![]() It’s that contrast, even more than the chords, that defines Hisaishi’s style. You can almost picture a video game character discovering a hidden, magical object.īut Joe’s not afraid to think big: Spirited Away erupts outwards into brass fanfares to announce its adventure, throwing in chopsticks and rapid quavers to convey chaos and excitement. ![]() Then, he rolls a seventh up the piano an arpeggiated sting you’d expect to hear in a jazz number, turned into the gentle tinkling of enchantment. His comfort at the keys comes across in his deceptively simple melodies, almost always repeating a refrain while moving up or down a step, as the chords shift underneath. Naturally, it’s played on the piano, Hisaishi’s instrument of choice – a listen to his fantastic concert in Budokan to celebrate the studio’s 25th anniversary shows the maestro in effortless ivory-tinkling mode. It’s a journey that takes your ears from sadness to happiness to uncertainty in a few bars from melancholy all the way to the charm of open-ended possibility. The movie’s main theme establishes Joe’s favourite motif: a chord sequence that slides from the relative minor key through the fifth and fourth to arrive at the certainty of the first, only to slip back through the minor second and fourth to the cliffhanging fifth again (you can read more in detail about that in this very good thesis). There’s no doubt that the 2001 masterpiece is arguably the definitive Ghibli soundtrack. Play a few bars from Spirited Away to a fan and they’ll identify it as easily as they would a Totoro. ![]() He is responsible for nothing less than the sound of Studio Ghibli.Īnd what a sound it is. Just like his frequent collaborator, Hisaishi’s work is instantly recognisable and often unforgettable. More magician than musician, the composer (whose real name is Mamoru Fujisawa) has worked on almost all of the studio’s films – and 10 out of 11 of Hayao’s. But tying that all together is another, equally mesmerising force: Joe Hisaishi. When you think of Studio Ghibli, you immediately picture Hayao Miyazaki’s beautiful hand-drawn animation, you think of the fantastical stories, you giggle at the gentle humour and celebrate the preponderance of female protagonists. This article was originally published in 2015. With Studio Ghibli films now available on Netflix UK, we delve into our archives to look back at what makes them so magical. ![]()
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