Vangelis
Vangelis (Greek Βαγγέλης; born March 29, 1943 in Agria in Volos, Greece; actually Ευάγγελος Οδυσσέας Παπαθανασίου, Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou ) is a Greek composer and one of the pioneers of electronic music.
General
The musical style of Vangelis is varied, ranging from the so-called New Age music to Dark Ambient. His best-known compositions include the 1982 Academy Award-winning music for the film Chariots of Fire as well as the film soundtracks to Blade Runner, 1492 - Conquest of Paradise (1492: Conquest of Paradise ) and The Bounty. He also composed the anthem of the World Cup 2002.
Vangelis began with four years to compose and his musical knowledge has largely appropriated itself. He refused to take traditional piano lessons, and had to write or - no substantial knowledge of reading music throughout his career. He studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Athens.
In the early 1960s he (sometimes called " Formynx " written ) founded the pop group Forminx, which became very popular in Greece. During the student revolts in 1968 he moved to Paris and founded the progressive rock group Aphrodite 's Child with Demis Roussos and Lucas Sideras. They had several hit singles, including: Rain and Tears. The concept album 666 ( The Apocalypse of John, 13/ 18) is now considered a classic of progressive rock. The group broke up in 1972, however, Roussos had several appearances in later works of Vangelis.
Vangelis began his solo career in 1973 with the writing scores for two films by French filmmaker Frédéric Rossif. His first official solo album was Earth 1974. Around the same time he was rehearsing again with another prog - rock band Yes. Although he never became a member, he closed with the Yes singer Jon Anderson friendship and later worked often with him. He and Jon Anderson published together four albums from 1980 to 1991 under the name of Jon & Vangelis and ended up with " I'll Find My Way Home " 1981 an international hit.
After moving to London, Vangelis signed a contract with RCA Records, built his own studio ( Nemo Studios) and began working on some albums with electronic music. The music of the album Heaven and Hell from 1975 was later used as the theme of the BBC television series Cosmos.
1982 Vangelis won the Academy Award for Film Music in Chariots of Fire. Raphael Preston, who worked for the Nemo Studios since 1977, said: " Chariots of Fire was the first synthesizer soundtrack that won an Oscar. This showed that Hollywood looked synthesizer music as something of real artistic value; it paved the way for a whole generation of composers and established a new approach to film music. " In 1982, Vangelis to work with director Ridley Scott. Vangelis wrote the music for Blade Runner and ten years later for 1492 - Conquest of Paradise. The boxer Henry Maske using Conquest of Paradise then in his boxing matches as background music for his march into the hall, after he was no longer allowed to use the music used so far from Carmina Burana by Carl Orff for lost lawsuit with the heirs. The decoupled from the accompanying CD single was then one of the best-selling singles in Germany Through a clever marketing strategy from the same transmitter. In addition, Vangelis wrote the background music for many documentaries Jacques Cousteau.
Was published in 2001 Mythodea ( from style rather than orchestral electronic music), which was written and performed in an unpublished 1993 version. NASA used the main motive for their missions to Mars.
2004 Vangelis has the soundtrack for Oliver Stone's film version of Alexander the Great completed.
2012 at the Summer Olympic Games in London, the title theme from Chariots of Fire was performed both at the opening ceremony with Philharmonic Orchestra, as used as incidental music for the medal ceremonies.
He currently lives in Athens.
Instruments
Vangelis sets ( e) often the synthesizer Yamaha CS -80 a, which is formative heard in the film music for Blade Runner and Chariots of Fire. At times, eight synthesizer of this type in his possession (some for the studio, some for concerts, the rest as spare parts source). The then purchase price of a CS -80 was about $ 7,000 (today about 28,000 U.S. dollars).
In addition to acoustic pianos by Steinway & Sons and Imperial Bösendorfer below a selection of used by Vangelis electronic instruments:
Fender Rhodes Stage 88 Electric Piano, Hammond B3 Organ, Hohner Clavinet, Korg 800DV, Mini Korg 700, Korg Poly Ensemble, Roland SH3A, Roland SH1000, Roland System 100, ARP 2600 modular, Korg PSS -3300, Moog Minimoog, Moog Satellite, Oberheim 4 voice, Oberheim 8 Voice, Roland Jupiter 4, Sequential Circuits Prophet 5, Sequential Circuits Prophet 10, Yamaha CP80 Electric Grand, Yamaha CS40M, Yamaha GS1 FM synth, Korg poly 800, Roland D50, Roland Juno 106, Roland Jupiter 6, Roland MKS20, Roland MKS70, Roland Super Jupiter MKS80, Roland VP -330 vocoder Plus, Sequential Prophet VS modules, Yamaha DX7, Yamaha DX7II FD, Elka Rhapsody 610
Discography
Published works
Unpublished works
- 2000: Cousteau 's Dream
- 2000: Picasso