vangelis
Articles about vangelis:
Jon Anderson and Vangelis – The Friends of Mr. Cairo
via yesmuseum:
Jon and Vangelis team up for their second full LP, The Friends of Mr. Cairo. This is the title track. 1981
This is the music video, in blurry-cam, for Jon and Vangelis‘ I’ll Find My Way Home.
Jon Anderson sports a very tiny guitar in this video, while Vangelis coaxes some amazing sound from his grand piano.
via brotherofmine
Vangelis – Alexander Soundtrack
Alexander, the soundtrack to the Oliver Stone biopic, features Vangelis at his best. It’s a rousing score, a satisfying album, and a likely Oscar contender.
With this score, Vangelis delivers vivid orchestrations, lyrical themes, and his unique style of crowd-pleasing bombast. If you’re a Vangelis fan, click on over to Amazon and be done with it – you must have this CD!
Vangelis is sometimes criticized for the simplicity of his music. He rarely creates variations on them or develops them in the tradition of western classical music. This is the case with the Alexander score.
To focus on this, though, would be to miss the unique character of Vangelis’ music. Vangelis comes from outside the tradition of western classical music, and has a unique style and perspective. Vangelis brings to this score a intuitive sense for orchestration, an ear for simple, direct themes, and a overflowing sense of passion.
Rare Vangelis Interview
Oscar-winning composer Vangelis talks in his first UK interview in over 10 years about working with a difficult Oliver Stone on Alexander, his approach to music and more.
Alexander has opened to reviews that could be called “mixed” at best. Vangelis’ Alexander soundtrack, though, finds Vangelis at his peak. Vangelis mixes electronics, orchestra and exotic instrumentation to create a vivid work.
In a interview with the UK Telegraph, Vangelis explains that he wanted to work on Alexander “ not just because he was a part of my heritage, but because he was very intelligent and wanted to unify the world”.
Dealing with director Oliver Stone was another matter. “The way he works is endless. You never get a final cut, and it took me over a year.”
On his own place in the world of music, Vangelis comments “If I’ve made money from music, it was never my aim to do that. I didn’t do it to become famous. I absolutely respect and I believe I serve music.”
The interview is available at the Telegraph site.
Vangelis – Oceanic
Oceanic is a collection of tone poems with Ocean themes. On this 1996 release, Vangelis creates a soothing 50 minute journey through deep oceanic spaces, sounding a bit like a Hearts of Space show. The new age music showcases his wonderful ear for melodies and lush synthetic orchestration, but does not have the edge or sense of experimentation that marks his best work.
The CD starts with the sounds of surf, which recur throughout the album. The first track, Bon Voyage, is a bombastic orchestral electronica track. This type of music is what Vangelis is best known for, beautiful melodies, lushly orchestrated with synthesizers. Bon Voyage is Vangelis at his grand melodic best.
