Filmscore: 5000 Lies (5000 PSEMMATA) (1967)
Long before Vangelis went solo, a little after the Forminx fell apart and before
Aphrodite's Child was founded, Vangelis composed the musical score for this Greek
goofball situation comedy. The music was never released. Filmed in black and white,
the movie follows the misadventures of its 3 leading characters getting in trouble
as much as possible.The music, for a 1967 movie, was surprisingly avant garde, adding strange and sometimes unearthly sound effects to the more predictable comedic cues. Outside of the experimental sounds the music reminds of the Forminx and Vangelis' other mid sixties Greek pop music, adjusted more to its instrumental background purpose, and more keyboard oriented.
Needless to say a soundtrack album was never released. But the movie is still widely available in Greek video rental shops.
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Filmscore: Amore (1973)
Another movie scored by Vangelis, that seems to have been lost in time. It was French director Henry Chapier's second movie. His first was the famous "Sex Power", which also featured an original score by Vangelis. Unlike Sex Power, Amore's score was never released, and it seems impossible to get a hold of either movie now. Despite the fact that Chapier went on to become a famous journalist and television persona, and some of his early movies featured well known stars.
Filmscore: Crime And Passion (aka "Ace Up My Sleeve") (1975)
Film directed by Ivan Passer starring Omar Sharif and Karen Black. Vangelis scored this film in his typical style from the mid seventies. Think of the sweeter parts of albums like "La Fete Sauvage" and "Ignacio". Particularly noticeable are two French style love themes which reappear in the film. Most music is quite mysterious but there are also some tense and bombastic parts. It's a shame that none of the music was ever releases outside of the film
Unfortunately there are two versions of this film, one with Vangelis' music and one with music by another composer. The US version of the "Crime and Passion" videotape for instance does NOT have the Vangelis music. However the Japanese version (English sound, Japanese subtitles) does, and the German "Ace Up My Sleeve" also does..
Music in TV-interview: L'Arbre de Vie (1981)
This program was a concept proposed by Frederic Rossif, a 50 minute special about Vangelis in the shape of a French interview, with Vangelis playing (instantly composing) new music, in his "Rossif style". It contains, in that sense, a lot of unreleased music. Vangelis plays various pieces in different styles, including romantic electronic pianos and the expressive experimental percussion. Furthermore there are excerpts from wildlife films or series such as "La Fete Sauvage" and "Opera Sauvage", with music not featured on the soundtrack-albums.
Music in radio interview: Walhalla (1981)
The Dutch radio show "Walhalla" visited Vangelis Nemo studios for an interview. Vangelis demonstrates many facets of his studio. He mainly plays with weird sound effects and atonal sounds but the occasional melody pops up, and although you could hardly call this another "work", it's most certainly very interesting to hear those familiar sounds in their rough forms and audibly witness a nice demonstration of the instrumentarium that was set up at the time.
TV Performance at Musical Express (1981)
The Spanish TV show "Musical Express" did a series on electronic music and featured Vangelis. He was interviewed and improvised a track together with the two musicians who formed "Neuronium" at that moment. This track was later editted into the CD single "In London" by Michel Huygen of Neuronium. Vangelis however also performed a track all by himself, using a lot of arpeggiators and sequencers. It sounds a bit like an unpolished "Spiral" variation.
You can download a short video clip in MPEG1 format of Vangelis playing. mexpr.mpg (2147KB, 73sec, 176 x 144)
Less well known is that there is more Vangelis' music in this show. When the presenter is in Berlin, speaking about the likes of Tangerin Dream and Klaus Schulze, the music in the background is clearly Vangelis' improvising work, with all the familiar CS80 sounds and production techniques evident.
Also notable is that in the Musical Express show that preceeded this one the "In London" bit was previewed, showing a part that was not in the actual broadcast, nor on the In London single.
Filmscore: Missing (1982)
Constantin Costa-Gavras' impressive and realistic melodrama "Missing" tells the true story of the frantic search for a leftwinged reporter in a South American country by his wife (Sissy Spacek) and stubborn father (Jack Lemmon). Vangelis wrote a simple score for it, based on a rather effective theme.
A soundtrack album was never released. A re-recorded version of the main theme can be found on the "Themes" compilation.
Play: Elektra (1983)
In 1983 Vangelis wrote the music for Michael Cacoyannis' staging of the Greek tragedy Elektra which was performed featuring Irene Papas at the open-air amphitheater at Epidavros in Greece.
The music was never released on album.
Ballet: R.B. Sque (1983)
Pronounced: "Arabesque". Vangelis' first score for a ballet by Wayne Eagling. It was originally performed by Lesley Colier and Wayne Eagling himself at an Amnesty international gala in Drury Lane, but in 1984 the Royal Ballet School presented it again at the Sadler's Wells theater.
