Orchestra Hero?

I was reading the New York Times this morning and came across a pretty cool opinion by a composer, Michael Gordon. Why not have Orchestra Hero? There are two video games out there that are captivating people and working their musical minds in various ways: Guitar Hero and Rock Band. So why not have a game that connects with one of the most influential ensembles of the past 4 centuries? Well, it sounds like something I would love to get my hands on, but I'm not sure if it's got the amount of influence needed to involve game developers. Here's the article I was reading: Orchestra Hero.

And here's the thing. I felt that, after reading the article in its entirety, it was advertised somewhat falsely, since about 3/4 of it was about the history of the orchestra and Michael Gordon's compositions. But then I listened to the sound bite of Gordon's "Rewriting Beethoven's Seventh Symphony" and was captivated with it. First off, that's the actual title of the piece. Second, I COULD hear the connection between Beethoven and "Rewriting"...and I don't even know Beethoven's Seventh that well. I've heard it a couple times, but for some reason I understood where Gordon had wanted to go with it, and it made sense to me.

That doesn't excuse the fact that the article was SUPPOSED to focus on the concept of Orchestra Hero...I sort of wished he had been able to make a great case for it, because you'd probably be right with your money if you bet on the fact that certain members of Cantus, if not the whole ensemble, would pick it up. But even if he didn't make a great case, the concept was mentioned. And it will probably continue to be for a long time.