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Review of Mythodea (Vangelis)

FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:

Buy it... if you like to be smothered by excessively brutal and massive music spanning the opera and new age genres.

Avoid it... if even 200 performers and Vangelis' distinct style of mixing layers of vocals can't compensate for questionable inspiration and simplistic melodic development.

FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:

Mythodea: Music for the NASA Mission: 2001 Mars Odyssey: (Vangelis) It's not everyday that a NASA space mission gets its own new age opera, but that's exactly what you'll hear in "Mythodea." With much hype, NASA launched the spacecraft Odyssey in April of 2000 so that it could survey the surface of Mars for several years later in the decade. The opera for the spacecraft was released on album just as the orbital craft was finishing its approach to Mars, and after its landing, the much relieved NASA unleashed it on its mission of mapping the chemical surface of the red planet. Ultimately, the Odyssey was programmed to try to determine where there has been (and could still be) water on the hostile world, and it continued to succeed in that task until 2008, when its positioning on the planet led to diminished sunlight and therefore power depletion shut-downs. With an enormous amount of American resources tied into the program, the Odyssey paved the way for more planetary roving devices to be landed on Mars by the Americans in the decade. The publicity machine for NASA put an adventurous spin on the mission and argued the "we won't know what we'll find" idea to help sell it to the people of the world. One part of the publicity campaign was the space opera contracted for and arranged by new age artist Vangelis specifically for this mission. Vangelis has been a very popular composer of new age and film music for many decades, with a controversial Academy Award under his belt and several best-selling albums. He started playing the piano when he was only 4 years old and had a similar interest in science and mythology while raised in Greece. Since then, his stint with a new age rock band came and went, and he has expanded his personal performances of instruments to a variety that includes drums, flutes, vibes, tablas, cembalo, clarinets, tubular bells, timpanies, cymbals, and gongs. When Vangelis was approached about the possibility of writing a new age opera for the NASA Mars program, and the Odyssey in particular, he did not hesitate. After all, this is a man whose full name is Evangelos Odyssey Papathanassiou.

Vangelis choose to adapt a concert piece he had written in 1993 and beef it up into a larger presentation of the NASA music to be performed in Greece with an enormous ensemble. For him, it was a magical experience to work with such a large and talented group of musicians in his homeland, even though Vangelis himself had become a secluded nomad since 1993, moving often and avoiding the spotlight whenever possible. The original piece of music that Vangelis adapted was a significantly smaller concert piece, highlighting quieter instruments such as the harp instead of a full orchestra. The NASA Odyssey concert was set to debut in a spectacular and ancient Greek setting, however, and was to be performed by no less than 200 musicians. Because the entire concept of Mars leads directly into the realm of Greek mythology, the concert took place on July 28th, 2001 at the Olympian Temple of Zeus in Athens. It was edited into a video format that was available later in the year. The massed group of performers included a 120-member male and female chorus, a full London orchestra, 20 artists on synthesizers (including Vangelis himself), and the opera sopranos Jessye Norman and Kathleen Battle, the latter of whom you have probably heard performing Christmas carols at some point in your life. The sheer amount of noise produced by this combined ensemble of people, when paired with the awesomely dynamic acoustics of the temple, will blow you out of your seat. Vangelis' film scores have always been acoustically impressive, with the wet, echoing sound quality of 1492: Conquest of Paradise causing the sales of that album to maintain a high level for decades after its release (not to mention the resounding force of Alexander more recently, though the incredible failure of that film has diminished the popularity of its music). The layers of voices in "Mythodea" are especially vibrant, and the advanced recording and mixing of each musical element is particularly well handled. The name of "Mythodea," as a side note, is a combination of "past" and "future" in the Greek language.

And the quality of the music? Well, it's a hell of a lot of noise. If you want to physically move your neighbors with sound, then this is your ticket to arrest and prosecution. Several critics initially blasted "Mythodea" while others remained tepid, mostly because of its very blatant borrowing from classical composers and its seemingly unorganized and loud movements. Vangelis does indeed expose some inspiration from Gustav Holst, Carl Orff, Gustav Mahler, and his own earlier works. He even pulled pieces from the Lakme and Adiemus works used in the commercials for British Airways and Delta Airlines at the time. The power of his primary chanting march, which serves as the anchor of "Movement 1" and "Movement 10," makes his own film scores sound like child's play, even though the theme's minor third progressions are remarkably simple. The entirety of the concert plays like a rambling series of random musical thoughts by Vangelis, with no strong, lyrical elements to pull it all together. Unlike the popular 1492: Conquest of Paradise, Chariots of Fire, or Alexander, there are no lengthy cues of thematically enchanting material. Even the more operatic moments with the superb soprano voices either lack direction or are brutally forceful. The music will, at its best moments, exhibit fine solo performances, while, at the same time, beat you over the head with its overbearing might at its worst. The tone of the soprano voices, after two or three of their highlighted performances in the middle movements, can become grating and obnoxious by later passages. "Mythodea" is, on the whole, Vangelis acting like a kid who has been given a collection of 50,000 Lego bricks and a huge room in which to play with them. He has been handed, in this case, a monumental ensemble and setting. But his music wanders aimlessly despite impressing with its bravado. If you enjoy noise for the sake of noise, then don't hesitate to buy it. This album could become either a favorite or your worst nightmare; it depends on if you ever feel the urge to be smothered by excessively oppressive and massive music. If only Vangelis had inserted some more comprehensive themes and orchestrated them better, "Mythodea" had the potential to be a classic.  ***

TRACK LISTINGS:

Total Time: 62:48

• 1. Introduction (2:45) • 2. Movement 1 (5:40) • 3. Movement 2 (5:39) • 4. Movement 3 (5:50) • 5. Movement 4 (13:42) • 6. Movement 5 (6:35)

• 7. Movement 6 (6:27) • 8. Movement 7 (4:56) • 9. Movement 8 (3:06) • 10. Movement 9 (5:02) • 11. Movement 10 (3:01)

NOTES & QUOTES:

The insert contains a note from Vangelis as well as an overview of the NASA Odyssey program.

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The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Mythodea are Copyright © 2001, Sony Classical and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 10/20/01 and last updated 11/9/08.