Music
The series' musical score, by J.A. Seazer, is one of the show's most memorable features. Utena's signature song is "Zettai Unmei Mokushiroku" (Absolute Destiny Apocalypse), which plays every time Utena makes her way to the dueling arena. This song, along with those played during the duels, is composed in a choral rock style. The texture of the chorus is primarily monophonic, although there is some homophony within the inner voices of the chorus. The melody of the chorus is written in transposed Aeolian mode or natural minor. It's also interesting to say that the melody does not use a major five chord at the cadence which is usually the norm for minor mode; it uses a minor five chord instead. The lyrics that often appear to be little more than themed words strung together. While the show's creative team hasn't offered any official explanations of the lyrics, some fan websites suggest interpretations.
The non-vocal background music was composed by Shinkichi Mitsumune, and is largely orchestral in character, though it often features significant jazz influences. One notable song is "The Sunlit Garden," a recurring duet piano piece which plays during nostalgic scenes. Its ubiquity in the series makes it iconic in its own right. Mitsumune also handled the arrangement of the first eight duel choruses.
The soundtrack of Adolescence of Utena is similar in style to the series, containing a mixture of orchestral pieces and choral rock. Masami Okui's track, the J-pop ballad "Toki ni Ai wa" (At Times Love is...), is atypical of the series' sound, although it enjoys considerable popularity among fans.
Read more about this topic: Revolutionary Girl Utena
Famous quotes containing the word music:
“The sound of tireless voices is the price we pay for the right to hear the music of our own opinions. But there is also, it seems to me, a moment at which democracy must prove its capacity to act. Every man has a right to be heard; but no man has the right to strangle democracy with a single set of vocal chords.”
—Adlai Stevenson (1900–1965)
“If I could believe the Quakers banned music because church music is so damn bad, I should view them with approval.”
—Ezra Pound (1885–1972)
“It was a poetic recreation to watch those distant sails steering for half-fabulous ports, whose very names are a mysterious music to our ears.... It is remarkable that men do not sail the sea with more expectation. Nothing was ever accomplished in a prosaic mood.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)