AKIRAIFUKUBE.ORG - Symphonic Fantasias 1, 2 and 3

SYMPHONIC FANTASIAS 1, 2 and 3
(1983)

A scene from Destroy All Monsters (1968)

Ifukube once said he never intended for his film music to be heard in a concert hall; however, for many years, fans and students of the composer urged him to create a concert suite of his immensely popular daikaiju (giant monster) scores. In 1983, Ifukube gave in and created Symphonic Fantasias 1, 2 and 3. Each suite contains cues from the horror and science fiction movies Ifukube scored during the 1950's and 1960's.

In creating these works, Ifukube had to re-orchestrate every cue for performance with a standard orchestra. During the 1950's and 1960's, Japanese studios used smaller orchestras when recording film scores.

In particular, Symphonic Fantasia No. 1 has been widely performed in Japan, and appears on a multitude of recordings. All three compositions contain the trademark brassy boldness, pounding percussion and bracing rhythms that made these film scores well loved to begin with.

A very well-known recording of the three Symphonic Fantasias appears on GODZILLA SYMPHONIC CONCERT (SLCS-5029) released in 1994. On this recording another famed film composer, Masaru Sato, conducts the Osaka Sinfonica.

Masaru Sato

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