Who is Benyamin Nuss? He’s a young, prodigy pianist that has been performing concerts in conjunction with the WDR Radio Orchestra in Germany for a few years. He’s also an avid gamer and a big game music fan. Who is “Uematsu?” Well you had better know; Nobuo Uematsu is the composer of the vast majority of the Final Fantasy series, alongside many other RPGs.

These two musicians struck up a friendship, and one of the results of that friendship is this album. Published in Germany by Deutsche Grammophon (one of Universal Music’s classical labels), the album features music from Final Fantasy VI through IX, Blue Dragon, and Lost Odyssey. It also features two very special original compositions.  The video is performance of the one track on the CD that was written specifically to honor Nobuo.

 

Nuss was born in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany. He began playing the piano in 1995 and was taught and supported by his then teacher Viktor Langemann.  In 2004, Nuss was taught privately with concert-pianist Andreas Frölich in Bonn, Germany and later changed teachers to Ilja Scheps as a youth-student while still in school. After graduating from high school, Nuss studied at the Hochschule für Musik Köln and graduated with a Bachelor in Music. He visited masterclasses there with Anatol Ugorski, Einar Steen-Nokleberg and Ragna Schirmer.

 

Benyamin Nuss Plays Uematsu

Prologue (Lost Odyssey)
A Sign of Hope (Lost Odyssey)
A Mighty Enemy Appears! (Lost Odyssey)
Terra’s Theme (Final Fantasy VI)
Liberi Fatali (Final Fantasy VIII)
Where I Belong (Final Fantasy VIII)
The Serpent Trench (Final Fantasy VI)
Nobuo’s Theme – Dedicated to Nobuo Uematsu
A Place to Call Home (Final Fantasy IX)
Fantasy over Themes of Final Fantasy VII
Main Theme (Blue Dragon)
Waterside (Blue Dragon)
My Tears and the Sky (Blue Dragon)
Release the Seal (Blue Dragon)
Years & Years – Dedicated to Benyamin Nuss

(see full review of album at RPGFan)