TV Interview: Electric Theater Show: "Vangelis, the Man" / "The Man and his Music" (1984)
The most well known of these two is "The Man and his Music", a TV show of almost 25 minutes features an interview inside Vangelis' Nemo studio, displaying unique views on the recording environment and scenes with Vangelis playing and demonstrating his musical instruments setup. These remarkable recordings are comparable to the famous but more static scenes in the French "Musiques Au Coeur" interview almost a decade later in 1992.
Vangelis seems completely relaxed while playing, improvising on different sounds, playing the CS80, his Emulator sampler, and many other synths, giving a unique insight on his recording techniques at the time.
You can download a short movie in MPEG1 format of Vangelis speaking and demonstrating his gear (Yamaha CS80 on his right and an Emulator in his front). vtmahism.mpg (2405KB, 70sec, 176 x 144)
The program is actually the second in a series of two. The first, broadcast two weeks earlier was called "Vangelis, the Man" and mostly featured Vangelis' collaborators talking about working with Vangelis. This includes Frederic Rossif over the phone, Hugh Hudon about discovering Vangelis' musical power while editing a low budget documentary to "To The Unknown Man", Wayne Eagling and a dancer about working on their "RB Sque" ballet, etc. It also featured footage of Vangelis improvising some new music, just like the "Man and his Music" episode, but a different part of these sessions.
Filmscore: Sauvage et Beau (1984)
This is the fourth wildlife film directed by Frederic Rossif which had a score composed and performed by Vangelis. Unlike the other films and series this one never had its score released on an album. A rumor claiming an LP was made and released in Germany but immidiately retracted is simply false. In 1996 however the closingtitles were released on CD-single and the compilation album "Portraits {So long ago so Clear}".The American video release of it called "Savage and Beautifull" claims to last (only) about an hour, but this is an error, the tape lasts the the full length of the French film totalling to almost an hour and a half.
Filmscore: The Bounty (1984)
Roger Donaldson directed this third feature film that handled the classic story of the mutiny on an 18th century sailboat.
It starred Anthony Hopkins and Mel Gibson. The original score was composed by Vangelis. It was never officially released on an album
but the tracks "opening titles" and "closing titles" did show up on the "Themes" compilation album. The endtitles were rerecorded and arranged a little bit differently.A bootleg exists (as well as a different CDr, made by fans), in the form of a double album, containing most of the score. The soundquality however is not to be desired.
Ballet: Frankenstein - Modern Prometheus (1985)
Vangelis wrote the music for this ballet. It was choreographed by Wayne Eagling and first performed by the Royal Ballet on July 26, 1985 at Covent Garden, London. Eagling went on to become artistic director of the Royal Dutch ballet in Amsterdam, where this show was restaged in 1993 (as of June 17) and between March 24 and April 9 of the year 2000.
The ballet lasts about 35 minutes, and mainly features recordings of Vangelis' music. There is however a part where the stage transforms into a ballroom, during which some swirling Vienna styled waltz music is played live by an orchestra. The orchestra returns for a few short moments during the encore, when the main dancers and extras are presented again to receive their applause (or ovation mostly).
The music combines styles from albums like "Soil Festivities", "Mask" and "Antarctica". It is mostly very melodic, with bombastic as well as extremely tender moments. Highlights include the overture (in the dark with a closed curtain), the hypnotic prolonged feeling of wonder when Frankenstein is brought to live, the waltz, and the slow dramatic ending of blowing wind sounds and lonely bells.
Two movie excerpts can be viewed (downloadable G2 Realmedia files) from the ballet:
The monster comes to life; 2MB, 2:19.
The bride has died; 1MB, 0:52.
To download please use the right mouse button or hold shift when clicking (Netscape).
TV event: Sport Aid - The Race Against Time (1986)
About a year after Bob Geldof organized the massive "Live Aid" charity event, he set up another campaign to raise money for starving Africans in poor countries. This time the idea was to have a sponsored 10Km run, simultaneous across the world. They set out to get one million people running in 70 cities. But May 25 1986 turned out to set the record as the biggest mass participation event ever, having twenty two million people on the move in 274 cities / 87 countries.
The event was promoted by spots cunningly synchronized to an edit of Vangelis' Pulstar track. But Vangelis composed three new compositions for the event itself. One theme to accompany the lighting of the flame, a main theme for the event, and a more than 10 minutes long background tune that was used in broadcasts throughout the world. The idea of the event was revisited in 1988 and 1990, but in both instances less successfully and without original Vangelis music.
