Review: Swiadectwo OST

Definitively setting the titles' music of Swiadectwo Vangelis has fortunately provided a new mix and a compilation (together with Robert Janson's score). We can purchase the CD from several polish webstores, and I got mine a few days ago. In the case of the first three tracks which open the CD, we can listen to the inimitable, choral/sinth-phonic style of the composer – a style with which he has made a name for himself. Sanctus is clearly based on an excerpt from Alexander OST, but the tune is proposed verbatim in a context which takes on the character of ample filling in. The new passages that are inserted are scored for the chorus, to add lyricism, dramatic function. The track seems to be realised with the same criteria as seen in Hymn (choral version): a gentle opening which Vangelis brings to a bombastic end. The rest of the music is an impressive improvisation at the Direct Machine (In Aeternitatem). The item shows the composer's ability in creating polyvocal music using a sampled choir and all the colours of a sampled orchestra! The last movement (Humanum Est) is the peaceful epilogue of the part, resembling a liturgical requiem.

Tracklist
Vangelis - Part 1
1. Sanctus 4:34 2. In Aeternitatem 1:58 3. Humanum Est 3:08
Robert Jansson - Part 2
4. Dziecinstwo 7:09 5. Podroze 4:59 6. Swiadectwo 1 4:12 7. Powolanie 4:53 8. Swiadectwo 2 2:29 9. Triumf 3:28 10. Swiadectwo 3 4:03 11. Nadzieja 4:30 12 Zlo 1:25 13 Cierpienie 4:16

Report: Swiadectwo

As it seems I am one of the few vangelisfans who attended the premiere of Swiadectwo... A very exciting experience!

The Nervi Hall is completely filled when Pope Benedict XVI comes in and reaches his armchair. All the lights off, all the eyes watch the silver screen...

Testimony is a strong documentary. The life of the Pope John Paul II had a sort of charism, I mean a power to meet so many people and to face so many difficulties, both in a mystical and humane way. His body has suffered many times during the Pontificate. He died saying the words: “Let me go to the house of the Father”.

Vangelis' contribute is excellent. Despite they are quite short, Opening Titles remind me a requiem. Maestro Papathanassiou used a big male choir mixed with his characteristic orchestral samples (strings and timpani) and a very familiar bell-soundscape. In sound the result is a track which resembles the last El Greco choral parts, as well as various synth-phonic works of the past. The mood is a mixture of melancholy and peace, a spiritual tribute from an electronic-driven music composer... You can hear an excerpt from the Closing Titles' music in the polish TV trailer (on U Tube): a beautiful melody with brasses, timpani and a soft piano arpeggio. The track has a long epilogue, a bombastic choral reprise similar to certain improvisations of the 90'. Sadly, the music in the hall has been fade out...

A dvd should be released next February in Poland.