into the majors. These included performances of music that he created for Momoiro Clover Z and for the anime Attack on Titan.

Speaking to the audience, Revo said “Even one-hit wonders have a history.” Compared to his early period, which was characterized by dreamy, mysterious short pieces, the latter pieces, closer to his more recent compositions, were longer and more classical. Their structures grew more diverse, with dynamic shifts within individual pieces. At the same time, they also became more melodic and had more of a pop feel. One of the charms of this instrumental music was how well one could feel Revo’s evolution as a composer and gain a true sense of his history.

The vocal portions of songs were replaced with various instruments, such as flutes, violins, and harps, bringing smiles to the faces of everyone familiar with the original versions. Some of the concert’s more famous pieces included “Akatsuki no Requiem,” which took the completely opposite approach, using majestic horns to perform the fevered soprano part while maintaining the original piece’s dignity. In addition to pieces which used the tried-and-true technique of performing vocal solos with instruments, there were also pieces like “MOON PRIDE,” with castanet triplets evocative of the floor tams of “Moonlight Densetsu.” The playful approach, brimming with love for the source material, provided a cornucopia of joy for listeners.

Another example of Revo’s playfulness was “Gyoukou no Uta.” In the original version, the song ends with the lines “Mutti. The light. It’s so warm,” and then the sound of a book being closed. In the concert, this sound was created by all the musicians on stage turning their sheet music over at once. This performance instruction was even written directly in the conductors’ and performers’ sheet music. This was evocative of the famous final page of the sheet music for Mauricio Kagel’s “Concert Piece for Timpani and Orchestra,” which directs the percussionist to plunge head-first through a drum. In “Shinwa -Μυθοs-,” the sound of a chirping bird was performed using a bird call, and in “schwarzweiß -Kiri no Mukou ni Tsunagaru Sekai-,” a wind machine replicated the sound of wind. Both of these instruments are used in classical concerts, but they also tickle the ears and open up the gates of classical music to a wider audience.

The first part of the concert ended with a discussion by Revo, which provided the conductor and orchestra with a break. Revo was able to engage closely with his “Laurants” (Sound Horizon fans), after which the second part of the concert began with a vocal piece featuring a guest vocalist well known to the audience and singing by Revo himself.

At the June 29th daytime concert, the guest vocalist was RIKKI. The original version of “Ishidatami no Akaki Shaytan” was sung by RIKKI and three other female vocalists, joined by one male vocalist. In the concert performance, RIKKI and Revo performed multiple people’s parts. Revo showed a deft ability to instantly switch between falsetto and his normal singing voice. Likewise, in the “eleven letter message” sung by RIKKI in the original song, backed by the tide of emotion provided by the orchestral backing, she now brought out a more motherly voice, having matured over the 17 years since the song was originally recorded.

At the nighttime concert, the guest vocalist was Fuki. Her performance featured numerous highlights, among them her performance of “Star Dust,” in which she directed the line “Tell me why?” at conductor Kurita. This was an ad-lib direction from Revo. Kurita responded in top form, “That’s what I want to know. Why?” It was a striking example of Revo’s dedication to entertainment, seeing live performances as carefree, liberating spaces. The show’s finale used a racing starter pistol to reproduce the sound of a gun, causing those in the audience who knew the original piece to break out in grins.

The encore began with Revo asking the audience, “Has anyone here sung with an orchestra before?” He sought to provide the entire audience with the opportunity to form a giant chorus. From start to end, beautiful music flowed through the hall, while various clever ideas, both within songs and within the show’s performance direction, broke the tension and opened the audience’s hearts. Kurita encouraged the audience to show their feelings without reservation, applauding until their hands turned red. It was evident that he, too, felt the enthusiasm of Revo, ardent explorer of the arts. Every moment of the two performances was a testament to Revo’s talent as a creator.

—This article by Koji Shimizu (Seven Days War) first appeared on Billboard Japan