Longing -Togireta Melody-

I should have posted this composition at the beginning of September 2012, but due to my health problem, i’ve just had the chance to complete the song and put it on my blog at this time.

Another composition originated by Yoshiki Hayashi for X-Japan. The song “Longing” was launched on 1995. “Longing” was originally having two forms : one is “Longing – Setsubou no Yoru”, where there was only Toshi’s vocal with strings background and the other one is “Longing –Togireta Melody-“, the one with more complete instruments such as drums and electric guitar. You can listen to the songs in singles CD with the same title.

This time, i tried to make some improvements, rather than just studying and imitating the song to examine my listening skill. This was also in order to make it more compatible with classical instrumental orchestra, such as disabling the drum part and replacing the electric guitar sections.

I made the song begun with cello domination to make a it more deeply emotional. I want to make an instrumental composition, so i filled the singer vocals part with flute and clarinet, and for the chorus part, the vocal part was filled by strings instruments. Piano also played an important part in this song, just like the original composition, to accompany the flow. My favorite part is the violin duet part in the middle of the song. This part was originally played by electric guitars. Because the theme is orchestral, i tried to replace it with violin duet and somehow i really love the result, even this part was only for several seconds. Furthermore, the original “Longing -Togireta Melody-“ duration was longer than the one on my composition but i cut some parts (another chorus repetition) and it seemed more ideal with this shorter duration. 

You may wonder the the picture slides on the video was mostly fulfilled with loneliness theme. As the song title spoke, and so did the melody, the mellow song was generally about loneliness and sadness. That’s why i also tried to adjust the orchestral melody with this theme so the song would not lose its original picture. 

Amethyst

The song 'Amethyst' was originally composed by Japanese Musician Yoshiki Hayashi for his legendary band, X-Japan. The song was regularly played as opening scene of every X-Japan concert. As the song flows, the X-Japan members will enter the stage one by one or in group. The classical nuance, combined with elegance, played important part in describing the magnificent concert.

The song was developed by multiple classical instruments. I arranged the 6-minutes composition with basic orchestral sections : Strings, woodwind, brass, and percussion. The base of this arrangement was taken from Amethyst piano scores by Yoshiki, combined with all that i caught from my hearing.

Begun calmly by several instruments, mainly by strings. The flow of the song filled with fluctuating mood. Some parts were filled only by a few instruments, while some others were build by many and various instruments.The final part was the climax where all sections had their roles. Overall, the flow was escalating and rose-up when reaching the ending.

The classical elegant nuance was describing something precious and elegant. It illustrated how Yoshiki associated X-Japan with the Amethyst gem. It is something i also want to present in this arrangement of mine.