| Title | Princess Mononoke Symphonic Suite | |
| Rating | 9/10 |
|
| Composer | Joe Hisaishi | |
| Add. Credits | Czech Philharmonic Orchestra | |
| Label, Year | Milan, 2001 (73138-35944-2) | |
Review
Princess Mononoke has many divine themes (“The Legend Of Ashitaka”, ““Mononoke Hime”, “Journey To The West”, and “Ashitaka and San”), which are here arranged for and performed by full orchestra on this CD. Because of this and the much longer playing times of the tracks, the continuity is better than on the original soundtrack. The performance of the orchestra and the sound quality are fine, but maybe not 100% as brilliant as on Joe Hisaishi's live performance, which was released on his Works II compilation. The orchestra sounds somewhat “distant”.
“TA TA RI GAMI” is very dissonant and should be skipped. It was certainly a challenge for the orchestra. “The Journey To The West” seems to be partially influenced by European baroque music. “Requiem - The Demon Power” contains a very nice secondary theme that is not contained in the original soundtrack.
Track Rating
| Title | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Legend Of Ashitaka | 5:48 |  |
| 2 | TA TA RI GAMI | 6:42 |  |
| 3 | The Journey To The West | 4:57 |  |
| 4 | Mononoke Hime | 4:42 | |
| 5 | The Forest of the Deer God | 6:08 |  |
| 6 | Requiem - The Demon Power | 7:08 | |
| 7 | The World Of The Dead - Adagio Of Life & Death | 7:20 | |
| 8 | Ashitaka and San | 4:30 | |
| 47:28 |
| Criteria | Weight | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| Composition | 50% | 10 |
| Multitude of themes | 10% | 10 |
| Continuity | 10% | 8 |
| Instrumentation | 10% | 10 |
| Sound quality | 10% | 7 |
| Score length | 10% | 7 |
| Final Rating | 100% | 9/10 |
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