Tenkuu no Escaflowne (Music)

The Music of Escaflowne : A Review

Or, "What do you mean, you haven't heard of Youko Kanno yet?"

She composes, she plays, she conducts. She does it in an amazing array of different styles. And she does it all very well indeed. The odds are good that if you've seen any of The Vision of Escaflowne, you'll have heard Youko Kanno in action, along with her oftime partner in crime Hajime Mizoguchi. One of the first things that struck me about the series was its dramatic use of serious music, sometimes brightening the mood in less serious moments, sometimes darkening it as events speed up. And without conciously thinking about it, you likely won't notice that this is going on until afterwards; it's things like this that really make a series great, rather than merely good. Not, of course, that I'm deprecating the visuals, which are certainly excellent; for me at least, though, it's the music that makes the whole thing work.
Talking to me in person, you'll probably find that around this point of the conversation, I start gaping fish-like while trying to invent better superlatives. Suffice to say that several random people have asked me "What's that nice music you're playing" with one or other of the Escaflowne CDs on in the background, and that's never happened before, with Anime music or otherwise.

Track Info

OST 1 : Over the Sky


01	Yakusoku wa Iranai (I don't need promises)	OP, Vocal	03:35
02	Flying Dragon	BGM	02:39
03	Dance of Curse	BGM	04:09
04	Murder	BGM	04:04
05	Escaflowne	BGM	02:08
06	Angel	BGM	02:20
07	Cubic	BGM	02:09
08	Romance	BGM	05:46
09	Ne Zu Mi (Mouse)	BGM	03:26
10	Wings	BGM	03:37
11	Gloria	BGM	07:01
12	Eyes	BGM	03:00
13	Poketto wo Kara ni Shite (Empty the pocket)	Vocal	04:03
14	White Dove	Vocal (English)	05:38
15	Mystic Eyes	ED, Vocal	04:20
16	Deja Blue	BGM	01:16

Total : 59:11

CD			Victor Entertainment VICL-769
Price			¥3000
Expiry			04/06/98
Staff	Composed and Arranged by		(1-6, 9-10, 13, 16) Kanno Youko (7-8, 11-12, 14) Mizoguchi Hajime (15) Wada Hiroki & Honma Akimitsu
	Producers		Sasaki Shirou and Oota Toshiaki
Music	Orchestra		The Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus
	Piano Forte & Celesta		Kanno Youko
	Conductor		Anthony Inglis
	Vocals	1	Sakamoto Maaya (Lyrics : Iwasato Yuuho)
		14	Aceilux
		15	Wada Hiroki

OST 2


01	The Vision of Escaflowne	(Vocal)	04:18
02	Fanelia	BGM	02:16
03	Ask the Owl	BGM	02:08
04	Charm	BGM	01:55
05	Country Man	BGM	01:38
06	A Mole Man	BGM	03:08
07	Cradle Song	BGM	01:31
08	Machine Soldier	BGM	02:32
09	Shadow of Doubt	BGM	04:45
10	A Far Cry	BGM	05:41
11	Market Place	BGM	01:36
12	Medicine Eater	(Vocal)	02:56
13	Godds Drunk	BGM	02:33
14	Cat's Delicacy	(Vocal)	03:22
15	Love	Vocal (English)	05:03
16	Hitomi Theme	BGM	04:30
17	If You	Vocal (English)	04:42

Total : 54:34

CD			Victor Entertainment VICL-772
Price			¥3000
Expiry			23/07/98
Staff	Composed and Arranged by		(1-8, 11-15, 17) Kanno Youko (9-10,16) Mizoguchi Hajime
	Producers		Sasaki Shirou and Oota Toshiaki
Music	Orchestra		Members of L'Orchestra Dell'Unione Musicisti Di Roma
	Chorus		Members of Teatro Dell'Opera Di Roma
	Conductor & Piano Forte		Kanno Youko
	Vocals	12,14	Gabriela Robin
		15	Aceilux
		17	Yamane Mai (Lyrics : Aceilux)

OST 3


01	Short Notice	00:43
02	Arcadia	05:14
03	Epistle	03:24
04	Farewell	02:50
05	Aoi Hitomi (Blue Hitomi / Blue eyes)	03:14
06	Perfect World	04:40
07	I Recommend Instincts	04:44
08	Scrappy	01:42
09	Shrilly	02:11
10	Revenge	04:08
11	Illusion	01:37
12	Blaze	04:42
13	Fatal	01:11
14	Hikari no Naka e (Into the light)	04:38
15	Again	03:41

Victor Entertainment VICL-773

Lovers Only


01	Yakusoku wa Iranai (TV Edit)	Vocal	02:12
02	The Vision of Escaflowne (Take 2)	(Vocal)	04:10
03	Memory of Fanelia	BGM	03:12
04	Dance of Curse	BGM	04:09
05	Zaibach	BGM	02:13
06	Flying Dragon	BGM	02:39
07	Cradle Song	BGM	01:30
08	Tomodachi (Friends)	Vocal	03:42
09	Bird Cage	BGM	02:41
10	Chain	BGM	04:06
11	Epistle	BGM	03:27
12	Perfect World	Vocal (English)	04:42
13	Blaze (Take 2)	BGM	03:34
14	Hitomi Theme	BGM	04:29
15	Angel	(Vocal)	02:20
16	Neko no Kimochi (A cat's feelings)	Vocal	03:52
17	Arcadia	(Vocal)	05:17
18	Kaze ga Fuku Hi (Windy Day)	Vocal	05:56
19	Mystic Eyes (TV Edit)	Vocal	01:13
20	The Story of Escaflowne ~ End Title	BGM	04:52

Total : 70:16

CD			Victor Entertainment VICL-841
Price			¥3000
Expiry			21/01/99
Staff	Composed and Arranged by		(1-8, 10-11, 13, 15-18, 20) Kanno Youko (9, 12, 14) Mizoguchi Hajime (19) Wada Hiroki, Honma Akimitsu
	Producers		Sasaki Shirou and Oota Toshiaki
Music	Orchestra		The Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, Members of L'Orchestra Dell' Unione Musicisti Di Roma
	Conductor		Kanno Youko, Anthony Inglis
	Vocals	1,8,18	Sakamoto Maaya (Lyrics : Iwasato Yuuho)
		12	Furukawa Masayoshi (Lyrics : Aceilux)
		16	Ootani Ikue (Lyrics : Gabriela Robin)
		17	Gabriela Robin
		19	Wada Hiroki