Mythodea

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Mythodea, full title: Mythodea: Music for the NASA Mission: 2001 Mars Odyssey, is an oratorio by Greek electronic composer and artist Vangelis. Originally performed in 1993 but left unpublished, it was picked in 2001 by Vangelis' new record label Sony Classical. To promote the album, the NASA connection was set up and a concert was organized for later broadcast on TV and release on video.

The 2001 version of Mythodea was recorded and played on-stage by: Vangelis on synthesizers and keyboards, the London Metropolitan Orchestra, sopranos Kathleen Battle and Jessye Norman, two harpists, the chorus of the Greek National Opera, and the Seistron and Typana percussion ensembles (concert only). The concert was held in Athens, Greece on June 28, 2001, and the record was officially released on October 23, 2001, to coincide with the 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft entering the orbit of planet Mars.

[edit] Pre-2001

The world premiere of Mythodia (first spelling) took place on July 13, 1993 as a public performance at the Herodes Atticus Theater, in Athens, Greece, for charity purposes. On stage were: Vangelis, who provided the full musical score accompanied by two harpists; mezzo-soprano Markella Hatziana, soprano Lucienne Deval, and the chorus and percussion of the Greek National Lyric Stage, conducted by Yvan Cassar ^[2].

Mythodia was then a piece in seven movements ^[3]. Vangelis not only composed the music, he also wrote the lyrics^[4] in Ancient Greek. Naturally in English it sounds as meaningless words ^[5]. For the encore, Vangelis played a selection of his repertoire, including "La Petite Fille de la Mer" (from the album La Fête Sauvage), "Chariots of Fire", "Pulstar" (from the album Albedo 0.39), three tracks from the soundtrack of the film 1492: Conquest of Paradise: "Hispañola", "City of Isabel" and "Conquest of Paradise", and finished with a performance of the Greek national anthem ^[3].

As the concert ended, Mythodea would remain unheard in public for the next eight years, but Vangelis kept a recording for himself.

Around the year 2000, Peter Gelb was the head of Sony Classical and was steering the record company in the direction of crossover music rather than mainstream classical repertoire. He had just signed with Vangelis and was in the process of selecting their first release together. Gelb was listening to some tapes that Vangelis had sent to him when he came upon Mythodea:

With Vangelis approval to record Mythodea with a full orchestra as Gelb had suggested ^[1], Sony Classical went on to develop a marketing plan for the launch of Mythodea that eventually grew to include a promotional tie-in with NASA, a dedicated website ^[6], and a large-scale spectacle that would involve the Greek Government, to be broadcast on TV and published on video, all in addition to the audio CD.

The deal with NASA made Mythodea the official music of the mission involving the spacecraft 2001 Mars Odyssey. This mission took the spacecraft to the orbit of Mars on October 23, 2001, and the audio CD of Mythodea was scheduled to be officially released on the same day.

[edit] Album

Mythodea: Music for the NASA Mission: 2001 Mars Odyssey
Studio album by Vangelis
Released	2001
Recorded	1993-2001
Genre	Classical
Length	66:00
Label	Sony Classical
Producer(s)	Vangelis
Professional reviews
Amazon.com: 3.5/5 Tracksounds!: 10/10
Vangelis chronology
Reprise 1990-1999 (2000)	Mythodea (2001)	Odyssey: The Definitive Collection (2003)

Mythodea was recorded at the Athens Μέγαρο Μουσικής (Megaro Moussikis, lit. Music Hall), chosen for its excellent acoustics ^[8]. For the recording, Vangelis expanded the original composition by adding two movements, extending two more and inserting some new cues throughout. The chorus parts were also touched upon, with lyrics and melodic changes ^[9].

Vangelis did not invite back any of the performers in 1993. Instead, he was accompanied by the London Metropolitan Orchestra, sopranos Kathleen Battle and Jessye Norman (both Sony Classical artists as well), two harpists, and the Greek National Opera Choir and percussion ensemble. Vangelis asked musician Blake Neely to make the instrument transcriptions and conduct the orchestra as well^[9].

