A Classical thoughts?

[emi♡]

Finally listening... I'm gonna write as I listen...so, it's gonna be long.

Spoiler:

M - I like the "low" parts over the climactic ones. I like how they kept the arrangement simple in certain places where the original wasn't. But it's hard for me to put the melody with the arrangement completely. I wish there were less instruments.

Love Song - Starting with tympani and brass is nice. I actually think it was a good choice for the composer to choose this sort of arrangement for this song, with the heavy brass. I also feel like it's more connected with the melody than M was. Piccolo epicness in the background also. Oh...I wish this part at 3:00 had one standout instrument in the back instead of it being just her vocals. Ending is meh.

SEASONS - I wish there wasn't so much heavy brass here. This will be a classical song like M was I suppose. Yeah. It's not too bad for this song...it would be nice live. Gives a really BIG song.

You & Me - Oh yeah. I liked this arrangement for this song I think. Just because it was positive. Did the original song have this tempo? I can't remember. Her English still bothers me. Like the little percussion things happening in the verses. And the clarinets. I think he did a good job of filling in the song behind the melody. I actually liked the melody for this song, cause when you sing it, it feels like you're telling a story. Don't like the La La's. I kinda wished they cut the last verse, and ended with those flutes.

BLUE BIRD - Interesting decision for the opening. It was sweet. omg I miss these vocals, holy ****. I think I wanted something more like HAPPY ENDING for this song...obviously not getting it...but okay. I feel like the melody takes over here, like with M. Oh...no, trumpets. I don't care for this arrangement. It moves alright though. Oh, but no, no, not for me.

Days - lol If the woodwinds don't own this song I'll be mad Composer person. Harp is nice. I like that he kept it simple there. He knows there's already so much going on with the vocal track lol I don't know if I like how they kept in the harmonies for her voice. I do like the balance between the arrangement and the melody though. Ah there, before 4:00, the only reason to keep in those low harmonies.

It's still kind of typical. I would have liked to see something different done for the song. But the composition for Days is already such a mess.

Voyage - aww Voyage. Oh interesting with the violin opening. This one is also typical, but I like it. lol I forgot about Ayu's vibrato. I think, oh nice french horn, I think the good parts of this arrangement lie with what's underneath those overhead strings and top melody. The backing brass, and lower strings, that french horn. aw flute trill prettiness. Otherwise, typical.

Haha! I knew the brass was gonna come in there. I like how they did the grace note.

Song 4 U - omg is that FINALLY A ****ING PIANO. Damn. This song is boring me tbh lol Nice flute run. This is another that I feel, at least during the chorus, the melody takes over and there isn't a nice balance. Woah, that verse was disjointed. I don't like this one because I don't think I wanted such a big arrangement for this melody. My favorite parts are the low parts or the piano ones.

This is also another, where I wish they could have done more with it. Like Days. They could have been more creative. The arrangement is just "there".

Missing - oh pretty.... oh no no don't go there. ah okay. But the chorus will. I think. Yep there it goes. Another. The arrangement is nice, but it's just there. The flute runs are really nice, but you have to pick them out. And ew...what's with this boring transition. I think he was trying to go for the more somber tone, while keeping everything in there, and filling in the background, but idk, it just doesn't work for me. It's boring.

Dearest - Alright last song...this song always makes me cry lol Pretty harp. Actually, I think if all of these songs didn't have that harp, they'd all suffer. I want to kill him for using those overhead strings so much. This arrangement is also typical and boring. Just there. Can't hold it's own without the melody.

CAN YOU PLEASE BRING OUT THE PIANO OMG. Why is it stuck way back there? Kill those other instruments! You don't need them! ****.

This low part is nice. SEE. PRETTY PIANO IS ALL THAT'S NEEDED.

Yeah. This song also...could have utilized so many of these beautiful instruments. Classical is not ALL about these high strings. A song like this...could have been so creative.

Why are you ending with the harp and not the piano. Who should have been the star of that song.

Okay. I got a little angry towards the end...Sorry. But. um I think it's nice. I could have been...amazing, but. It's just so Japanese "I love high strings and flute runs all the time".

Some of the arrangements are boring. Many of them don't do anything interesting in their own right, and that makes me really disappointed. You have SUCH an array of gorgeous instruments. USE THEM.

And don't just throw them all together just doing simple chords so that they get lost and nothing happens.


I think my favorite might be LOVE SONG just because the arrangement wasn't AS typical and it complimented that melody nicely.

So many of them were on the same level. REALLY upset about my BLUE BIRD.

6.5/10 for the album I guess.

[primavera♥]

I love this

And especially as a brass instrument player. I'm just a sucker for brass usage that is really well done in Love song.

[Saki-Chan]

I really liked DEAREST in this new album.. dunno why but even if it's an old track, remixed over&over.. don't know... It has a special feeling in A CLASSIC. It has impressed me.
About the other tracks.. nothing so special, nice but not so EPIC.

