Mozart, Beethoven, Kondo?

Mozart's Requiem and Beethoven's Fifth are mainstays of both classical afficianados and pretentious assholes. Often lost in the sea of praise for the composers of old is a musical genius who, although his name is not well known, has created music that has touched the hearts of millions: Koji Kondo. Kondo was born in Japan in August of 1960. After showing an interest in music at a young age, Kondo began years of training in classical music in Japan's conservatories. However, unlike his predecessors, Kondo would not use pianos or chamber orchestras to create his musical triumphs.

Right now you're asking, "what did Kondo compose and why does he belong in the discourse of musical geniuses the like of Mozart and Beethoven?" Look at the picture below, then think of its accompanying music that you so vividly remember.

"do do do do do DO do." I would say that probably 90 percent of people 40 and under know this epic tune, even if they have never played Super Mario Bros. In 1985, shortly after Nintendo hired Kondo to produce music for their new Nintendo Entertainment System (NES or Famicon in Japan), Kondo composed the most perfect musical accompaniment to the most perfect video game ever created. Every note of the Super Mario Bros. score combined in perfect harmony to effectively communicate the emotions, dangers, and frustration of Mario's adventure in the perilous Mushroom Kingdom.

Still unconvinced of Kondo's musical genius. Well chew on this. Kondo created this masterpiece not using a full chamber orchestra nor opera singers but an extremely constricting MIDI music compostition sytem. Wikipedia scholars had this to say about Kondo's restricted options composing music for the NES:

"Kondo found himself in a totally different environment at Nintendo. Suddenly, he was limited to only four "instruments" (two monophonic pulse channels, a monophonic triangle wave channel which could be used as a bass, and a noise channel used for percussion) due to limitations of the system's sound chip. Though he and Nintendo's technicians eventually discovered a way to add a fifth channel (normally reserved for sound effects), his music was still severely limited on the system."

Despite this seemingly monstrous impediment to musical greatness, Kondo created perhaps the most well-known and emotional video game score of all time. And he continued to create more music as his musical options flourished on more sophisticated home consoles. Kondo's other notable video game compositions include Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda, LoZ: Link to the Past, LoZ: Ocarina of Time, Super Smash Bros., and Starfox 64. Incredible...absolutely incredible.

In May of 2006, Kondo was celebrated at the premier of "PLAY! A Video Game Symphony" at the Rosemont Theater in Rosemont, Illinois. Kondo attended this concert, which featured a full symphony orchestra performing his video game classics. The performance cemented his place among the world's most revered classical composers. Here is a video of the Rosemont premier.