Theme from "Bitter Moon" [3:42]
Previously unreleased (1992)
Rachel's song [4:22]
From BLADE RUNNER (1996)
Movement 4 [6:30]
From EL GRECO (1996)
Psalmus Ode (Theme from "The Plague") [4:41]
Previously unreleased) (1992)
Dawn [4:43]
From THE CITY (1996)
Prelude [4:36]
From VOICES (1996)
Anyone not willing to spend the money to buy 40+ Vangelis albums would do well to buy "Themes", "Portraits" and this latest compilation-album "Reprise" instead, because together they assemble a pretty reasonable overview of his oeuvre, with hardly any overlap between them. Vangelis was personally involved with all three, allowing previously unreleased movie-themes to be released on them, which is why they're of interest also to fans who do have all "real" albums.
"Reprise" marks the end of Vangelis' period with EastWest and features tracks from all of his albums released on that label, with some of them being a bit shorter than the originals. The highest number (five) come from "1492 - Conquest Of Paradise", with just the one coming from "The City" and "Blade Runner" and the rest from "Voices", "Oceanic" and "El Greco". They have been digitally remastered and made into a sort of suite, with each track fading into the next without pause.
It's interesting to note that almost half the tracks feature a vocalist and/or choir, showing a shift towards more and more varied vocal music made by Vangelis in the nineties ("Oceanic" is the only completely instrumental album) - he's worked with plenty of vocalists before of course, but there used to be more purely instrumental albums.
'Psalmus Ode', the second of two previously unreleased tracks, illustrates the point perfectly, featuring the stunning voice of boy soprano Jeremy Budd in a beautiful slow piece. It appears to have the figure of "Death" walking in the background, which would be sort of fitting as it's the theme to the movie "The Plague".The 'Bitter Moon' theme is one of those typically great tragic piano-pieces - the start of it can be heard over the opening titles of the movie, the rest is faintly audible in the background further on. However, the music over the end-titles still hasn't been officially released (there's plenty of room for it here), which is now turning into an almost criminal oversight, as it's possibly the best piano-piece Vangelis ever made.
