Post by Biozilla on Oct 6, 2021 19:33:37 GMT
During the 00's, the German city of Leipzig annually held the high-profile Games Convention, which became the second largest game event at the time. Among the convention's many draws were the Symphonic Game Music Concerts ("Symphonische Spielemusikkonzerte" in German), produced by Thomas Böcker and conducted by Andy Brick. On the evening of the convention's opening day, from 2003 to 2007, these concerts would be hosted at the Gewandhaus concert hall. This means that there were five in total:
- First Symphonic Game Music Concert (August 20, 2003)
- Second Symphonic Game Music Concert (August 18, 2004)
- Third Symphonic Game Music Concert (August 17, 2005)
- Fourth Symphonic Game Music Concert (August 23, 2006)
- Fifth Symphonic Game Music Concert (August 22, 2007)
[It may be worthwhile to note that while the Czech National Symphony Orchestra performed the first concert, the FILMharmonic Orchestra performed the rest.]
What's so important about these concerts is their status as the first of their kind outside of Japan. By the end of the 1990s, several Japanese concerts dedicated to video game music had arisen, Böcker taking particular inspiration from the Orchestral Game Music Concerts when planning out his own musical events. Unlike those earlier Japanese concerts, the five Symphonic concerts did not receive their own album releases. Nor were there any DVD releases that I could find. I'm sure you will agree with me that this was a huge missed opportunity to capture these historic moments for posterity.
It is a possibility that any relatively clean audio from these events is nonexistent. In spite of that, I believe that this is a topic that deserves looking into and preserving if/when feasible. Perhaps there were television broadcasts I did not see mentioned during my cursory research, or some footage captured by a fan floating around on the Internet.
One idea that could be used is to ask those who were involved with the project. All of the related individuals and organizations mentioned earlier have their own websites with contact pages. That being said, I'm not sure how effective of an approach this would be, as I imagine these are all busy people. Any attempt must be conducted respectfully and with consideration for their time. There is also the problem of the language barrier, as certain websites containing leads to preserved media likely do not exist in English. Any help from those who understand German or Czech is greatly appreciated.
Below I will provide useful links relevant to the concerts:
Wikipedia article on the Leipzig Games Convention
Wikipedia article on the Symphonic Games Music Concerts
Set listings: First Concert, Second Concert, Third Concert, Fourth Concert, Fifth Concert
Wikipedia article on Thomas Böcker
Böcker's Game Concerts website
Wikipedia article on Andy Brick
Andy Brick's website
Czech National Symphony Orchestra website
FILMharmonic Orchestra website
What's so important about these concerts is their status as the first of their kind outside of Japan. By the end of the 1990s, several Japanese concerts dedicated to video game music had arisen, Böcker taking particular inspiration from the Orchestral Game Music Concerts when planning out his own musical events. Unlike those earlier Japanese concerts, the five Symphonic concerts did not receive their own album releases. Nor were there any DVD releases that I could find. I'm sure you will agree with me that this was a huge missed opportunity to capture these historic moments for posterity.
It is a possibility that any relatively clean audio from these events is nonexistent. In spite of that, I believe that this is a topic that deserves looking into and preserving if/when feasible. Perhaps there were television broadcasts I did not see mentioned during my cursory research, or some footage captured by a fan floating around on the Internet.
One idea that could be used is to ask those who were involved with the project. All of the related individuals and organizations mentioned earlier have their own websites with contact pages. That being said, I'm not sure how effective of an approach this would be, as I imagine these are all busy people. Any attempt must be conducted respectfully and with consideration for their time. There is also the problem of the language barrier, as certain websites containing leads to preserved media likely do not exist in English. Any help from those who understand German or Czech is greatly appreciated.
Below I will provide useful links relevant to the concerts:
Wikipedia article on the Leipzig Games Convention
Wikipedia article on the Symphonic Games Music Concerts
Set listings: First Concert, Second Concert, Third Concert, Fourth Concert, Fifth Concert
Wikipedia article on Thomas Böcker
Böcker's Game Concerts website
Wikipedia article on Andy Brick
Andy Brick's website
Czech National Symphony Orchestra website
FILMharmonic Orchestra website
