Masashi Hamauzu
|
|
Masashi Hamauzu (濱渦正志; Hamauzu Masashi, born September 20, 1971 in Munich, Germany, is a composer who creates video game music, and has worked for Square Enix for nearly a decade.
His works include Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon (1997), SaGa Frontier II (1999), and UNLIMITED SaGa (2003). He has also collaborated on the soundtracks to Final Fantasy X (2001) (with Nobuo Uematsu and Junya Nakano) and Musashi: Samurai Legend (2005) (with Junya Nakano, and Takayuki Iwai & Yuki Iwai of Wavelink Zeal). However, his start with the company came by creating a small handful of tracks (amidst other composers) for Front Mission: Gun Hazard (1996) and Tobal No. 1 (1996). Hamauzu's next project as composer is for Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII (2005).
Hamauzu has also produced arranged albums for a few of his works, including Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon ~Coi Vanni Gialli~ and Piano Pieces "SF2" Rhapsody on a Theme of SaGa Frontier 2. He also prepared the piano arrangements for Final Fantasy X Piano Collections.
Hamauzu's works are generally reminiscent of Chopin and Debussy compositions, resembling classical and ambient music. His music frequently incorporates deliberate dissonance to provide an artistic and mood-setting effect. After pattern and harmony have set in, the unique elegance of the dissonance becomes apparent; the listener's perception of dissonance now evolves into a perception of consonance integral to the music.
Even still, Hamauzu creates music in many different styles, as is most easily noticed in the soundtrack to UNLIMITED SaGa. Here, Hamauzu's compositions break barriers between musical genres.