''El Greco'' is a soundtrack album featuring the music score for the 2007 film ''

El Greco Doménikos Theotokópoulos (, ; 1 October 1541 7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco (; "The Greek"), was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance, regarded as one of the greatest artists of all time. ...

'', by Greek electronic composer

Vangelis Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou (, ; 29 March 1943 – 17 May 2022), known professionally as Vangelis ( ; , ), was a Greek musician, composer, and producer of electronic, progressive, ambient, and classical orchestral music. He composed ...

, released in Greece and Cyprus by Universal Music Greece. The film, directed by Yannis Smaragdis, follows the life of Greek painter, Doménicos Theotokópoulos, as he travels to Italy and Spain where he becomes known as

(The Greek). Vangelis previously worked with Yannis Smaragdis on his 1996 movie about the Greek poet Kavafis (a.k.a. Cavafy). It won the award for best music score at the 48th

Greek State Film Awards The Greek State Film Awards () was a part of Thessaloniki International Film Festival concerning exclusively Greek movies. It was one of the most important events in Greek cinema, from its institution in 1992 until 2008. Until 1991, only Greek mov ...

in 2007.

Overview

This is not the first project regarding El Greco with which Vangelis has been involved. In 1995, the album ''

Foros Timis Ston Greco ''Foros Timis Ston Greco'' (''Φόρος Τιμής Στον Γκρέκο'', lit. ''A Tribute to El Greco'') is a classical album by Greek electronic composer and artist Vangelis (as Vangelis Papathanassiou/Βαγγέλης Παπαθανασί� ...

'' had a limited release (3,000 signed copies) as part of a fund raising campaign for Greek art. Three years later, in 1998, Vangelis recompiled the album, including 3 additional tracks, and retitled it ''

''. On this soundtrack for the film ''El Greco'', Vangelis' method is to watch the images and let them inspire his creative process. Typical of his film work, each track paints a different picture while fitting into the whole, even the three tracks not composed by Vangelis himself. Tracks 1 and 18 are different compositions of the same melody. Track 1 is a choral piece composed for the movie's climax and track 18 is a piano version that serves as the end titles. Track 2 is the actual opening titles.

Release

The album was released by

Polydor Records Polydor Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in ...

(Universal Music SA Greece) as a CD album in tri-fold

digipak Optical disc packaging is the packaging that accompanies CDs, DVDs, and other formats of optical discs. Most packaging is rigid or semi-rigid and designed to protect the media from scratches and other types of exposure damage. Jewel case A ...

sleeve edition. A limited edition

vinyl record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English) or a vinyl record (for later varieties only) is an analog signal, analog sound Recording medium, storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, ...

was released in 2014 by Cobalt Music. On November 10 of the same year, Cobalt Music released in Greece a 1000 pieces limited ''Anniversary Edition'' box set containing soundtrack CD and Vinyl, DVD of the 2007 film, and hardcover book. By the same label on July 29, 2016 the box set was re-released in Europe. The album has reached # 1 position in Greek Charts and kept the position for three weeks. The ''Anniversary Edition'' box set reached #7 position on the Greece Albums chart published by ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

''.

Track listing

All tracks, except 5, 8, & 11, composed and performed by Vangelis. # Part 1 - 3:59 # Part 2 - 1:56 # Part 3 - 4:20 # Part 4 - 2:26 # Part 5 (Traditional Folk Song of

Chania Chania (, , ), also sometimes romanization of Greek, romanized as Hania, is a city in Greece and the capital of the Chania (regional unit), Chania regional unit. It lies along the north west coast of the island Crete, about west of Rethymno ...

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

) - 3:06 # Part 6 - 2:05 # Part 7 - 1:30 # Part 8 (composed and performed by

Psarantonis Antonios "Antonis" Xylouris (; born September 6, 1937), nicknamed Psarantonis (), is a Greek composer, singer and performer of Lyra (Cretan), lyra, the bowed string instrument of Crete and most popular surviving form of the medieval Byzantine ly ...

) - 1:56 # Part 9 - 1:00 # Part 10 - 1:51 # Part 11 (written and performed by Loudovikos ton Anogeion) - 2:50 # Part 12 - 4:56 # Part 13 - 2:36 # Part 14 - 1:06 # Part 15 - 2:40 # Part 16 - 2:46 # Part 17 - 2:28 # Part 18 - 3:16

Credits

*Composed and Performed by Vangelis *Track 5 features the Choir of the Historical, Cultural and Folklore Association of Chania, Crete, "Kritikes Madares" *Voices: The Choir of the Greek Radio and Television *Choir music score transcription & Choir master: Irina Valentinova ;Production *All tracks Arranged and Produced by Vangelis *Assistant Sound Engineer, Mixer and Assistant Producer: Vangelis Saitis *Sound Engineer:

Frederick Rousseau Frederick Rousseau (born 1958 in Paris) is a New Age instrumentalist. His musical research is based on electronic sounds that he mixes with ethnic instruments, classical orchestras, and vocals. Career After a classical training in piano, Roussea ...

*Cover design: Stathis Zalidis *Photographers: Evi Psilaki, Helen Smaragdis, Manolis Metzakis, Maria Moschou

References

External links

Elsewhere - Independent Vangelis website
{{Authority control Biographical film soundtracks 2007 soundtrack albums Vangelis soundtracks Universal Music Greece soundtracks