[freedreamer]

I actually LOVED M, Love song, SEASONS and Dearest so much hahah
You & Me was different in a good way
BLUE BIRD was alright in the end hahah..felt a bit too fast. the Power of Music wan was stellar. Days was slightly predictable (though the song's still great). Somehow it was great to hear Voyage again but yea, felt like the same song TOTALLY.

[Jawdarna]

The vocal track was sometimes out of time. The arrangements were sometimes average, and other times brilliant. Consequently, MY STORY Classical still holds the crown for my tastes.

7.0/10.

[ayu-fan]

I love the fact that the classical arrangements are faithful to the original mix, unlike MY STORY classical which is a total remake in arrangements. It's basically the same original mix with classical instruments lol.

It's a nice album, just with boring song list :/

[emi♡]

Originally Posted by ayu-fan

I love the fact that the classical arrangements are faithful to the original mix, unlike MY STORY classical which is a total remake in arrangements. It's basically the same original mix with classical instruments lol.

It's a nice album, just with boring song list :/

I think that's what will separate most people.

I didn't want them to be faithful to the original mixes. Oh well. It's still nice.

[yamadashun]

Originally Posted by ayu-fan

I love the fact that the classical arrangements are faithful to the original mix, unlike MY STORY classical which is a total remake in arrangements. It's basically the same original mix with classical instruments lol.

It's a nice album, just with boring song list :/

this. in fact that's the reason i prefer MY STORY Classical than this. A Classical is very nice in arrangement but it is just too similar to the original mix, which is a little boring to me.

[Delirium-Zer0]

I'd prefer new takes on the songs, but not at the cost of quality. Most of Ayu's orchestral versions are complete muddled messes of vaguely melodic sound. The layering is too complex and you just get.... gray. you know? Not horrible but completely unmemorable.

"Missing" had the same issue here - it was the one that went most off the original source material, and I couldn't even tell what the rhythm was for a good chunk of it. Muddled, gray, dull.

It was a smart, albeit amateurish, move to follow the original accompaniment with nice, classical instrumentation. Uncreative maybe but when you're in a time crunch it's the best way to go if you wanna do something that's guaranteed to be listenable.

[pride123]

Her old works is just nice with the new classical arrangements like:

M
SEASONS
Voyage
Dearest

[ayu_ready?]

it turned out to be much better than I expected
but the packaging is boring & unpretty

[[taskin.ayu]]

It's bad that I like the single orchestra version of Song 4 u more than the one on A Classical. :/

[Bad Wolf]

^ Results may have been different if people knew what they were voting for.

[Seiko Yua]

i feel like all these classical albums are huge orchestral productions and it just starts sounding the same after a while. i wish they would do these arrangements simpler and with a smaller orchestra. something like Endless sorrow with just the guitars was soooo good! because it was only a few instruments and the message of the song just impacted me that much more. and then when she did Love song live with just the guitar... ahhhh! love it!

all in all, i rate it a fair score. :/

[Catfisk]

Listening to it now ~
Must say that I wasn't interested at all in it but gave it a chance now. It's really cozy, but other than that nothing special. I have yet to feel that "Wow!"
The songs are nice though.

[Max_ZZZ]

i feel sort of the same.... better songs could have been in place of some of these

Days acoustic orchestra was WAY better than this, every song was sort of w.e nothing really stuck except two

songs like M and Dearest were also bland in the end

SEASONS was the only old hit that came out moderately well i think, as in I would listen to it again

love song was such a disappointment...

the only one i LOVED and thought it was done so well was Missing. what a good rendition! i love it better than the original. takes out the generic jpop flavor and gives it some oomph.

well a lot of people think it's good so i guess that's all that matters?

[emi♡]

I think NEXT LEVEL and RNRC tracks could have really benefited from Classical versions.

Sad that they chose the tracklist by voting.

[Delicious n Bold]

I can't bring myself to listen to the album again lol
Even Days is boring me..
Now it is just a boring muddled mess, with an awful hue.

[Kazeyomi]

I got high expectations from this release. The tracklist wasn't my cup of tea, but as long as the songs were good I don't care if it was made of her classics mostly.

Despise of the boring yet pretty cover, A Classical is an high quality album. The orchestra did a wonderful job.
But it lacks creativity. Most of the songs sounds almost the same to me. They're all beautiful, but there's nothing more. The only one I remember is You & Me. Amazing, much better than the original. I will replace it with the classic one when LOVE again will be out lol.
But the whole album sounds like it follow the same pattern, adding just few irrelevant things.

It's hard to make a classical album, especially when we have heard so many acoustic and orchestra versions of most of the songs on the tracklist before. But it feels like they wasted a great opportunity to make another wonderful classical album like the MY STORY one.

Actually I like A Classical (especially because acoustic,orchestra and classicals are my favorite remixes from her), but hardly I would love it as MY STORY Classical.

[*Petit*]

Im liking this album more and more. =) The beginning of SEASONS sounds so similar to Poinsettia by shimatani hitomi which I really like also..