Composed By, Arranged By, Producer, Performer

March 20, 2019 5:22 AM

Hey, wow! It entirely slipped under MY radar (and probably yours) that Vangelis released an album earlier this year. (!) Nocturne: The Piano Album is an album of, well, Vangelis playing mostly just (electric) piano. The maestro of (in his words) "playing everything at once" is focussing mainly on the simple keyboard sound, although he certainly can't resist throwing in a few other synths for texture. The program [YT playlist] is largely original compositions with some remade classic Vangelis music mixed in for good measure. Side A: Nocturnal Promenade; To The Unknown Man; Movement 9, Mythodea (piano guest - Irina Valentinova); Moonlight Reflections

Side B: Through The Night Mist; Early Years; Love Theme, Blade Runner; Sweet Nostalgia

Side C: Intermezzo, To A Friend, La Petite Fille De La Mer, Longing

Side D: Chariots Of Fire, Unfulfilled Desire, Lonesome, 1492: Conquest Of Paradise, Pour Melia

posted by hippybear (10 comments total)

Thanks for this! The musical algorithmic robot overlords occasionally fall down on job with selections for me, and this is one of those times — somehow missing new Vangelis despite all of his music in my library!
posted by Celsius1414 at 7:00 AM on March 20, 2019

Also I finally saw the new Blade Runner recently and enjoyed it, finding the Hans Zimmer soundtrack serviceable at capturing the feel of Vangelis’s original.

I heard, however, that Jóhann Jóhannsson was approached first to do it, but there was disagreement as he wanted to do his own take. Really would’ve loved to hear what that might have been.
posted by Celsius1414 at 7:08 AM on March 20, 2019 [3 favorites]

Huh. I was prepared to say that I had only heard OF Vangelis and had never actually heard him. But now I see he did "Chariots of Fire." OK. Heard that one a few times. YouTube presented me with "Ask the Mountains," which has had millions of views. I can see why. Beautiful scenery. No comment on the music.
posted by kozad at 7:09 AM on March 20, 2019 [1 favorite]

the original To The Unknown Man is, for me, one of the great unheralded pieces of the early synth days, pure analog and epic in a subtle way.
posted by philip-random at 8:25 AM on March 20, 2019 [1 favorite]

I recently discovered that Vangelis was in prog rock band 'Aphrodite's Child' with fellow Grecian 1980's-middle-aged-lady-heart-throb Demis Roussos - The Four Horsemen is legit!
posted by PenDevil at 8:52 AM on March 20, 2019

no mention of Vangelis is complete without a link to Live at the Necropolis: Lords of Synth (previously on the blue)
posted by namewithoutwords at 9:22 AM on March 20, 2019 [2 favorites]

Thanks for this post, I don't know how this passed me by but I'm going to buy the album asap.
posted by Faintdreams at 9:33 AM on March 20, 2019 [1 favorite]

- The Four Horsemen yt is legit!

previously ...
posted by philip-random at 9:36 AM on March 20, 2019 [1 favorite]

Celsius1414: I heard, however, that Jóhann Jóhannsson was approached first to do it, but there was disagreement as he wanted to do his own take. Really would’ve loved to hear what that might have been.

Yes, same here! I really wish we’d had a chance to hear Jóhann Jóhannsson’s version of the soundtrack, and I can’t tell if it even exists in a listenable form, or if his estate would ever allow it to be released. He’s one of my favorite composers ever. Hans Zimmer is...whatever. I personally think he’s overrated, with the Interstellar soundtrack being the best of his work, but that’s my stickler opinion. There are tons of smaller musicians that’d clamor to do a Vangelis-esque soundtrack for a Blade Runner sequel. Look at the success that Survive have gotten after doing the Stranger Things soundtrack.

If it were up to me we would’ve had a Blade Runner 2049 soundtrack composed by Oneohtrix Point Never. Or maybe even M83 (although I could see them playing it safe).
posted by gucci mane at 1:00 PM on March 20, 2019 [2 favorites]

Funny timing! I've listened to this album every day this week as part of an immersive catch-up on the last few Vangelis + Jean Michel Jarre albums. Nocturne is a lovely understated album--very wistful and melancholic in places--a perfect soundtrack to late evenings.
posted by prinado at 2:26 PM on March 20, 2019 [1 favorite]