Customer Reviews

El Greco

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is one of Vangelis' most original and complete albums to date. It is a tribute to a Cretan painter named El Greco (his Spainish name) who lived in the 1600s. It is a pleasure to see a musician the calibre of Vangelis employ his craft as a medium to pay homage to a fellow artist. It is obvious that El Greco bequeathed in his work a tremendous amount of inspiration for Vangelis.

The music on this CD is reminiscent of a requiem, for the most part. The tone of the music is surreal; almost as though it is depicting a communion of the two artists in a dreamscape. To me, the tones of this piece, particularly in the first movement, give a wonderful imitation of the atemporal properties of paintings. The brooding timbre invites the listener into an inner sanctum of artistic expression. It is hauntingly morose, but also very elegant.

I would highly recommend this album to admirers of electronic music, as well as people who adore sensual and (perhaps) melancholy mood setters.

Like many of the other reviewers, I have been a Vangelis fan for years. I have all of his CDs (except repetitive compilations). And like many other reviewers, I found this work tough sledding at first. In fact, I listened to it once, felt that the soprano was too dramatic, and then filed the CD away for months. Well, recently I just grabbed it along with a bunch of other disks for a long ride on the highway and I couldn't believe that I had not been captivated before by the opening movement with its low sustained passages for strings and somber tolling bells. Indeed, I was eventually convinced that the soprano solo was beautiful, even moving.

Vangelis has created his own musical language, characterized by a special set of sounds and a grammar to stitch them together. Sometimes his juxtaposition of popular and classical styles is jarring, but here the lighter movements 3 and 5 are a lovely interlude. Devotees will recognize the instruments and themes from past works, all part of the chromatic idiom he has developed.

Vangelis has been down the classical road before. I refer to "Beaubourg" and "Invisible Connections," both of which were, arguably, modern classical compositions. In my humble opinion, "Invisible Connections" (a Deutsche Grammaphon recording) is the purest classical composition Vangelis has produced, one in which he attempts to eschew conventional western tonality and overtly pop style. "Invisible Connections" is uncompromising and successful. Fans of that work will find the haunting echoes from Movement 9 reminiscent of it.

"El Greco" is not at all up to the standard of "Invisible Connections," and indeed Vangelis certainly appears not to have intended to produce a strictly classical work, but it is lovely, and, as is typical for Vangelis disks, beautifully produced. The sound is rich and clear. There is also a nice theme and variations approach to the entire work, by means of which Vangelis develops a few captivating melodies. Wait until you hear the epilogue, one of Vangelis's loveliest songs yet.

So folks, go ahead and buy it and with some patience and at least three listens, you should find it as engrossing and inspirational as many of us have.

I'm not sure what the problem is that the first reviewer has with this stunning excersise in atmosphere Vangelis has created but I'm going to guess that they missed the point of this work. For El Greco, Vangelis stays away from traditional fanfare, predictable movements and even his own over used historonics commonly displayed in works like "Oceanic" and "Voices". Instead the composer creates a distanct mood and feel of the times and subject matter. Vangelis builds a dense tapestry that lulls the listener into the thought process of the painter (El Greco) without forcing himself upon our senses telling us how we should feel. If one wants to enjoy the "cheerful allegros and powerful prestos" of Vivaldi......then listen to Vivaldi.I think one could have easily guessed the "mood" of the album by the black and...well, moody cover. It's always been a baffeling train of thought that some "critics" subscribe to that causes them to say things like "....not what I would expect from the auther of...." when common sense would dicate just the opposite. Vanglis, like all great artits do things that can not be expected.

This album of Vangelis is not to be understood from the first listening. At the first very moment it seems dark and gloomy, and in the middle of the tragic IX movement one wants to shut the sound and just take a walk outside to the sunny street to get rid of that cemeterial feeling. He does not though - the music hypnotises him and only after the last piano movements of the epilogue is he able to take a move. A number of times it will take to fully understand the album spirit - with its gothic romance and Byzantinian church mood. But when one catches one - it realises the album deserves the name and fits the epoch of its purpose. It comes to me later that the music is El Greco himself, from infancy and childhood till the last days of his, postceded with a beautiful piano theme of Epilogue - the paintings left after him.

I have been a Vangelis fan for over 20 years and have all of his recordings(except the compilations). I listen mostly to prog rock, jazz and classical but Vangelis by far is the artist who's work I listen to the most. His ability to fuse electronic and classical music is nothing short of sublime. He is a living legend and perhaps after his passing will the world begin to REALLY appreciate the man's work.

