Musical Monday: “A Town with an Ocean View” (Kiki’s Delivery Service), composed by Joe Hisaishi

This week’s piece is the warm, beautiful “A Town with an Ocean View”, from Kiki’s Delivery Service. It is as good as you would expect a Studio Ghibli soundtrack to be.

Below, I’ve linked two different versions:

  • The Youtube video and the first Spotify link are the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s performance from 2023.
  • The second Spotify link is from the 1989 soundtrack collection.

Enjoy!

Read more

Musical Monday: “World Map” (Ni no Kuni), composed by Joe Hisaishi

Besides Europa Universalis IV, I’m also playing Ni no Kuni, a PS3 RPG born from a collaboration between RPG developer Level-5  and legendary anime house Studio Ghibli. It is an utterly gorgeous game, and its music – composed by Ghibli regular Joe Hisaishi and the lesser-known Rei Kondoh – is just as effective at bringing the game’s fairy-tale world to life. Below, I’ve linked the world map theme — enjoy!

Read more

Musical Monday: “The Legend of Ashitaka” & “Journey to the West” (Princess Mononoke), composed by Joe Hisaishi

This week’s tracks are cousins: both are effectively variations on the main musical refrain of Princess Mononoke, one of my favourite movies (animated or otherwise). “Legend of Ashitaka” is the conventionally heroic version, strong but a bit wistful;  “Journey to the West” is the more upbeat and adventurous of the two.  The versions I’ve attached below are from the “A Night in Fantasia 2004” orchestral concert, which I was fortunate enough to attend. Enjoy!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oybMC9iIar8

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJGqmf5vG9w