This Greek I honour knowing that I'm not the first or the last who does so. Many painters took after him, but none will ever manage to emulate him.

This Greek I honour with all of my heart because I know that only good will be evoked when I look upon his creations which contain the measure & essense of the international Greek psyche.

This Greek I honour because within the consciously or unconscisouly traitorous times we live he continues to hold the batton of the social/moral & way of life - and this is simply translated to hope.

If we pay attention to the work of Dominicos Theotocopholous we will see that it contains all the elements which in painting we call movements & revolution while essentially in creation there is none of that. There is only a thesis & this is becoming cons iousness/awareness and as much as possible greater approach as being in one with the laws of nature, and believe me, whoever can manage that, he was and will always be contemporary. In any other case there is a use-by date.

Well justified, o great Cretan you sign next to your name as the one who has shown [El Grecco signs his works additionally "Teacher/One Who has Shown"].

Vangelis Papathanassiou paved the way for the collection of the very substantial sum of money required for the purchase of Domenicos Theotocopoulos' Saint Peter by the Greek National Gallery. El Greco created his work far from his fatherland, in a voluntary, though not less painful exile, always with the desire and homesickness for Crete, as attested by numerous pieces of evidence, and most significantly, by the signatures in Greek that persistedly accompany his paintings. The analogies with the li fe of the contemporary Greek composer Vangelis are evident. Vangelis Papathanassiou belives that Domenicos Theotocopoulos was able to create his sublime opus due to his Greek origin, education and conscience. To be a Greek is for Papathanassiou a privilege and a responsibility. The musical work A Tribute to El Greco emerged from this sense of responsibility.

This same feeling led him to his decision to offer to the Nation Gallery the CD of his musical composition in three thousand signed copies, in order to establish a National Fund for the Purchase of Works of Art. Vangelis Papathanassiou's musical compositi on is inspired by Domenicos Theotocopoulos' pictorial symphonies. Vangelis' music and El Greco's religious visions may lead us to a similiar type of ecstasy. The great Spanish soprano Montserat Caballe culminates the celestial symphony, thus giving a live voice voice to El Greco's angelic choirs. So El Greco's two fatherla nds, Greece and Spain, may be joined in a contemporary creation. The participation of the tenor Konstantinos Paliatsaras is exceptional. Warner Music United Kingdom produced 3000 CDs, which were donated to the National Gallary towards the creation of the Natio nal Fund for the Purchase of Works of Art.

FOROS TIMIS STON GRECO (A Tribute To El Greco)
Movements I .................. 10:08
Movements II ................. 5:25
Movements III ............... 6:26
Movements IV ............... 9:46
Movements V ................ 8:12
Movements VI .............. 11:12
Movements VII ............. 7:00

Composed, Arranged, Produced and Performed by Vangelis.
Copyright 1995 Warner Music U.K. Ltd.
Recorded by Philippe Colonna and Frederick Rousseau.
This record appeared in the following ways:
SAM 1702 LIMITED EDITION for sale in Greece only.

El Greco Sounds files available here .

Discography

More information in English

Interview 1 by Bob Doerschuk, Keyboard Magazine August, 1982 in English

Interview 2 Part1. July 1990 issue of Sound On Sound, Vangelis by Richard Buskin, July 1990 in English

Interview 3 Part2. Keyboard Magazine, December ’92 The Navigations of Vangelis by Christian Jacob in English

Interview 4 Vangelis Speaks in English

More information His Biography in English

Vangelis and Neuronium in English