"El Greco" is nothing short of a masterpiece. I too have been to Toledo and have seen the environment in which El Greco worked and must say that Vangelis has created a highly evocative aural characterization of the artist and his art.

The dark elements are actually a positiver thing and something that I've used in contrasting ways. For example, I don't put this recording on when I am feeling down, per se; or in the evening, or in a dark room with headphones. Doing those things would accentuate the darkness to an unbearable state. Instead, I play this recording on bright, sunny days. Specially when it's
snowing, or after it's snowed. BUT, I try to play it only when I am by myself. This is not one that you want to have folks engaging in conversation with you while you are listening to it.

I would absolutely NOT qualify this one as "space music" or symphonic electronica, as we would Albedo or Spiral. This is more along the lines of Opera Sauvage, but MUCH darker. The tonal
elements are similar to Opera, but the reverberation is deeper and much wider, giving this recording a cavernous quality that no other Vangelis recording has demonstrated.

As for those who don't care for the dark personality of this recording I would say that you are missing the gist of what the artist tried to do; and perhaps do not even understand what
Vangelis is all about. Vangelis is about NOT following tried and true musical forms. If any one thing, perhaps his reneging to follow classical forms is what's made him a significant artist.

Someone mentioned in an earlier review that he/she is still waiting of Vangelis to surprise him/her. Well, the fact that you don't like this album(after the initial listen) is testimony
enough that he has indeed surprised you!!!

I must concede that I am not often in the mood for this recording, since it requires the proper environment and circumstances that are not always available to me. But I am
more than grateful that there is music like "El Greco". Music that targets a specific mood(s) and stimulates thinking that otherwise would not happen while listening to more
"conventional" music forms.

Maybe the best and most introspective of Vangelis..
You must listen to "El Greco" twice or thrice in order to understand the deeper atmosphere it emerges from this masterpiece.. Not for easy listening. It requires proper mood and proper environment in order to enjoy it..

I agree it is dark sometimes but each track is a pure pleasure for all audiophiles out there.. Technically, melodically, inspirationally, harmonically, emotionally, spiritually, is perfect...Few pieces of music, can create in the mind what I call "presentiment of eternity", a fusion of your mind with great dramatic things that you have never lived but you feel so intense as you were there !!!

And if you are Greek and have certain ethnic backgrounds, you will appreciate this CD more. Because there is inside, what we call Byzantine Greek feeling.. Especially one melody reminds me of the famous byzantine hymn "Tin Ipermaho ta nikitiria" that starts with 3 "C" notes...!!

Vangelis is a composer and performer of many moods. To say any single album is the "true" Vangelis is to ignore the real breadth of the man. El Greco, while dark and forboding, is a masterpiece. No, not a happy melodic musical effort like "Oceanic" or even "Direct", it is still the deepest composition he has released. This is cerebreal music, not light stuff. These are what the classical composers called "tone poems", in this case based on a medievel painter of stunning compositions in his own right. Just listen to the first section for five minutes and you know you're into something special.

This is absolutely one of Vangelis' best works, a cross between classical and new age. Soothening, mysterious and passionate. A must for collectors!!!

This CD is definitely one to be played in an art gallery. This CD contains a well-defined balance of light and dark colors, like in El Greco's paintings. A strong suggestion is to read about El Greco and have an El Greco art book with you while listening to the CD. It gives the music more depth and more expression that way.

Certainly one of Vangelis' moodiest works since `Mask', 'El Greco' nevertheless has a few light moments in movements III and V. HOWEVER, instead of just listening to 'El Greco' and judging it strictly on what it conveys musically, I would encourage listeners to view the works of El Greco while listening to Vangelis' tribute to this 16th-century artist.

I was initially not overly impressed with Vangelis' 'El Greco.' However, on a recent trip to Spain, my traveling partner and I were fortunate to be among the first few tourists to enter the little Church of Santo Tomé in Toledo, the location of El Greco's masterful mural, the 'Burial of the Count of Orgaz'. I had put Vangelis' 'El Greco' on my iPod, and for 30 minutes on that wonderful morning we stood there, nearly alone with the painting, and listened to movement III over and over again as we stared in awe at the ethereal beauty of El Greco's subjects (I was particularly struck by his depiction of St Augustine). It was a sublime experience; how often does great art get its own soundtrack?

Listening to Vangelis' 'El Greco' in the presence of one of the painter's finest pieces, I was completely overwhelmed at how Vangelis was able to convey the spirit of the artist's work in music. (I was, I think, in the presence of two masters.) 'El Greco' has since become one of my favorite of Vangelis' compositions.