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phaedra2008
One of the Coolest Member
Age: 66
Joined: 09 Aug 2009
Posts: 4035
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Sat Mar 01, 2014 7:53 am Vangelis - El Grecorianna |
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Here is something about Vangelis' compositions, in particular two tracks featuring Sopranos: El Greco - Movement 4 feat. Montserrat Caballé vs. Direct - Glorianna feat. Markella Hatziano.
In the music industry the release year we attribute to an album does not always reflect when it was actually recorded, and this is the case for many Vangelis releases.
Direct hit the shelves in 1988 and the beauty of Glorianna got embedded in my brain instantly and, it's still in there 
Come 1995, and the Foros Timis Ston Greco 3000 signed/numbered Ltd. Ed. set was sold only at the Athens Art Gallery with no commercial release at the time.
I got that and listening to Movement 4 I thought it featured Markella Hatziano again, great, but then reading the the text it turned out to be Montserrat Caballé which was intriguing.
I am not a classical opera connoisseur but I can pick differences as well as similarities and today I spent half an hour repeating a test I did years ago.
I dragged into Wavelab8 Montage El Greco Movement 4 & Glorianna, then applied simple cross-fades at the right point and bingo, there it was:
a seamless track challenging myself to differentiate between the two Sopranos, musical composition and arrangement despite them being almost 10 years apart.
And here is the "process", first the Montage with visible cross fading and i also noted El Greco was in Loudness war territory as it peaked into 0db, so I dropped the level by -1db. Glorianna from 1988 was more civilised & I boosted the level by +1.6db, it looked perfect for 3 minutes work...
And here is the rendered file:
and the resulting audio (sorry, looks like the embedded soundcloud player code does not work on the portal):
https://soundcloud.com/user26322322/el-grecorianna
So what does is tell me? Very strong similarities in composing and arranging, close to a copy  , Caballé does hit lower notes and is more powerful (just a volume issue really) but maybe that's how Vangelis wanted it.
But pick any crescendos, say Caballé from 4:45-5:55 to Hatziano 7-7:31 and damn if I can tell them apart...
Both have tremendous voices yet the Composer manages to get them to sound very similar many years apart. Not a critique, just an experiment, I wonder what some of you think?
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Imagination is more important than knowledge
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softroom
Even more Cool Member
Age: 63
Joined: 12 Sep 2009
Posts: 346
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Posted:
Sat Mar 01, 2014 12:18 pm (No subject) |
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phaedra2008
One of the Coolest Member
Age: 66
Joined: 09 Aug 2009
Posts: 4035
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Posted:
Sat Mar 01, 2014 12:30 pm (No subject) |
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Paul,
the waveforms were mere indications of how easy it was to bridge seamlessly 2 tracks in minutes & for the benefit of those not working with audio files.
The topic is about the audio, Caballé vs. Hatziano voices and Vangelis' arrangements a decade apart.
Forget about waveforms, just click on the link and listen to the sound cloud track, then come back with some comment on the audio performances and arrangments.
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Imagination is more important than knowledge
Albert Einstein
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softroom
Even more Cool Member
Age: 63
Joined: 12 Sep 2009
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Sat Mar 01, 2014 1:01 pm (No subject) |
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I was only joshing with you, this type of thing is what I'd expect from someone whose work is not bound to technological advances but artistic choice and a very powerful vision. It's more than possible that Vangelis hit a point somewhere he decided was where he wanted to be and simply stayed there. Just as he might use the same phrase and intonation in conversation, he might do the equivalent in music so naturally he wouldn't even notice. We can but speculate. 
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phaedra2008
One of the Coolest Member
Age: 66
Joined: 09 Aug 2009
Posts: 4035
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Posted:
Sat Mar 01, 2014 1:09 pm (No subject) |
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Ok, just wanted to ensure it's not one of my typical audio quality rants, this is all about the 2 Sopranos and Vangelis in between 2 tracks, years apart.
The outcome surprised me years ago as it did today but may not be shared by others which I have no problem with either as long as they listened to the track. I may be unique after all
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Imagination is more important than knowledge
Albert Einstein
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softroom
Even more Cool Member
Age: 63
Joined: 12 Sep 2009
Posts: 346
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Posted:
Sat Mar 01, 2014 1:13 pm (No subject) |
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Naus
One of the Coolest Member
Age: 56
Joined: 22 Apr 2007
Posts: 981
Location: Leiden
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Posted:
Sun Mar 02, 2014 3:47 pm (No subject) |
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Interesting!
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BruecknerAmbient
One of the Coolest Member
Age: 55
Joined: 11 May 2011
Posts: 6125
Location: Mainz
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Posted:
Sun Mar 02, 2014 11:05 pm (No subject) |
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Well, took some time to listen today - actually, if I wouldn't have known before, I guess I had bought it for just one track (with different parts, though).
Not my favorite Vangelis, I must confess; but of course, as everything he does, well done...
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phaedra2008
One of the Coolest Member
Age: 66
Joined: 09 Aug 2009
Posts: 4035
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Posted:
Fri Apr 03, 2015 5:06 am (No subject) |
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He, he, after one year soundcloud advises the hybrid track was removed:
Hi user xyzxyxxy,
Our automatic content protection system has detected that your track:
"El Grecorianna"may contain the following copyrighted content:
"El Greco: Movement Iv" by Vangelis, owned by EastWest U.K..
As a result, your track has been removed from your profile for the time being. If you think we’ve made a mistake, you can tell us about it by filing a dispute.
It was not posted with the musician's name, the title was made up & not easily recognizable leaving 2 likely methods for identification:
Someone read this post & reported it to EastRest who found the interest in removing it, or, reliable software really exists to analyze actual digital content.
That would be as impressive as scary just thinking of what it's next "big brother" application could be, Orwell's 1984 is still valid
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Imagination is more important than knowledge
Albert Einstein
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