Final Fantasy X Piano Collections, by Masashi Haumazu

I confess: the only Final Fantasy game I’ve played is FF4, but I’m pretty familiar with the music in the series. I need to spill my love for this gorgeous album that I finally got my hands on.

The Final Fantasy Piano Collections is a series of piano arrangements from the games. These arrangements sometimes adhere closely to their original inspiration, and other times they take on their own adaptations.

The tracks from the Final Fantasy X Piano Collections mostly fall into the second type. Arranged by Masashi Hamauzu and performed by Aki Kuroda, these piano pieces are beautiful, intimate, and remarkably inventive versions of the original melodies. Some tracks seem to draw influence from late romantic and early 20th century works like Debussy’s piano preludes (an era I’m in love with, I should mention!)

The “Besaid Island” theme from the game has an ambient melody that repeats itself. This imaginative piano version flips that motif inside out, transforming those few notes into a lovely musical piece.

The gentle charm of “Rikku’s Theme” is brought to the higher ranges of the piano with hints of bossa nova.

The planing chords of “Song of Prayer” are reminiscent of the mythical splendor of “The Sunken Cathedral” by Debussy.