With the BBC’s “Gaming Prom”, music for computer games has finally established itself in concert halls. What distinguishes it from film music? How do you compose them? And why does he have the most loyal fans?

What’s that? Can you even call it music? Members of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra make strange noises from their noble instruments in London’s Royal Albert Hall: a beeping, a bubbling, a soft burp and farts. Only gradually do some clumsy, breathy melodies emerge from the slightly disturbing, almost dystopian sound mix. Visitors laugh or smile happily, they probably feel reminded of something.

After ten minutes, the ghost is over. From the second piece, the violins delight, the fanfares resound, the drums threaten. Hollywood movie music, with all the pomp? No, it’s basically nothing different from the beginning: the acoustic backdrop of those games that billions of people play on their computers, consoles and smartphones, arranged for the concert hall like a medley or a suite. The evening’s program is a foray through its history: from the bumpy, purely electronic beginnings in the tight eight-bit corset to the orchestral splendor of today’s RPGs, which transport their participants with a sound immersive to alternate universes for hours or even days. . Performed to a full house, only for a younger audience than usual, as part of the BBC Proms, the world’s largest and most popular classical music concert series.