Chariots of Fire

3 месяца назад

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“Chariots of Fire” … a new arrangement of the 1981 title music from the film of the same name.

Vangelis wrote this music for Hugh Hudson’s film about the 1924 Paris Olympics. What could be a better piece of music to celebrate the 2024 Paris Olympics, 100 years after the setting of that film?

The film's title (and eventually, the music’s) was inspired by the line "Bring me my Chariot of fire!" from the William Blake poem that was adapted into the British hymn "Jerusalem", which is also performed during the film. The phrase "chariot(s) of fire" originally comes from 2 Kings 2:11 and 6:17 in the King James Bible.

The film itself focused on the true story of competition between two British runners, Harold Abrahams (a student at Cambridge) & Eric Liddell (the son of Scottish missionaries living in Scotland). Abrahams ran to overcome prejudice & Liddell ran for the glory of his Christian God. They became friends & team members who defeated the other leading runners at those games and propelled the British team to Olympic glory.

Vangelis wrote this driving, uplifting theme originally for the opening title credit roll of the film which featured iconic images of the young British team practicing prior for their upcoming international event. The music went on to be used elsewhere in the film. It has become forever associated with “the Olympics”.

What is not so well known is that Vangelis was actually accused of plagiarizing the music from a piece by Stavros Logaridis, “City of Violets”. The matter went to court and Vangelis prevailed by showing he had never heard the other music prior to writing his competition. He also established for the judge that the one similar motif between the two pieces of music relied on a progression that was common to many other pieces of music – Vangelis had used that motif in a prior work that predated Logaridis’ composition.

The music was released as part of the film’s soundtrack under the name “Titles”. It did chart (at number 68) with that title. However, when the studio and record label realized its mistake, it was rereleased with the name “Chariots of Fire” & shot up to number 1 in most charts. Since then, it has been used in many, many films from comedies to serious dramatic films plus in several video games.

“Chariots of Fire” has also been played by symphony orchestras around the world & has even had vocal versions performed by the likes of Melissa Manchester, Jane Olivor, Mireille Mathieu, Demis Roussos, etc. using lyrics written by Jon Anderson (of the rock band “Yes”).

It has been used in the context of the 1984, 1988, 1996, 2012 summer Olympics, & the 1984 winter Olympics, plus has been used as a fanfare for the Olympic torch bearers (and having met someone who carried that torch, those involved do deserve a fanfare as it is quite a heavy object that has to be held upright while running).

One last use of this sweeping theme: it was the music used by Steve Jobs when he launched the Apple Macintosh in 1984.

MUSIC INSIGHTS:

Given the popularity of this music, I did not vary its motifs, harmony, or tempo. That said, it is a very sweeping, cinematic composition so I opted to go big on the orchestration:

You are hearing no less than 5 pianos: 4 grand pianos & an electric piano. They provide the backbone of the melody & a good portion of the harmonic anchor. I also used 3 synthesizers, a string section, & some extensive percussion: bass drum, snare drum, timpani, & a suspended cymbal. All of this is further anchored by two bass instruments – an electric jazz bass & an orchestra contrabass – playing essentially a repeated note, sometimes doubled in an octave. during the entire production.

The mixing was tricky to bring out the distinct voicings of the instruments. I processed each of the 24 tracks & sub-buses using tailored equalization, specific positioning in the stereo field & varying amounts of reverb. The master mix was structured to further bring out clarity for each instrument grouping.

VIDEO INSIGHTS:

Since this release is about celebrating the start of the 2024 Paris Olympics, I have used scenes of athletes preparing for their upcoming events.

Please do indicate if you like the music and/or music video – it would encourage me to release other new works. Also, please do subscribe to this channel so that you get announcements of all future releases.

“Chariots of Fire” was arranged and recorded in late-July 2024 using Ableton Live with voices from the sample libraries of Spitfire Audio & Native Instruments. The master mix was done using iZotope Ozone 9.

At some time in the future, it will be released for streaming.

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