Elfdemon_ 695 Posted May 26, 2017 Square Enix have announced that the Kingdom Hearts Concert - First Breath - album is now available for pre-order on the Square Enix Japan E-Store for 3,564 yen ($31.97 USD). It will be available on the E-Store for a limited time only. The album will release on July 26, 2017. The Kingdom Hearts Concert - First Breath - officially began on August 11, 2016 and had a showing in Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka. After, on March 10, 2017, the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra - World Tour - officially began, and it will have sixteen showings in total. Check out the upcoming show dates and locations here! The Kingdom Hearts Orchestra - World Tour - also has an album that's available. Check it out/order it on the Square Enix Japan E-Store or the Square Enix NA E-Store! UPDATE 1: There is a message from Kingdom Hearts series composer, Yoko Shimomura, on the Japanese Square Enix website, regarding this Kingdom Hearts Concert - First Breath - album. Read the message, translated by Katie Armstrong, below: Hello! I'm Yoko Shimomura, composer for the Kingdom Hearts series. At this time, the orchestral concert 『KINGDOM HEARTS Orchestra -World Tour-』 recording is available for purchase at the concert venue (and for a limited time on the Square Enix e-store). From the beginning of it's 2016 tour, many people have been asking for a CD of the brass concert 『KINGDOM HEARTS Concert -First Breath-』, and it's finally been decided to release it! Yay! We did it! Certain pieces are better suited to receive brass band or orchestral arrangements; the different timbres, arrangements, and set lists from different concerts are now all content that you can enjoy. I would be so happy for anyone who came to last year's concert, and those who couldn't make it to have a listen, by all means! Please look forward to the launch! 「 KINGDOM HEARTS 」 series composer, Yoko Shimomura UPDATE 2: Track samples for all 12 tracks are now available to listen to with a few comments from Yoko Shimomura. Translations will be available soon. UPDATE 3: The comments from Yoko Shimomura have been translated by dengojin. You can read them below: Dearly Beloved Originally it was a beautiful song with piano and string instruments, the truth is I was worried when it was decided to use wind instruments. However it was a surprise, it didn't seem out of place at all wasn't it ? Then just like the original, just when you can hear the melody of the oboe, I really felt at home. That's probably because I'm the one that composed it right ? ( Laugh ) This arrangement is a medley of three versions. In the middle of the waltz, the wind instruments really stand out brilliantly, I am personally pleased by this arrangement. Traverse Town I think this song sounds really good with wind instruments. It gives the image of the excitement and thrill you can feel as example during a music festival at school. You said it yourself but hearing this song gives you energy or determination isn't it ? What do you think everyone ? The Unknown This is a medley of Unknown so first, the initial song “Disappeared“ was made using wind instruments, it was quite a difficult song ( especially, the ostinato part that was using low string instruments in the original ). But Kaoru Wada managed to perform it using wind instruments without harming the image of the original song in a wonderful arrangement. The second song, “Rage Awakened“ was performed in high spirits both during the concert and the recording. This time again it was an intense performance. And the last song “Dark Impetus“ was such a great way to end it. “These wind instruments was a cool ending !“ was what I was feeling. UPDATE 4: Following the album's release, Famitsu and Dengeki Online published a full track list along with more information about the performance recordings. You can find this information below. The press releases state that the album can be streamed on Mora and other streaming sites, with a high quality with which you can enjoy the sound as if you are inside the recording hall! Furthermore, to commemorate the album's release, Tower Records (Shinjuku Store) will exhibit Kingdom Hearts art previously shown during the Memorial Music Box campaign. This art will be on exhibit until July 31st. Track listing (Conductor: Hirofumi Kurita / Performance: Osaka