Classical Composer Reacts to Genshin Impact Symphonic Concert: Melodies of an Endless Journey 

The animated visuals you see... those are places in the game. The game looks like that. You can run around there, you can explore. And the amazing music accompanies your adventure. When they play a theme and they show you an animated background (for eg seeing pieces of a city or town) that's the musical theme for that area. That's what you hear ingame when you're exploring there. Forget about the combat, and the stats, the enemies, the game is all about running around in and exploring a gorgeous world. Each region having its own aesthetics, color scheme and real life inspiration with a fantastical twist. And of course each region has its own music to go with it. It's open-world, which means you can freely walk from one end of the map to the other, and when you physically step into another region, the music changes along with it. And there are areas within the regions that have their own theme, such as Dawn Winery.

I highly recommend checking out the Live Concert they did in Shanghai "Genshin Impact Orchestral Concert 2023"! Yes, it was actually a live performance, which is insane for the quality it has. The concert was recently posted on youtube. The concert is quite long, so even if it's not a video and you do it in your free time, it's worth listening to.

Basically, this is a game about traveling. You visit different regions in the game that are inspired by different cultures of our world. And in each place there's a different pieces accompanying you. Depending on the weather, time of the day and the danger. Battle themes are usually in a loop, while the other pieces switch between one another. It's an amazing experience to travel around and feeling all the music of the world. There's so much love out into it.

If you're gonna keep doing videogame music, you think we could get a playlist for all of them in one place? Would be cool.

Hi Doug! If you'd like to watch a proper stage setting, they recently released their recording of the live performance in Shanghai. I managed to go to the concert in Singapore but it doesn't compare whatsoever to what China was treated to. I hope one day you can sit down and record your reaction to that concert.

21:43 - The koto is a Japanese zither but these are Chinese instruments! This instrument is called the Guqin and I can list the other instruments too! :D 21:50 - Erhu 21:54 - Pipa 21:58 - Guzheng, it's in the same family as the koto because it's actually the ancestor of the koto! 22:04 - Dizi

there's a meme in the genshin community about how hoyoverse, who are the makers of genshin and other games similar to it, is actually just a misuc company that also makes games on the side because their music is just always so on point. the music they made for honkai imapct 3rd, genshin impact, and honkai star rail are unassailable in my opinion. character themes, area themes, combat music, boss music, background music, they just don't miss. even most of the fan made music in the hoyofair streams are definitely bangers imo.

Looking forward for you to react to the 4th movement. Definitely my favorite part of the concert. All of them were great though, I wish you've seen the whole thing.

There's another concert that was played live back in Shanghai and was posted 2 weeks ago (i think). Down here is the link to the video. It's one hour if you'd like to watch it. I highly recommend listening to the ost of three regions you haven't listened yet (Inazuma, Sumeru and Fontaine). Sumeru was so well done with the middle eastern and south asian music. Feel free to check it out if you'd like to! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-RgcOQo-Ty_I.htmlsi=mJLI103tXwYZXJAL

For a real life presentation you could check the "Genshin Impact Orchestral Concert 2023 Official Shanghai Performance Recording" that is avalable in their channel "Genshin Impact"

if you want to watch a real concert, they uploaded one recently holded in Shangai, is in my opinion the best one they have done, so definetly recommend checking it out if you want to hear a more genuine and direct sound

What? They actually sponsored this dude for a reaction video? That's amazing . That PR team is doing proper work and actually finding really smart people

shanghai live performance of genshin impact concert has more melody in each piece. I highly recommend to take a look, because is more real and unbelievably beautiful

The amazing thing about this music is that it's literally played as you hear it in the game. I was a huge fan of Nobuo Uematsu's work on the Final Fantasy series and was floored when they converted it to be played by an orchestra. Genshins OST however is created straight into the format of several setups and orchestral grandeur. Developed a huge respect to the game and company because of this!

27:05 I'm guessing they went with the same approach as The Mandalorian Basically surrounded by a gigantic, semicircle screen, and with the camera movements synced up with the animations. That naturally lights up the actors by the lights of the screen itself, without any further effects.

The American game music establishment refused to nominate Genshin music for best gaming music thus far.

Early! Pretty awesome that they reached out to you. I've only seen them do youtube sponsorships for the game itself rather than the musical performances. These tracks (and the scenic backgrounds) are all from the game, which gives some context as to why their duration is so short; since you're traversing so many different spaces and situations all the time, the soundtrack is meant to adapt quickly to whatever you're experiencing. You might be listening to a slow, relaxing tune while walking around, only to run into some hostile enemy and have it be immediately replaced by a more fast paced track instead. It makes for a very different approach to composition than you'd hear anywhere else.