A videotape to raise more money for the cause was released in the UK shortly after the event. It contained a documentary about the event, including the flame and main theme but in minimal quality, mixed in with documentary material with some extra voice overs and interviews. The background theme appeared briefly in a montage of footage, but the music was cut up along with the images. The VHS was only sold for a short period and was not reprinted.
View a video fragment using Vangelis' flame and main themes: (5:41, 3.4MB, 176x144, Realvideo 8, 80Kbps)
Download (use "save as"): sportaid.rm
Stream (fast internet connections): sportaid.ram
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Ballet: the Beauty and the Beast (1986)
Vangelis' third score for a Wayne Eagling choreographed ballet. Performed by the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden in London. Vangelis music was said to be melodic, Tschaikovski-like, with mostly romantic flavors. The music was composed during Vangelis' stay in Los Angelos, while Eagling was working on the ballet in London. The two discussed the proceedings over the phone across the atlantic. Eaglings version of the ballet was based on Perrault version of the traditional fairytale and influenced by a 1949 movie called "La Belle et la Bette". The story of the ballet was split in 7 scenes: "The Beast's Castle", "The Garden of the Castle", "Inside the castle", "Beauty's Bedroom in the castle", "The Banquet Hall of the Castle", "Inside the Castle" and the "Finale".
The performance featured dancers Maria Almeida / Lesley Collier (Beauty) and Jonathan Cope / Anthony Dowell (the Beast) with art design by Jan Pienkowski and lighting by John B. Read. It premiered December 2, 1986.
Watch two movies from news items about the ballet. You can download the files (G2 Realmedia) by using the right mousebutton on the link.
batb_1.rm; 1 MB, 0:48.
batb_3.rm; 1.6 MB, 0:24.
Filmscore: Francesco (1989)
Vangelis wrote the original score for this (English spoken) Italian film directed by Liliana Cavani.
The film stars Mickey Rourke and Helena Bonham Carter. It tells the story of Francisco of Assisi, the Christian saint who gave up all material matters for his believes and started the Franciscan order.
The music for the film is gentle and appropriate. It always stays at the background, not taking over from the action or the actors performances. It contributes much to the serious mood of the film.
The endtitles of the film later appeared in a vocal version sung by Jon Anderson called "Shine For Me" on the Page Of Life album.
The longest known cut is about 2 and a half hours long and features more music than the usual versions, A soundtrack album was never released though and no music of it ever turned up on a compilation.
Olympic promotion animation (1990 or around)
Around 1990 Vangelis composed the "score" for an animation that was created to promote Athens' candidacy to host the 1996 Olympic games. The animation features ancient Greeks who, thanks to the spirit of the Olympics, stumble upon a television that lets them catch a glimpse of the future of Greece, at which point archive footage is inserted of important cultural and sport events that took place in Athens' more recent history. The music was composed in quite a romantic "Direct" style, featuring Vangelis' usual olympic styled orchestra sound, also with some electronic sounds. The animation features no dialogs and it sounds like Vangelis also made the sound effects so it almost works like a 10 minute music video.
Music in TV interview: on Greek channel ET1 (1990)
Shortly after Vangelis' "Song for Athens" concert in 1990 to promote the nomination of Athens for the Olympic games of 1996 (which were held in Atlanta instead), Vangelis gave an interview in Greek for the Greek public TV station AT1. He also ad-libbed quite a lot of unreleased music in front of the eye of the camera, which the director of the show intercut with various landscape images. The music is beautiful, but the program, mainly due to bad direction and editing can't quite impress as much as the French "Musiques Au Coeur" show did two years later.You can download a short video clip in MPEG1 format of Vangelis playing. et1.mpg (2069KB, 46 sec, 176 x 144)
Filmscore: Bittermoon (1991)
Polish born director Roman Polanski is a personal friend of Vangelis, and asked him to score his intriguing film about a couple (Hugh Grant and Kristin Scott-Thomas) who take a cruise to rescue their relationship. They meet a beautiful girl (Emmanuele Seigner) and her disabled and frustrated friend played by Peter Coyote. Coyote then lures Grant's character into listening to the detailed story of his perverse and obsessive sexual relationship with Seigner.
Apart from the opening- and closing titles the music sounds less "Vangelis" than his usual scores. Most parts consist of restrained strings, carefully underscoring the drama and drawing the overall mood. Most of the included music was never released, but a variation on the film's opening titles theme appeared on the Reprise compilation album. There are however cover versions of the closingtitles available on various soundtrack samplers. But none of those resemble the original recordings closely.Note by the way that Polanski and his wife Emmanuele Seigner performed the "newspaper" dialogue at the Vangelis album "the City" (1990).
