Uematsu: Merregnon: Heart of Ice

Generations have grown up knowing the music, if not the name, of Nobuo Uematsu. The Japanese composer’s soundtrack scores were central to the first nine series of Final Fantasy, defining the video game’s opulent sound world. Merregnon: Heart of Ice, Uematsu’s first work for the concert hall, unfolds as a fairytale for symphony orchestra and narrator in the manner of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf. It follows the adventures of cheery wooden robot Kjugo as he journeys through a wintry landscape in search of his inventor, Nuobi, frozen captive by the Ice Wind Dancer in the land of Merregnon. Charm and a sense of innocent wonder run through the piece, present even when Uematsu tugs at the heart string in “Frozen Tears” and unleashes the pulsating “Battle in the Blizzard”. The spoken text and Swedish actress Alicia Vikander’s engaging delivery of it conjure a convincing sense of the loving bond between Kjugo and his “Father Creator”, while the London Symphony Orchestra projects the work’s unashamedly sentimental and uplifting themes with immaculate playing.