More Genshin, hell yeah, thank you!

That was really nice!!! It would be cool to see what you think of the remaining 3 movements!!! 😀

You'd have to actively dislike anything from Hoyo if anyone says they can't find a song they like, the songs... even the ones that aren't as popular are just good and such fun to listen to. I can't help but smile

Lovers Oath is probably my favorite OST track in the early game. There's a version with Fenale Voice and it's incredibly soothing and heartbreaking at the same time.

we need a part 2 of this

I believe that Genshin Impact at this point may have largest soundtrack of any videogame ever just by sheer volume of tracks and length. As you said, these are essentially just vignettes taken from the game. I recognize some of these as being somewhat condensed versions of parts of the OST and obviously there are many, many more pieces. As for how they managed the lighting, I would guess that they probably used something like the StageCraft system which was used for the Mandalorian. It's essentially a massive wraparound screen that plays video that can do dynamic lighting for the set/stage. That seems to me like the most practical way to achieve the effects they did for this production.

Oh wow! Unexpected but great reaction video! Genshin concerts are great, nice to see you reacting to it.

Not really a player of this game, but the scores are darn enjoyable to listen to and it actually got a cool story on top of that ❤ And there's so much to listen to, too and it's honestly quite nice quality music, too, especially considering it's a free to play game as well 😊

The usage of local cultural musical instruments for their musics are their core strength. I was blown away when the usage of Sitar in orchestral performance.

Wow didn't expect this. Amazing to see you react to this beautiful concert ❤

Really happy to see this on your channel. Fun fact: there are over 900 music tracks in Genshin Impact, and if you bought all of the 20+ soundtrack albums and played them back to back you would have more than 24 hours of music to listen to! The soundtrack of the game is dynamic, with each location in the game having several tracks that will be played at random, the tracklist changing if you enter into another area, and also at certain times of day (in-game time). There are battle themes that will kick in when combat occurs, and each playable character also has their own theme that is used in a promotional video when they are added to the game - the track written for Klee was at the end of the 1st movement, for example.

Beautiful music. So much art in this. Thank you. I look forward to hearing more.

I always enjoy hearing something new. A nice start to the weekend. :) Cheers for the new year and much happiness. :)

Love the comment about breaking through the traditinist and introducing contemporary instruments to create something new. Genshin has 7 nations and each of the 5 movements are based on each nation. The first is inspired by Germany and the second by China. So we have a lovely set of different styles of world music that mixes old and new and east and west

Genshin Impact is an open world game where players get to travel around and explore different regions. So the musics are like the theme of each scenes, characters, and locations. I personally like the movement 4 of the Sumeru region the most. So I want to see you listen to that and the rest of the concert as well.

Just aside… have you listened to Rick Wakeman’s “Journey to the center of the earth”?

mr.doug please i beg , please more of this TT_TT, do you know mr. doug , they have all concert also the live concert too. orchestral music and traditional music saved. in this game, there are 7 region (recently 5) and each respective region based on our real life nation/region. like in this video , you watched 2 of this 2 region representation. the 1st is mondstad based on germany. and the 2nd is Liyue based on china. the music they used also used traditonal music based on the region. please mr. doug more of this i really love this

Can you imagine? They made this for a free game. Damn.

If you want to see Genshin Impact music in a truly live setting, you should definitely do a reaction to the official live recording of the recent orchestral concert held in Shanghai - "Genshin Impact Orchestral Concert 2023"! It's amazing to see It all on a live stage with an audience!

Some of the songs are character themes, others are ones u hear in the open world when u go to these specific places in specific times, others in cutscenes...

Oh no. You should have watched the Shanghai Concert in Mercedez Benz stadium! Its in Genshin's official youtube page.

im so glad you reacted to this! i love genshin and its music and so cool to hear your insights on it 🥰 Hope you react to the rest of the concert, its amazing 🔥 And yes i hope you download and play the game, its great!

24:30 they were like, "uuuh lets incorporate traditional chinese opera" and then absolutely killed it

Such a great reaction, thank you so much once again!

26:33 if you want to see a full symphony concert, they did one in Shanghai that is also on their RU-vid channel :D

I very much hope you will do videos on the other 3 parts too. It was an enjoyable watch.