Play: "Medea" (Euripides) (1992)
Vangelis wrote the music for this intense dramatic performance starring Irene Papas, Carlos Lucena, Manuel de Blas, Jordi Dauder and Miquel Cors.
Director Nuria Espert is concidered to be one of the best theater actresses and directors in Spain.
The play was staged in Barcelona during July 1992 and was produced by the Olympic Festival of Arts.
The sounds design was by Denis Vanzetto who also worked various Vangelis albums.
The photo of Papas in the "Related artists" section of this site shows Papas performing in "Medea".
The music was very minimalistic, comparable with the music of "Night of Poetry" and its seriousness can be compared to "Foros Timis Ston Greco" and the quite parts of "Rapsodies". It consisted never of more than a few sounds and tones expressing the drama.
The image to the right shows the program for the show.
Music in TV-Interview: Musiques au Coeur (1992)
"I am like a shop..." Vangelis replies in French, smiling to his female interviewer, when she asks him to demonstrate yet another sound. This remarkable program totally
dedicated to Vangelis was recorded and broadcast in 1992 by the French television station France 2. It was later broadcast by the more internationally operating
TV5.
Vangelis is being interviewed in his "Epsilon" studio, sitting behind his synthesizer setup, gently answering the questions and demonstrating things on his synths. This is probably the most interesting aspect of it. Vangelis improvises a string of beautiful pieces. One gentle and soft, the next bombastic and haunting. With a set of keyboards and a lineup of footpedals within his reach he gives away a rare glimpse of the remarkable techniques he uses to compose, perform and record his music.
Also shown are excerpts from films such as Blade Runner and La Fete Sauvage (some highlights with the wrong music mixed over it) and, more interestingly from performances like "Antigone". Also a clip shows Vangelis and Philippe Colonna presenting music for 1492 to Ridley Scott (director) and Gerard Depardieu (lead actor).You can download a short video clip in MPEG1 format of Vangelis playing. aucoeur.mpg (2069KB, 51sec, 176 x 144)
Filmscore: Kavafis (aka "Cavafy") (1996)
A low budget Greek film about the Greek poet Cavafy, directed by Yannis Smaragdis. Vangelis wrote quite a lot of music for this film. It runs for an hour and 17 minutes and there is music present in most scenes. The style of music varies. It often has a Greek flourishes, but it is also reminiscent of comparable scores for films like Francesco, the Plague and Bittermoon. Funny is a scene where people are performing a waltz in a ballroom. By the sound it is instantly recognizable that Vangelis also recorded this waltzing piece.
The film starts with Kavafis at his sickbed and continues looking back at his life, mainly focusing on his homosexual nature and the problems this brought to him.
The film got quite a lot of publicity in Greece, given a big impulse by having a score by Vangelis. But it was poorly distributed outside of its home country, appearing only at a selection of filmfestivals. The film was released on rental video in Greece, with full stereo (Dolby Surround encoded) hifi sound.Vangelis, to whome the film was also dedicated, wrote about it in the film's promotional flyers:
"The gift of creative geniuses, depending on their means of expression is that they always understand us even when we don't understand them.
This is true of Cavafy, who has the gift of understanding us through his poems.
It is this incredible Greek that Iannis Smaragdis wanted to honour with this respect, and not to interpret him.
This is not a film biography of the poet, but a taste of moments that are enough to make us feel the rest inside us.
The conditions created by Iannis Smaragdis were such that each one of us was able to offer his love to this unique poet.
So, I too had the opportunity of coming even closer to the life, the soul and the scent of Cavafy."
Play: Las Troyanas (2001)
Irene Papas' play performed in Sagunto (and to be performed in Rome and Athens in the future) was blessed with a minimal but effectively arty score by Vangelis, making use also from local traditional cantata (somewhat comparable to gregorian singing).
Samuel Gomez witnessed one of the performances of the spectacle and wrote a report.
Play: A Vihar (The Tempest) (2002)
Director György Schwajda staged Shakespeare's "The Tempest" to open the
new Hungarian National Theater. Using the theater's remarkable technical
stage, with light and sound effects, Vangelis' passionate and melodic
music completes the spectacle. Read all the details in the extensive "A Vihar" feature, including an interview with the play's stage director.
There are also various songs/albums that were never officially released. There
are two known completed albums: one called "Inner Data" (1987), the other
called "Symphony nr 3" (1990). Both were announced and later withdrawn. No one
ever seems to have heard them. Vangelis mentioned Symphony nr3 in his July 1990 interview in the
magazine Sound on Sound. This can be found at Michael Perkhofer and Stephen Bowline's webpages about
Vangelis. See linkssection.