Music for Meditation: Vangelis
August 10th, 2020
By Mark George, President and CEO
Music for Meditation is a weekly recommendation of music of a reflective nature. Find a comfortable chair or lie down, turn on a smart speaker or put in earbuds, and just listen.
This week’s selection is the title theme from the 1982 film Missing by the Greek composer Vangelis. This may seem slightly unusual, especially coming from a classically trained musician. However, this little theme has always moved me, in spite of what I might have once described as its exploitation of accented non-harmonic tones. In classical music, this device – having a note either anticipate or be delayed in leaving its “proper” chord – is considered an embellishment but Vangelis makes it the primary feature of the composition. In addition, Vangelis was an early adopter of the tools of electronic or ambient music. The particular timbres of electronically produced sounds are central to the emotional effect of the music.
As with most cinematic music, there is also a strong association with a character or plot point. For me the association is with the character Ed Horman (played by the Jack Lemmon). Horman is an American businessman, and a conservative and disapproving father of his idealistic son, a journalist living in Chile. When his son “disappears” amidst 1973 Chilean coup d’état, Horman’s allusions of the goodness of the establishment crumble as he gives an impassioned speech for the return of his son. The scene is set in a surreal soccer stadium which has been repurposed by the Chilean military. Listen to the music and then watch the film if you are so inclined. Missing was nominated for four Academy Awards and won for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Title Theme from Missing (1982).....................Vangelis (b. 1943)
Vangelis, born Evángelos Odysséas Papathanassíou, is a Greek musician and composer of electronic, ambient, new age and orchestral music. He is best known for his Academy Award winning score for the 1981 film, Chariots of Fire.