Just as with Nightwish before, I recently got to attend a Genshin Concert, in the Golden Hall of Vienna of all places, and - quite like Nightwish - it was a life-changing event. In part because of the acoustics in the Hall, which are... they defy explanation. You need to experience it for yourself, it its unlike anything I have ever witnessed, and I went to quite a few concert halls in my admittedly rather short life thus far. But the Music is magical. Yu-Peng Chen (the main composer for most of the Games seemingly endless catalogue of a soundtrack) has clearly taken care to create stunning music filled with passion, with depth and grandeur unlike most other game soundtracks ive heard. Because the music of each of the 7 nations draws on the given nations theme, and because said theme is based in a culture extant in real life, listening to the different movements also means you get to experience different cultures from all across the globe. The Musical Journey becomes a metaphor for the real journey, the journey through the game for journeying the world and all it has to offer. From the European walls of Mondstadt, city of freedom to the Halls of Judgement and the Opera Epiclese in the french city of Fontaine, this game and its music are a delightful voyage of discovery and, at the end, deep gratitude for the splendors this life has to offer.

Tysm for ur reactions..., I'll wait for the next one!!!! Really made my day!! God bless!!

So the last three movements left are the Inazuma (based in japan) Sumeru ( based in India, ancient Egypt, perhaps Persia) and Fontaine (based in France but with a tiny bit of influence from Spain) and so the music and instruments you will find in these movements are really close tied to these regions. I hope you react to the rest of this concert, also there's several live simphony concerts available and you will find them in this official Genshin Impact playlist: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-UIam8zl4af8.html

Thank you! I hope you will react to the previous concerts, they had longer versions and a lot of other pieces that I just adore with my whole heart🥰

Loved seeing you geuinely having fun watching the concert.

Thank you so much for this. As someone who has been both a musician and a nerd my entire life, I love seeing people from the more traditional side of music dipping their toes into gaming and anime music more. It’s so fun to see those two realms collide, and I’m so thankful that people like you are acknowledging the talent and skill that goes into these kinds of music. Keep it up! Also, side note, but you remind me so much of my college voice teacher and that just makes me smile every time I watch your videos. ☺️

Can’t wait to see you react to the other movements

genshin's live concerts are amazing, really a treat to hear and see ❤

I hope you do a video for all the remaining movements. They are all really amazing.

The Koto might be a Guzheng, I guess, and the stringed one a Erhu 🤔 The game's Chinese, isn't it,so those seem most likely, I'm sure ❤

Glad they reached out to you and hopefully gave you some dough for this video lol. You can probably find the longer versions or the full-concerts on youtube as well.

I'm so happy another musical expert got hooked on Genshin amazing music 😀

I cant wait for the rest of the rest of the concert

I strongly recommend watching their video of the 'Sumeru Live Symphony Performance', you might also like 'Hustle and Bustle of Ormos', pretty much everything from their Sumeru region is amazing. Yet another is 'Die Mittsommernacht-Fantasie', from their summer event. The most recent nation to be released in the game is Fontaine, one that you would probably enjoy from there is 'Raven Gloss of Darkness'.

This was really pleasant to hear! Great video! Happy new Year, btw. 😃👍

This video led me to your channel for the first time. I loved your reaction and enthusiasm to the music of one of my favourite games. Picking more genshin music for you to indulge in tho? Where to start? There is so much! Many different areas with different real world influences and instruments. As a musician myself, I can't help but love delving into new areas to find out what music I will find. Great video, I'm gonna check out more

The music in Genshin is amazing! Incredible work and talented people. I really appreciate it

You recognized a 4-mallet marimba; so rare. I played marimba in my youth, but the last time I had my hands on one was 40 years ago. Thanks for your detailed analysis!

Pls check the Shanghai concert as well.. it was live on stage

few notes, -the animation you are talking about are all In game locations, like you can recreate those scenes if you go there, -the music you hear are all ingame musics , it switches between day/night/battle. -hoyoverse is actually a music company disguised as a game company (fan theory).

21:52 Erhu Funnily enough, I ordered one recently and it arrived just 2 days ago

I would love to see your react to Michiru Yamane's works, she's a composer for games like Castlevania and Skullgirls. I would also love to see how you react to ZUN's music, he makes ost for his game series Touhou Project and there are some interesting pieces too, like "Hartmann's Youkai Girl" and "Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke"

This is absolutely gorgeous!

Love your videos so much!! Looking forward to more genshin reactions in the future, but if that's not happening it's alright I'm already grateful for the ones you've already made, enjoyed it very much❤ And also I personally hope you'll listen to the enkanomia music from genshin, it's so beautiful, full of sorrow, longing for a saving that would never come... When you listen to it it feels like you're alone in the void but it's so breathtaking and beautiful that it doesn't even sadden you. It's especially great to listen to when you know the story behind this place, just hits differently But even without this knowledge it's really nice

Can't wait to see the continuation of this

My favorite part is third, which is about Japan-themed area in the game. Inazuma shines eternal! However, every single bit of music in that game is gorgeous and unique. The only problem with this concert is it briefly cover up only like 1/30 of all musics in game =) for example, there is no Enkanomia music themes at all, and i sometimes just travel there to listen its calm and sad bits. Good part is every single track is avaliable on youtube anyway. For the game itself, it have some minor flaws, but people get used to them very fast. Combat is very fun and accesible in the same time, stories are from good to excelent, lore hole is as deep as you want it to be (for instance one time i ended up deciphering texts on town bilboards to read some eldritch scripts radomly appeared in deep cavern). You can play the game any amount of time you want, and mobile version is best of open world game expirience you can have on mobile for this time. Most issues centered around english voice for some certain characters and early story is quite slow-paced.