The album was finished by the date of the concert in June 2001, but its official release was held until October 23, 2001 to coincide with the entry of the 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft in the orbit of Mars. The audio CD, however, was given to the press at the date of the concert and became available as early as September in Europe.

[edit] Album track listing

1. Introduction – 2:43
2. Movement 1 – 5:41
3. Movement 2 – 5:39
4. Movement 3 – 5:51
5. Movement 4 – 13:42
6. Movement 5 – 6:35
7. Movement 6 – 6:27
8. Movement 7 – 4:58
9. Movement 8 – 3:07
10. Movement 9 – 5:00
11. Movement 10 – 3:03

The album was released in the audio CD format only. Two CD-singles were also released, both featuring a track called "Mythodea Special Edit" 3:57 which combined parts of "Movement 9" and "Movement 1", plus either "Movement 1" or "Movement 7". They were not widely available, so their original purpose may have been purely promotional, as were specifically a number of other CD-single releases ^[10].

Some releases of the album carried alternative titles "Movement 1" through "Movement 11", although this was acknowledged as a mistake by the record company and was corrected. "Mythodea Special Edit" was sometimes included with the album, either as a bonus or as a hidden track.

Sales charts:

[edit] 2001 Concert

The premiere of the new version of Mythodea was held on June 28, 2001. It was a live performance of the album, with everyone involved in the recording reprising their roles. The setting was the ancient (6th century BC) Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens, Greece. The concert was taped for later broadcast on TV and release on DVD.

The budget of the concert was US $7 million, split in half between the record company, Sony Classical, and the Greek government ^[12], which considered the concert a good promotion for Greece abroad and included it as part of the Greek Cultural Olympiad leading to the 2004 Summer Olympics. There were some objections raised, mainly by fellow musician Mikis Theodorakis, over the use of public money and an archaeological site ^[13].

The spectacle involved 224 musicians on stage, almost all the same involved in the recording: Vangelis, two harpists, the 75-person ^[9] London Metropolitan Orchestra, and the 120-person chorus of the Greek National Opera. The only newcomers were the two Greek percussion ensembles Seistron and Typana, that provided 24 timpani ^[14]. In the back, a projection screen measuring 180 m in length and 24 m in height ^[1] showed images of Mars supplied by NASA, combined with elements of ancient Greek mythology ^[10].

The number of attending spectators to the ticket-paid event was between 2,000 ^[13] and 2,500 ^[9], with another 30,000 people watching simultaneously for free on a giant screen at the nearby Panathinaiko Stadium ^[13].

Mythodea lasted just over one hour, after which three encores were played: Chariots of Fire, Conquest of Paradise, and a combination of movements 9 and 10.^[15]

The concert was repeated the following day, to tape extra camera angles. Despite not having been announced, around 50 lucky fans showed up at the door and were admitted for free, authorized by Vangelis.^[14]

A one-hour condensed edit of the concert was made available for broadcast by TV stations ^[6], and later released on video, cutting the intervals and leaving just the first encore; more significantly, the live playing and singing were replaced by the album version mixed with live applause, except the encore which retained the original full-live recording. The synchronization of the live performance with the album recording was achieved with a click track being played to the performers.

Mars itself made a special appearance at the concert as an announcer told the spectators to look for an orange spot shining in the clear sky above the orchestra ^[16].

Mythodea was expected to be performed by other orchestras, without Vangelis' participation ^[9], but as of 2006 that hasn't happened.

[edit] Video

Cover of the DVD-Video, with the Temple of Olympian Zeus where the concert was taped.
DVD details:
Running time: 76 minutes
PCM Stereo
5.1 Dolby Digital
16:9 non-anamorphic
Extras:
Artist biographies:
"Making of Mythodea":
Music video:
Introduction by NASA:
Notes by Vangelis

The concert was released in the formats of DVD-Video and VHS on February 17, 2002 ^[17]. The DVD reached gold status for sales in Portugal.

