"Menuet" has a very interesting theme in that it consists of a slow, ascending arpeggio followed by faster descending figures, leading to the next phrase with a descending string arpeggio followed by an ascending scale. Most all of Sugiyama's castle themes are Baroque-inspired. Nothing really stands out in this recording of the famous "Overture". The brass sounds rather foggy, and the strings sound a tad tinny, and the percussion, particularly the cymbals, are weak.
Actually, one issue that seems to plague most of the tracks on the NHK Symphony version is muffled sound.
The beginning is weak, and the trumpets sound strangely artificial. The NHK Symphony has the same issue that the Tokyo Met had. For the London Phil, the brass simply isn't loud enough. The theme should be bold and powerful, but the Tokyo Met has too much resonance, making things blend together slightly. The brass is not nearly strong enough in either. The main issue is quite surprising because both the London Philharmonic and the Tokyo Met have the same problem. The Tokyo Metropolitan gets off to a poor start with this track, with the opening trumpet lines not having quite enough punch. The arrangement here has some constantly chugging string work as brass take on the theme. Instead of the same, bouncy brass beginning of the previous overtures, Sugiyama gives us brass fanfares with some interesting chord progressions before the piece leads into the "Overture" that we all know. 1) Overtureįor the first time, Sugiyama spices things up a tad with the Dragon Quest "Overture". I won't focus on the Dragon Quest IV Concert Live in 2002 recording, even though it is considered an official print, for obvious reasons. Why not in conjunction with other two releases? Because those other two recordings are more readily available, and the one by the NHK Symphony Orchestra is very difficult to find. After that, I will review yet another recording, focusing on it by itself. I will review the music itself followed by a comparison of two of the recordings, one by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and one by the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, which is the most recent recording. This review will be structured the same as my other reviews in this series. On the other hand, towards the end the quality of the music begins to severely slack off, but only for a few pieces. Sugiyama takes a few great chances, as you will see with the epic "Comrades", and most of them come out sounding spectacular. Dragon Quest IV had the most musically rewarding, richly orchestrated, complex, and interesting music of the series upon its release. In my last three reviews, I was constantly mentioning the takeoff of the Dragon Quest series, musically, when Sugiyama embraced musical experimentation.
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