Hi Doug! I found your channel through this video, and I would really enjoy your reaction to movements 3 and 5 (Japanese and French/Italian? inspirations respectively) I would especially enjoy seeing your reaction to the music as one would encounter it when playing. I have been playing genshin impact since about a month after it's release in 2020, and I love the story of the game. I certainly do recommend it! You should know that Genshin Impact is a live service game, meaning that more story/a fun event is released every 6 weeks for the game.

Can’t wait for the rest of the reactions

I really love the music in this game ^ ^

Please do the Shanghai concert recording that was posted recently on the same channel! I think it would provide everything you're asking for! (i.e. length & traditional setting)

Please do further reactions on Genshin Impact's soundtrack as it has many other astounding pieces! You've only scratched the surface of Genshin's amazing soundtrack which has fun fact won 4 awards! I really enjoyed your input and commentary on each track. Great video and keep it up!

Can’t wait for you to react to the next part.

need a part 2

You should check out the "Genshin orchestral concert recording shanghai performance" its on youtube and its live

can't wait for the next three movements video

This was really fun!

so good

watch the one in Shanghai.. it's real orchestral concert...

I would love to see what you think of the other movements as well! Every movement is based on a specific region in the game, with every region having diffirent real-life cultural inspirations. My personal favorite is movement 4: Sumeru. Although movement 5: Fontaine is a very close second. Many fans joke that this company is not really a gaming company, but actually a music company that uses the games to promote their music

movements 3-5 happen to be my favorites of the concert, though I am really looking forward to seeing what you have to say about movement 4 (there is some crazy stuff going on).

I like it. More genshin!

I’ve watched the whole thing both on RU-vid and in real time. It’s so amazing. I love the whole of Genshin’s music Tod earth, it’s really like nothing else

9:17 so essentially all the music you hear in the first movement is from version 1.0 which was released in 2020. They update the game every 6th week and we’re now in version 4.3. Every song you hear is either from a in-game location, character theme, boss battle or cutscene. Upon release the game had approx. 150 tracks. As of now, they have released 913 tracks on streaming platforms, and that’s not even all the music (the latest music always stay in-game some time before releasing on streaming-platforms)

I’d love to see your thoughts on the rest of the concert! Each region and character has their own themes - my favorite would probably be the fourth movement which has music and instruments inspired by places like Egypt and India. The game is quite fun, lots of unique characters and I personally love the story.

part2 please!

It's so nostalgic and made me cry. I started this game three years ago.

Cant wait for the part 2

Waiting next parts)

Please watch Genshin Impact's Orchestral Concert 2023, they recorded live on Shanghai, it's 1.2 million views and it reshaped how i perceive video game music live performances. They made EDM sound like EDM but with actual traditional music instruments.

Part 2 please

Loved this, wish you someday can react to "Dream euphony" a concert gifted to the players by de developers of honkai impact u may find it interesring because the songs mix classsic, asian, and modern instruments ... With short songs ... Hope u have a wonderful 2024

Hoping you could finish the rest :) part 2 maybe?

You gotta see the fontaine music, I suggest rondeau des fleurs et des rapieres, which is also from genshin, based on french-like region, or gilded runner, which uses fibonacci sequence for it's tempo (more of an arabic motive), or duel in the mist, which is mixing japanese and western music very cleanly. You can pretty much pick out any musical composition from this game, and it will blow your mind by how beautiful it is.

It was recorded on an XR screen, which was popularised around 2021 I think, it’s like a Green Screen but more accurate to as it won’t reflect green on reflective surfaces or make it so you can’t have green ornaments in frame. It’s actually getting more and more popular for video game companies to stream such content as well outside of its intended use for movies

I think you’d like the 4th one the most, the 4th region Sumeru was the major changing point for the game, the music is amazing in Sumeru, same for Fontaine but sadly for this concert it only has a few songs for that in 5th movement. But if you wish to check, their channel has another concert (and a cool music video) for that region and it’s amazing.

This video is an short version of the concert, if you're interested I strongly recommend you watch the full version which is also on their official channel.

I expect they were either surrounded by hi-fidelity screens so "naturally lit" or they were on a green screen stage and all the lighting was done in editing