[edit] Personnel

1993:

Music composed, arranged and produced by Vangelis

Concert conceived, designed and directed by Vangelis

• Vangelis: synthesizers, keyboards
• Markella Hatziana, mezzo-soprano
• Lucienne Deval, soprano
• Choir and percussion of the National Lyric Stage, Yvan Cassar: conductor

2001:

Album composed, arranged and produced by Vangelis

Concert conceived, designed and directed by Vangelis

• Vangelis: synthesizers, keyboards
• Kathleen Battle, Jessye Norman: sopranos
• London Metropolitan Orchestra, Blake Neely: conductor
• Greek National Opera Choir, Fani Palamidi: conductor
• Greek National Opera percussion emsemble (album only)
• Seistron, Typana: percussion ensembles (concert only)

[edit] Miscellanea

• Labeled as a "choral symphony" in the official website ^[6] and in the concert program ^[18], Mythodea is in reality an oratorio ^[5].
• Vangelis was not paid for his involvement in the 2001 concert ^[19].
• A limited edition of the audio CD was given to guests of a private dinner on the night before the 2001 concert. It was packaged in a blue velvet box ^[20]. In 2004, two of these boxes were auctioned off online for charity purposes. One fetched US $1,525, the other $910. ^[10]
• The audio CD is CD-Text-enhanced, with the following header appearing on compatible players: Mythodea - Music for the NASA Mission: 2001 Mars Odyssey - Kathleen Battle, Jessye Norman, Vangelis. Text for tracks appears like this one for track 4: Movement 3 / Vangelis - London Metropolitan Orchestra - Athens Opera Choir - K.Battle - J.Norman.
• Mythodea was used as the title theme of reality TV series "Der Maulwurf" (lit. The Mole), which was broadcast by German station Pro7 in 2001. It was also used in the soundtracks of the trailers for the Hollywood films X-Men (2000) and The Scorpion King (2002). ^[17]
• Mythodea was a nominee for the 2002 "Arion" Greek music awards, in the category "Best instrumental music" ^[17].
• A remastered version of "Movement 1" appeared in the 2003 Vangelis compilation Odyssey: The Definitive Collection. The opening march starts with less sound effects, and instruments join in one by one more clearly. Also, an initial spoken countdown was removed ^[21].
• "Movement 9" is included in the compilation album Classic Kathleen Battle/A Portrait.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} Vangelis interview to KLEMblad magazine, issue 107, October 2001
2. ^ 1993 concert program
3. ^ ^{a b} Dennis Lodewijks' Elsewhere
4. ^ Lyrics of Mythodea in Greek
5. ^ ^{a b} Album review by Ivar de Vries
6. ^ ^{a b c} Official Mythodea website
7. ^ NASA 2001 Mars Odyssey official website
8. ^ Vangelis interview to Greek newspaper Ta Nea on June 23 2001
9. ^ ^{a b c d e} Blake Neely interview by Dennis Lodewijks
10. ^ ^{a b c} Dennis Lodewijks' Elsewhere
11. ^ Vangelis to Status magazine, June 2002
12. ^ Telegraph.co.uk, October 18 2001
13. ^ ^{a b c} Dennis Lodewijks' Elsewhere
14. ^ ^{a b} Concert review by John van Houtert
15. ^ Dennis Lodewijks' Elsewhere
16. ^ Concert review by Samuel Gomez
17. ^ ^{a b c} Dennis Lodewijks' Elsewhere
18. ^ 2001 concert program
19. ^ Fouli Manolopoulou (Vangelis production manager), to Status magazine, June 2002
20. ^ Vangelis Collector
21. ^ Dennis Lodewijks' Elsewhere