BY ANGUS MCPHERSON
Pokémon: Symphonic Evolutions
Sydney Symphony Orchestra
The Sydney Opera House, 21 November
Audience members clutch handheld Nintendo 3DS consoles as they wait for the concert to start. Above the stage, a screen shows Who’s that Pokémon?, a game in which silhouettes of various Pokémon are presented and their identities eventually revealed. Cheers greet the more popular Pokémon, like Pikachu and Charmander. As the musicians of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra gather on stage, a mother names the instruments for her child, while the child in turn explains to her mother the different varieties of Pokémon, flawlessly identifying each silhouette on the screen: “That’s Mudkip!”.
The SSO’s Pokémon: Symphonic Evolutions brought the music from almost 20 years of Nintendo’s Pokémon games to the concert hall of the Sydney Opera House. It began with an amplified SSO belting out the game’s main theme music as images of the ‘Start’ screen from every Pokémon game since 1998’s Red and Blue scrolled above the stage. Though this ‘overture’ was first heard as metallic sounds squeezed through the tiny speakers of a Gameboy, the audience was now treated to the full orchestral experience, led by conductor Susie Benchasil Seiter.
The music that accompanies the original Pokémon games is relentlessly heroic adventure music. It has a simplicity that reflects the simple plot: a child leaves home on an adventure to collect and train Pokémon and ultimately become the Pokémon Champion. There’s plenty of musical material, however, as each town or location in the game has its own theme.
‘Pallet Town’, which followed the overture, is the pastoral music from the small, peaceful town where the adventure begins in Pokémon Red and Blue. The opening minutes of the game, which played out on the screen, introduce the player to the world of Pokémon, the simple text and graphics providing an elegant exposition for the concert. Periodically, the camera panned over the orchestra or focussed on soloists, Janet Webb’s tranquil flute lines the first to be showcased.
The ominous ‘Prepare for Trouble’ introduced the villains: Team Rocket, a generically evil criminal organisation. In later games they are replaced by eco terrorists and morally complex antagonists with varied objectives, such as the troubled ‘N’ of Pokémon Black and White: a human raised amongst mistreated Pokémon. The dramatic ‘N-Counter’, which accompanies the player’s confrontation and battle with N, shows just how far the music has come from the days of Team Rocket.
‘An Eternal Prison’, from 2013’s Pokémon X and Y provides the soundtrack to a beautifully rendered historical cinematic telling the story of a man driven to madness and destruction by the wartime death of his beloved Pokémon. The music begins with a nostalgic piano solo that swells as strings are added, later to be pierced by martial drums and trumpets.
The theme music from the Pokémon cartoon, ‘Gotta Catch ‘em All’, made an appearance as the first encore, Seiter encouraging the audience to sing along. The concert concluded with another sing along: ‘Kiseki’ (Miracle), a tribute to fans and friendship that plays after the final credits of Pokémon X and Y.
Pokémon: Symphony Evolutions was as much a nostalgic journey through the stories and images of the Pokémon games as it was an exploration of the music. It might not offer much for anyone who hasn’t played at least one of the Pokémon games, but for the aficionados, it was an enjoyable chance to reminisce and hear the music in a new context. This concert may well have introduced Pokémon fans to the pleasures of orchestral music, but most of all, it made me want to dig out my old Gameboy.
Image supplied.
