Video game music 'cultural experience'

"Video Games Live" is a labor of love for composers Jack Wall and Tommy Tallarico.

Both have been involved with creating music for video games. Both have a love for well-composed music and both feel the need to show how video game music is something more than background enhancements to computer-enhanced puzzles, shooters and role-playing games.

"Some of the most beautiful and exciting music was composed for these games," said Wall during an interview from his studio in Los Angeles, Calif. "And we wanted to expose people to the music because of what the music means to us."

"I wanted to prove to the world how significant video games are to the world," said Tallarico during a phone call from his Orange County home right after returning from a "Video Games Live" show in Baja, Mexico. "Video game music is the soundtrack to our lives. It's not just bloops and bleeps these days. And I need to say that the Utah Symphony have been wonderful to work with."

"When we first started thinking about doing this, we didn't have a plan," said Wall. "We knew we wanted to do it at the Hollywood Bowl. What did we know about marketing? We just knew we wanted to perform in that venue because it was the Hollywood Bowl."

The duo originally planned the show for 2003, but it didn't happen. But they didn't give up the dream.

"We got an appointment with Marc Geiger at the William Morris Agency," said Wall, whose favorite video games include "Halo," "Mass Effect" and a lot of the "Super Mario" games. "They are the company that manage Van Halen, Nine Inch Nails and the Spice Girls. Well, we pitched the idea and in 20 minutes, he stopped us and said, 'We have to do this.' So, we got busy and in 2005, we did three shows, one of which was with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl."

The duo's choice of music came from their love of certain games, said Wall, who is known for composing music for "Myst III: Exile," "Myst IV" and "Jade Empire."

"We have our favorites that we wanted to perform like the 'Legend of Zelda, 'Medal of Honor' and 'Super Mario,' but we also wanted to perform music that people weren't familiar with such as 'Mass Effect' and 'Headhunter."'

"We can only play 20 segments a night," said Tallarico. "Each show has been 50 to 60 percent different, because of new games that have come out each year. But if we don't play anything from 'Mario' or 'Halo,' people would lynch us. But we can present 'Mario' and 'Zelda' in different ways, like through visuals or piano. But we also want to give people moments that they wouldn't have expected from other pieces of music. Also, we don't show any violent images from any game."