Interview with Arnie Roth

David Saulesco got a short interview with Arnie Roth after the final rehearsal for the Play concert in Stockholm, June 14.

How do you feel about working with the Swedish Royal Philharmonic?

- They're a fantastic orchestra. Very disciplined and very open-minded to different styles and genres of music, which is important.

So they don't give you the impression that they regard video game music as, for example, something inferior?

- I haven't gotten any of that from them, and I must tell you I haven't gotten that from most of the orchestras that I've worked with. I always hear ”don't you look down on this music” or ”don't you run into orchestras that look down on it”, and the truth is I almost never do.

That's fantastic!

- I've read stories and interviews with people who think video game music doesn't belong on the stage, which is rubbish, of course. Whether you are already in love with a particular game's strong musical moments or not, here they have been beautifully arranged and orchestrated, and what's important is that we're giving the audience the live concert experience. You know, the video screens are fun and all, but the audience is here for the music and this is what it's all about, a live concert experience with an orchestra and choir.

Does it inspire you to know that with these concerts, you're helping to lift video game music up from its inferior status and prejudice, and that this is such an important and emotionally poignant experience to so many people?

- Standing in a great concert hall with a fantastic orchestra is always inspiring to me. This is absolutely the greatest honour that I could get from anyone to be invited to conduct the orchestras, so that starts the procedure. Now, am I inspired by the audiences? Yes, absolutely. All the concerts - the Dear Friends concert series in the United States in 2005 and the Voices concert this last February that Uematsu-san invited me to Japan to do - have been so memorable, and the audience is always so educated and learned about the music! That sounds perhaps like it should be a given, but you must understand that we don't always run into that with other concert experiences, whether it's popular or classical, and yes, it is very inspiring to have both an educated audience in terms of what they're listening to, and of course a very appreciative audience for what this concert experience is!

Interview Conducted by David Saulesco [2006-08-02]
Photo by Michael Finnermark

David Saulesco composes his own game music, mostly inspired by RPG music. You can download his music over at his website, www.saulesco.com.