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| • | Newest Major Reviews: | . | • | This Week's Most Popular Reviews: | • | Best-Selling Albums: | ||
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Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you want to hear Vangelis' wildly popular 1492: Conquest of Paradise score beefed up to an even more mature, symphonically magnificent level. Avoid it... if the rhythmically repetitive and thematically simplistic nature of Vangelis' music cannot be compensated for you by the sheer power of the noise with which it exists. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
Vangelis, whose real name is Evangelos Odyssey Papathanassiou, has a distinct, electronically-driven style of composition that has gained him awards in several genres of music across several international borders. In the film score realm specifically, Vangelis plucked an Oscar from John Williams (and Raiders of the Lost Ark) in 1981 for Chariots of Fire and his better known subsequent scores are those for Bladerunner and 1492: Conquest of Paradise. While the first two mentioned were predominantly focused electronic efforts, 1492: Conquest of Paradise was a revelation for score fans around the world (the album is certified gold/platinum in 17 countries and the title theme has been a successful single in many of those countries) because of its choral use, and begged questions about the possibility of Vangelis' maturing abilities leading to a breakthrough orchestral project at some date in the future. In the 2000's, that transition has been realized to its fullest, with Vangelis offering a muscular orchestral, synthetic, and choral opera for NASA's Mars exploration called Mythodea in 2001-2002. After 12 years away from the big screen, Alexander is a continuation of Vangelis' trend towards seeking the perfect harmony between synthetic and orchestral elements. The result is what fans of 1492: Conquest of Paradise will likely fall in love within the first five minutes, with the electronically-conceived score enhanced by Vangelis' decision to employ a full orchestra and massive choir to provide harmonically rich and overwhelmingly powerful statements of theme. There is more instrumental diversity in Alexander than there had been in 1492: Conquest of Paradise, with this new score taking on some of the fluid personality of an actual film score rather than playing like a new age album tracked to a film. There may arguably (repeat: arguably) be no single theme as memorable or bankable as the title theme to 1492: Conquest of Paradise in Alexander, but the extent of the thematic grandeur has been extended to include several main themes over four or five tracks. You have to listen to these Vangelis scores with a clear idea of how the man structures his music, however. If you enjoy the subtle nuances, the jarring shifts of emotion, and the carefully pinpointed cue changes that will comprise a typical film score, then Vangelis will admittedly drive you nuts. Despite his best efforts to provide a score that travels the world with the conquerors and changes the color of its mask in every other cue, Alexander is still easily identifiable as Vangelis music because it seems inherently structured as an album first and a score second. Each cue is lengthy in structure and features its own unique instrumental spin on Vangelis' overarching ideas. Very little overlapping, cross-referencing, or reprising of themes in different emotional settings occurs in Vangelis' music, causing classically-trained orchestral enthusiasts to dismiss Vangelis's music for events such as Alexander as that of an amateur who simply knows how to make a whole lot of impressive ruckus. This belief sells him short, though. Alexander does takes steps to appease those folks, but if you're like the majority of film music fans who appreciate that Vangelis ruckus for what it is, then Alexander will knock your socks off in parts. The phrase "in parts" is important, because Alexander can be divided into two sections: that in which Vangelis unleashes the ensembles and his electronics in a massive bombardment of rhythm and theme, and those in which he attempts to provide realistic underscore to the erotic and/or Eastern sequences. These more subtle cues are clustered on the album between tracks five and ten, moving from exotic dance pieces to straight new age/rock rhythms with a heavier emphasis on instrumental solos over an electric bass and synthetic soundscape. The "Roxane's Veil" cue specifically bridges the gap between Vangelis' Chariots of Fire-inspired, electronic post-modernism and this particular effort, and will likely appeal to mainstream crowds. Opening and closing the score (with the exception of the final cue, which yanks the score back into a modern, romantic guitar sound) are the cues representing the glory of Alexander's conquests, and these are where the money will change hands. The title theme, "Titans," is a repetitious, simplistic tune centered around a primary statement of three notes for choir or brass, and this theme of war is the Vangelis calling card that you'll likely be hearing performed during the Oscar introductions of the five best score nominees. The introductory "Young Alexander" cue and "Titans" merged together are the highlight of the album. More romantic secondary themes grace the score's latter half, as dreams and betrayals are realized and the full-fledged glory of Vangelis' best silver-screen ideas are extended over ten minutes of majesty. These four-minute string-dominated cues are each a highlight in and of themselves, swaying from the sheer weight and magnitude of their own performances. As expected, Vangelis relies upon awe to win you over, for none of these performances has any deeply layered complexity worth mentioning. Therein lies both the one consistent aspect of the entire score (from the grandiose portions to the underscored dancing and conversing in the middle) and, some would argue, its greatest weakness. This isn't music that will impress you with its structure. This isn't John Williams at work. It is music that takes you on a journey by maintaining a heavy rhythm that propels you from track to track and produces an excess of noise that is beautiful in its pompous simplicity. Ironically, the more spectacular moments of the Alexander score are exactly the sound that Media Ventures composers have been attempting and failing to reach for years: the perfect, ultimate harmony between chorus, orchestra, and synthesizer. The rhythmic nature defines Vangelis and Alexander, and keeps you interested in the score from the battle scenes through even the stewing underscore of "Chant" and "Immortality." The only straight (and overdue) reprise is the title ("Titans") theme in "Dream of Babylon" near the conclusion. There are a few curiosities to be found along the way; subtle thematic "lifts" from traditional songs (including the 'Silent Night' Christmas carol) seem to arise because of Vangelis' tendencies to keep his themes simple enough (and thus have a better chance to 'remind you of something'). Also, a distinctly Christian attitude is relayed in "Titans" as the chorus chants "Gloria" even though this story takes place in a pre-Christian time. On the whole, however, you could run with these arguments all day about the technical merits of Alexander and much of Vangelis' more recent work. A very interesting essay contrasting this score with Gabriel Yared's rejected Troy work could be written. But when you get down to the meat and bones, you listen to Vangelis for its majestic scale, and Alexander will not disappoint you when you're in one of those moods to impress your friends with your film score collection. If you're bothered by the general simplicity of Vangelis' constructs, then this will likely still peak as a four-star score for you. Additional consideration has to be given to the fact that this is the artist's first film score in a dozen years, though, and nearly all score fans do wish that he would venture more often into this genre of music. On album, the score doesn't play with the same fluidity as 1492: Conquest of Paradise because the middle sections of Alexander do contain a more varied attention to location and situational changes. But Vangelis certainly did his best to provide that flowing listening experience that you've come to expect from him, with each cue connected by an instrumental overlap or, for instance, the sound of a solemn wind blowing between "Dream of Babylon" and "Eternal Alexander." In typical modern Vangelis fashion, the mixing of the album is weighted heavily towards the wet, echoing mixing philosophy of enhancing the magnitude of the music through a perceived increase in recording studio size (similar to the Lord of the Rings recording and mixing technique by Howard Shore). In its attempts to insert a synthetic element into music for this general historical period, Alexander succeeds better than Zimmer's Gladiator ever did due, also, to the fine mixing of all the elements at play. Best of all, if you are a Vangelis score fan, then you now have a perfect amount of material from 1492: Conquest of Paradise, Mythodea, and Alexander to produce your own compilation of Vangelis' best thematic grace and bombast. You have to tip your hat to Vangelis for expanding upon the true niche he has found in the world of music. *****
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