Talk] Evan Cole and Mayuka Sakai. This is how the "Violet Evergarden" piano album was born!

The songs that colored the world of "Violet Evergarden" will be reborn with piano arrangements.
The "Violet Evergarden" piano album "Though Seasons Change ~Violet Evergarden Piano Memories~," fully supervised by composer Evan Cole, arranged by composer and pianist Mayuka Sakai, and performed by Koichi Sato, will be released on March 30, 2022. The album will be released on March 30, 2022.
The album contains 44 songs from the TV series, the outside story, and the movie version on two CDs. It is filled with many beautiful melodies and will color the listener's daily life. It is an album that is just so pleasant, you will want to listen to it all the time from morning till night. For fans who are accustomed to listening to the accompaniment to the play, it is also an interesting experience to compare it with the original music. There are sure to be new discoveries.
We asked Evan Cole and Mayuka Sakai, who worked on the arrangements through repeated communication, to talk about the process of creating the album!

I am very happy that they liked my music and even made a piano album (Evan).

─ ─ "Though Seasons Change ~Violet Evergarden Piano Memories~" is an album created by Evan, Ms. Sakai, and piano player Koichi Sato. When and how did Evan-san and Sakai-san meet in the first place?

Evan: I think it was about two years ago that we first worked together. For the recording of the musical accompaniment for "Violet Evergarden the Movie," he created the score for the orchestra from my music data.

Sakai That's right. At first, I helped with the score. The theatrical accompaniment for the film version was to be recorded in Germany, and Mr. Evan was very busy.

Eban More importantly, I had to compose all the songs in one month, so I didn't have time to create the score myself. Mr. Sakai not only wrote the score for me, but also contacted me as soon as he noticed my little mistakes. I was so grateful that he was able to notice such a small detail. So when the idea of making a piano album of "Violet Evergarden" came up last fall, Mr. Sakai was the first person I thought of.

─ ─ Evan, what did you think when you were approached about this "Though Seasons Change" project?

Evan: I was very happy that they liked my music and that they would allow me to make a piano album. Ever since I was young, I had often played the scores of guitar arrangements of Japanese game songs and listened to albums of piano arrangements, and I thought they had a different quality from the original songs, but I never thought I would get such a chance.

───And you were asked to arrange the music?

Sakai: I was happy to be asked to arrange the music, because it meant that I would be involved in the sound part, and I was looking forward to the production. However, the original songs are full of orchestral qualities, and when I thought about arranging more than 40 songs to be played on a single piano, I thought it would be a lot of work (laughs).

───The accompaniment to the play "Violet Evergarden" used a variety of instruments, and I think the music was both authentic and distinctive.

Evan: It is difficult for me to express that with a piano solo, because the music is such that the instruments switch melodies rather than this instrument playing the melody and this instrument playing the accompaniment, but Mr. Sakai's arrangement was a wonderful composition.

Sakai: When I was watching the anime, I was immersed in the world of the work and enjoying the story, but even when I was away from the anime, Evan's music stayed with me and I felt as if I could sing along. I thought the music had the dynamic expanse of an orchestra, but also contained many delicate expressions, and it portrayed human emotions in many different ways. I don't often cry when I watch movies or anime, but "Violet Evergarden," combined with the power of the music, had many moments that freed me from my own heart.

Evan: That makes me happy (laughs). For "Though Seasons Change," we decided to ask Mr. Sato, who also played the piano for the theatrical version, to play the piano, and the three of us worked together to create the music. Communication was smooth, and we were able to work in a very good environment.