You know - we live in an age of artistic poverty. There aren't any more Mozarts, Beethovens and Tchaikovskys to give us new heights of musical emotion and complexity. There aren't any more Shakespeares to show "the very age and body of the time his form and pressure". The modern world seems to have run out of wonder.
Even so, all is not yet lost. Space travel is one most wondrous undertaking, and all things science and space-related are sorely neglected by current-day music, literature, poetry and the arts in general. The Apollo moon flights should have been accompanied by fabulous sonnets and music to lift the spirit of all the world right into space with those Olympian rockets!
Now, the beauty of Mythodea is that Vangelis realizes all this. He knows what art should be applied to, and in a breath-taking classical setting, he unites the past and the future with a marvelously atmospheric twilight performance of a multi-movement choral work paying homage to NASA's Mars mission. What an inspiration! What a spectacle! What a historical as well as orchestral sweep of the spirit of exploration! What tragedy that more artists do not understand how to celebrate the truly wondrous things in life.
Mythodea is a beautiful piece of music, with great vocal performances, great choruses and great instrumentation. My only complaint is that Vangelis' longer works are frequently not as varied and playful as they could be; they tend to be lofty and meditative, better suited for background music than for holding the attention of a straining ear. But for that purpose - setting a pleasant mood and holding it - they are superb; perhaps supreme. Mythodea is perhaps not Vangelis' best work, but rest assured that it is very beautiful and very worth your time.
8 out of 10.
Even so, all is not yet lost. Space travel is one most wondrous undertaking, and all things science and space-related are sorely neglected by current-day music, literature, poetry and the arts in general. The Apollo moon flights should have been accompanied by fabulous sonnets and music to lift the spirit of all the world right into space with those Olympian rockets!
Now, the beauty of Mythodea is that Vangelis realizes all this. He knows what art should be applied to, and in a breath-taking classical setting, he unites the past and the future with a marvelously atmospheric twilight performance of a multi-movement choral work paying homage to NASA's Mars mission. What an inspiration! What a spectacle! What a historical as well as orchestral sweep of the spirit of exploration! What tragedy that more artists do not understand how to celebrate the truly wondrous things in life.
Mythodea is a beautiful piece of music, with great vocal performances, great choruses and great instrumentation. My only complaint is that Vangelis' longer works are frequently not as varied and playful as they could be; they tend to be lofty and meditative, better suited for background music than for holding the attention of a straining ear. But for that purpose - setting a pleasant mood and holding it - they are superb; perhaps supreme. Mythodea is perhaps not Vangelis' best work, but rest assured that it is very beautiful and very worth your time.
8 out of 10.
