(Original posted on March 27, 2015)
In the world of anime music, true gems sometimes appear like scattered stars. The encounter with works imbued with the feeling, “precisely because it’s for children, it must be truly good,” can become one of life’s enduring memories, not just limited to childhood.
This time, I’d like to take up one such work, the ending song “Samenai Yume” from the anime “Anne of Green Gables.”
Link 赤毛のアン 想い出音楽館 -完全版-
The anime “Anne of Green Gables” is a masterpiece that needs no explanation, handled by a stellar staff including director Isao Takahata. Among them, composer Akira Miyoshi shone brightly, and his opening and ending themes were truly masterpieces filled with the sentiment, “precisely because it’s for children, it must be truly good.”
At the time, typical anime theme songs and ending songs generally used simple (and amusing) melodies and accompaniments that children could easily hum. However, with this ending song “Samenai Yume,” Miyoshi, one might say, presented a “serious aria” to the children.
An anecdote remains that director Takahata, faced with the power of this music, the world view it expressed, and its lyricism, deliberately chose a static image style for the ending animation, merely listing staff names (I couldn’t verify the truth, but I believe adopting this style was a natural directorial choice).
Incidentally, the main BGM for the anime was handled by Mr. Kuraudo Mori, a direct disciple of Mr. Miyoshi, who richly supported and expanded the world view of Anne of Green Gables musically.
If such a music production team had continued to work on many other anime afterward, how many masterpieces might have been born? Unfortunately, it ended as a dream stage limited to this work. Precisely because of this, the charm of “Samenai Yume” becomes something irreplaceable, increasing its presence.
Overall, it’s a song that leaves an impression of gently touching upon Anne’s goodness, rich imagination, daily joys and sorrows, and the fluctuations of her heart, and feeling one’s own chest tremble at the “strength” conveyed from within her.
In the first half, the piano arpeggios are played with a light and lovely touch. The orchestra builds in the middle section. The strings descend as if floating down after a tide of sound mass recedes. And matching the changing expressions of the scene, Ritsuko Ohwada’s soaring voice spins the daily life of Avonlea.
For the children listening to “Samenai Yume” at the end of each week’s broadcast, their own image of Anne and feelings for her must have been nurtured through this song, which evokes the image of this sensitive girl.
Dissecting the Orchestration of “Samenai Yume”
Presumptuously, I would like to look at the greatness of such a charming “Samenai Yume” from the technical aspect of orchestration.
Based on listening to the recording, the instrumentation appears to be an irregular style lacking woodwinds, and furthermore, neither French horns, tubas, nor even trumpets are audible; the ensemble seems surprisingly pared down.
It is generally conveyed to the public that “Anne of Green Gables is performed by a gorgeous orchestra,” but this is precisely where Mr. Miyoshi’s keen musical sense and brilliant skill are demonstrated, in having succeeded in creating a sense of scale far exceeding the actual ensemble size. The techniques used include introducing a diverse range of percussion instruments (and saxophones in “Kikoeru Kashira” and other pieces) to enrich the colors, and enriching the musical information by having various melodies played contrapuntally horizontally and vertically, despite the constraints of studio recording conditions at the time.
Now, in the first two bars of the intro, along with the piano arpeggio, the string section plays an ascending phrase. A cymbal roll crescendo joins this, supporting the mid-high range. Furthermore, just as the cymbal ends, a harp enters from the third bar with a restrained glissando to follow, supporting the descending violin phrase in the high range here.
In this way, the sound field is filled with a small number of instruments. This can be said to be one effective method for obtaining a rich sound suitable for the beginning of the song while suppressing the overall volume so as not to obscure the sound of the piano arpeggio (avoiding sounding instruments unnecessarily).
Regarding the piano arpeggio that continues from the intro to the vocal accompaniment, after the singing begins with “Hashitte mo hashitte mo” (Even if I run and run), a marimba arpeggio is layered on top, adding color to the rolling sound and subtly changing the atmosphere.
In the string part from the same section, the bass line moves contrapuntally, descending steadily with the progress of the song, and the phrasing leads directly into the full ensemble middle section with a crescendo.
When listened to casually, attention tends to be drawn to the light and brisk arpeggios and the refreshing singing voice. However, as seen here in the string part, phrasing that foreshadows the subsequent build-up is interwoven, contributing to the unconscious feeling of anticipation for the coming climax.
Then the singing stops, and the full ensemble reaches its climax. The phrases played by the violins and trombones immediately split into two groups, and the trombones further divide into multiple lines, layering contrapuntal movements on each, gaining strength against the background of the constant timpani rhythm.
One notable point in this climax is the rhythm. The phrases of each part, which were powerfully aligned on the beat, shift forward with syncopation towards the end. In other words, the phrases feel like they are “contracting.” The regular timpani rhythm also shows syncopation here.
Through these manipulations, a controlled “collapse,” so to speak, is created. This can be seen as causing the listener to feel a temporary loss of rhythmic harmony, which seems to evoke anticipation and exhilaration for the next scene. Furthermore, in this build-up section, a marimba is layered partway through to accentuate the attack of the violin phrases, but as the build-up approaches its peak, the marimba phrase transitions to finer passages than the violin, and its repeating descending phrase gives the impression of falling sounds, further coloring this peak of the build-up.
Alongside the sonic motion created by counterpoint, considerable attention is paid to the sense of tone color and decorative brilliance, and the seamless brushstrokes are truly impressive.
After passing the peak of the full ensemble, the mid to low range instruments suddenly fall silent, and together with a harp glissando, the violins rush upwards. The string section then connects chords two beats at a time from the high range slowly down to the middle range, accompanying the lyric “Hana no naka de ichinichi wa owaru” (A day ends among the flowers). Having gone through the previous “collapse,” this section becomes an effective and high-quality catharsis point.
Being immediately after the intense full ensemble, the state where the “masking effect caused by low-frequency sounds” is resolved becomes prominent, and the closely voiced strings resonate densely and clearly, resulting in a sound that maintains high density yet has high clarity.
The moment the singing voice gently enters amidst that is wonderful to listen to every time.
Here, the rolling arpeggio reappears, but it is played by a glockenspiel (celesta?) instead of a piano. This kind of consciousness regarding subtle tone color changes is something to learn greatly from.
In the broadcast, the song ends after one chorus, but it originally continues to a second verse and is sung further with melodic changes that respect the lyrics.
Then finally it reaches the concluding section. After a slight ritardando, the root of the final tonic chord, which closes the piece, is played by a pianissimo timpani roll. This softly supports the third and fifth of the string triad.
Compared to using strings, this sound has a milder harmonic structure, which is fitting for the concluding sound of the girl Anne’s song. One can only bow one’s head at the composer’s insight in composing it this way.
Pitched percussion instruments tend to be primarily used to emphasize rhythm, but understanding their timbral characteristics based on range and dynamics, it is also highly effective to use them as a sustained tone color material, as in this concluding section.
This is one of the important resources in orchestration, and it is a characteristic seen in the works of composers called masters. This compact and gentle concluding section can be said to be a finale that conveys the composer’s skill and seriousness.
Above, I hope I was able to convey the greatness and charm of “Samenai Yume” from a different perspective.