Shion Wind Orchestra) 1: Destati (Composition: Yoko Shimomura / Arrangement: Kaoru Wada) 2: Dearly Beloved (Composition: Yoko Shimomura / Arrangement: Kaoru Wada) 3: Traverse Town (Composition: Yoko Shimomura / Arrangement: Souhei Kano) 4: Hand in Hand (Composition: Yoko Shimomura / Arrangement: Kaoru Wada) 5: Journey of KINGDOM HEARTS (Composition: Yoko Shimomura, Richard M. Sherman, Robert B, Sherman, Alan Menken, Howard Ashman, Danny Elfman / Arrangement: Kaoru Wada) 6: Lazy Afternoons (Composition: Yoko Shimomura / Arrangement: Souhei Kano) 7: The Other Promise (Composition: Yoko Shimomura / Arrangement: Souhei Kano) / Arrangement: Natsumi Kameoka 8: Another Side (Composition: Yoko Shimomura / Arrangement: Kaoru Wada) 9: Gearing Up ~ Shipmeisters' Shanty ~ Blast Off! (Composition: Yoko Shimomura / Arrangement: Souhei Kano) 10: Destiny's Union (Composition: Yoko Shimomura / Arrangement: Kaoru Wada) 11: The Unknown (Composition: Yoko Shimomura / Arrangement: Kaoru Wada) 12: Musique pour la Tristesse de Xion (Composition: Yoko Shimomura / Arrangement: Kaoru Wada) 13: The Power of Darkness (Composition: Yoko Shimomura / Arrangement: Kaoru Wada) 14: March Caprice For Piano & Orchestra (Composition: Yoko Shimomura / Arrangement: Kaoru Wada) ■ "KINGDOM HEARTS Concert - First Breath - Album" Product Description 【Part Number】 SQEX - 10598 【Release Date】 July 26 【Price】 3,300 yen + Tax 【Composition / Production】 Shimomura Yoko 【Arrangement · Direction】 Kaoru Wada 【Arrangement】 Souhei Kano [Conductor] Hirofumi Kurita 【Performance】 Osaka Shion Wind Orchestra 【Specification】 12cm Disc 1 piece 【Seller】 Square Enix UPDATE 5: Tower Records Shinjuku have begun selling Kingdom Hearts Concert - First Breath - albums. Along with this, a special exhibition displaying different pictures is also on display. UPDATE 6: The Kingdom Hearts Concert - First Breath - album is now available for pre-order in the Square Enix North America and Europe stores. The album will cost $39.99 USD and will be release on October 31st in North America while the European store has the album at €29.99 and will be available sometime in October. Thanks to KHInsider for the tip! Click here to view the article 1 The Transcendent Key reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
blue490246 43 Posted May 26, 2017 FYI to anyone considering to buy this from the JP Square Enix e-Store and don't already know this - you need a Japanese credit card and a Japanese address to buy. Foreign credit cards will not work and they do not ship overseas. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dustin Lübbers 933 Posted May 26, 2017 not familiar with orchestra so I cant say if this is a reasonable price or not Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
blue490246 43 Posted May 26, 2017 not familiar with orchestra so I cant say if this is a reasonable price or not All JP albums are of that price range - albums usually range from 2000 yen upwards, some of which can go to 10,000 yen plus. Singles are usually from 1000 yen over. Im curious to see the difference between this album and the World Tour Concert album, since both are played by orchestras, so it would come down to if there was any difference in arrangement of the songs and choices of songs in the track list. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Transcendent Key 12,109 Posted May 27, 2017 Thanks for sharing this with us, Elfdemon! Aw, that message from Yoko Shimomura was so sweet! She really is a sweetheart! And I think that it's awesome that the album will be made available! Too bad it's a limited time only, and that it's Japan exclusive for now. 1 Elfdemon_ reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hallowseve 143 Posted May 27, 2017 This is going to be awesome! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RikuFangirl2008 1,368 Posted May 27, 2017 I wish I had it, so I can listen to it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
blue490246 43 Posted May 30, 2017 For anyone interested in purchasing the album outside of the JP Square Enix e-Store, you can now preorder the album on other online JP stores that ship overseas like CDJapan and Amazon JP. http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/SQEX-10598 https://www.amazon.co.jp/KINGDOM-HEARTS-Concert-First-Breath/dp/B071PC418M/ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
