ピアノ協奏曲第1番"蠍火"

Song Information

Artist: virkato
Composition/Arrangement: Virkato Wakhmaninov
BPM: 165-188
Length: 2:07
Genre: DIRGE
VJ: VJ GYO and F-FLY
pop'n music Character: silent room [17-1P]
First Music Game Appearance: beatmania IIDX 11 IIDX RED
Other Music Game Appearances:

pop'n music 20 fantasia

Lyrics

None.

Song Connections/Remixes

An eight minute version of the full concerto in three movements can be found on the beatmaniaIIDX 11 IIDX RED Original Soundtrack album.
A remix of this song by Osamu Kubota, called もうひとつの蠍火 ~象牙と羊腸と肉声のための変奏曲 (Mou Hitotsu no Sasoribi ~ Zouge to Youchou to Nikusei no Tame no Hensoukyoku), appears on V-RARE SOUNDTRACK 14 - beatmania IIDX 11 IIDX RED.
Another long version of this song appears on wac's album, 音楽. This one features orchestra work by Osamu Kubota.

Trivia

The LIGHT7 version of the song sounds different from the 7KEYS/ANOTHER version.
The in-game cut of this song is credited on the IIDX RED soundtrack as ピアノ協奏曲第1番"蠍火"(大きな鍵盤と円盤のための), or Piano Concerto #1 "ANTI-ARES" (arrangement for a great keyboard and disc).
"ANTI-ARES" is the alternate title provided by the RED soundtrack (and on the scrolling marquee on IIDX arcade machines). Antares is the red star in the middle of the constellation Scorpio; its name means "anti-Ares". Ares is, of course, the Greek god of war, called Mars by the Romans. Antares and Mars' red flames stood in stark contrast in the night sky, thus "scorpion fire" (a direct translation of 蠍火) refers to Antares, the red flame burning in Scorpio's body, and fits wac's pattern of piano pieces named after stars.
This song is thought to be inspired from Sergei Rachmaninov's "Piano Concerto No.2 in C-minor" first movement, which has a very similar style. This would also explain the resemblance in author names (Sergei Rachmaninov / Virkato Wakhmaninov).
The song title is referred to in English as "Piano Concerto No. 1 'ANTI-ARES'".

Music Comment

Untranslated.

Song Production Info

Virkato Wakhmaninov (1873-1974) was born to an average working family making matryoshka in the Caucausus mountains. His father wanted him to grow up to become a splendid man, so he gave him the name virkato (which means tomcat) and raised him to become a wrestling pro. He also took piano lessons from his mother, and his talent began to blossom.

Unfortunately, a fall in the market value of matryoshka led to his parents' financial downfall. In the end, even their beloved Steinway was seized, and Virkato took to practicing straight out of textbooks, using the backs as mock pianos. The memorial piano concerto no. 1 "ANTI-ARES" was born from these feelings of loss and despair.

As this is a piece in three movements, it is fairly typical of the structure of most piano concertos. However, since the first performance was on a great keyboard and disc, it was necessary to halve the length of the piece, and so most of it takes on the character of the first movement. For that reason, the differences between contrasting passages (light vs. dark, high and low polyphony) are more pronounced, like something out of the children's series "Yokatta ne Ned-kun".

Satisfied with the results of this first performance, Virkato, caught up in the elation of the moment, cried, "Won't the people who buy the soundtrack listen to something even more repulsive!?" It's probably well that he stopped there.

After that, Virkato himself spoke fairly often about this "arrangement for a great keyboard and disc", but in his last years he left behind these words: "An arrangement for a keyboard of seven keys may be possible". It is only now that this dream has been realized.

Video Production Info

Since this song is written in the genre of dirge, we thought, "Why don't we light candles in the shape of Scorpio?" We were able to get the okay for this from the composer, Virkato Wakhmaninov. (Wait, 1873 to 1974!? That means we must have been talking to a ghost ... oh well.)

Since there weren't any real good locations for filming something with fire, I ended up filming it at my own house using spray digestive and water break buckets ... right around where the candle falls over at the end of the song, it ended up falling over and burning my tatami a bit ... ehehe. (VJ GYO)

I did post-production for VJ GYO's film this time. It was a pretty tough job, but to match up a good video for such a dignified song I was willing to put a frightening amount of effort into it. It's kind of a creepy feeling. It was actually pretty fun to put something together that's heavy enough to move you to tears. (F-FLY)

Character Information