Description

Suitably grand in scale and far-reaching in its scope, this soundtrack is the first new music from Vangelis since 1990’s The City. 1492 stands up well next to Vangelis’s classic Chariots Of Fire, due to his innate ability to get right inside the material and provide an integral part of the film itself. Vangelis succeeds in capturing the 15th-century mood, mixing rich choral portions with modern elements, and portraying the larger than life character of Columbus, complete with full-range, dynamic sound. When first released, Vangelis score for 1492: Conquest Of Paradise did badly in sales. It didn’t help that Ridley Scott’s work was also a disaster. It was only in 1995 that the title track rose in prominence after a German boxer used it as introduction music before his boxing bouts. More than two decades on, and on hindsight, this album is a masterpiece, one of Vangelis’ very finest. If his score for Blade Runner (1982) is his magnum opus, this comes as a close second. Alternating between dynamic pieces like the title track and ‘Light and Shadow’ and quieter but evocative tracks like ‘Monastery of La Rabida’ and ‘West Across the Ocean Sea’, the score provides a sumptuous musical journey that culminates in the epic ‘Pinta, Nina, Santa Maria (Into Eternity)’. There’s enough ethnic flavor to suggest that Vangelis is in sync with the movie from a cultural standpoint. Some of the organic instruments used e.g. Spanish guitar and mandolin in tracks like ‘City of Isabel’, ‘Deliverance’ and ‘Hispanola’, not to mention choral work from the superb English Chamber Choir, give the album such a musical richness that you will be clamoring for more when it ends.

Track list:
1. Opening
2. Conquest Of Paradise
3. Monastery Of La Rabida
4. City Of Isabel
5. Light And Shadow
6. Deliverance
7. West Across The Ocean Sea
8. Eternity
9. Hispanola
10. Moxica And The Horse
11. Twenty Eighth Parallel
12. Pinta, Nina, Santa Maria (Into Eternity)