Live in my heart !. Review on Yanni Live at the Acropolis - Yanni

Yanni Live at the Acropolis - Live in my heart!

There might be people who wonder why a review about an album that's 7 yrs old. Believe me, this is not one album, we'd buy, listen to it a couple of times and then fling it to an end in the CD rack. This is a masterpiece, like Beethoven's Sonata's, Mozart's Symphonies or Bach's Cantata. This album somehow down the line manages to bring back the focus on music - positive, pure, contemporary yet classical music. Honestly, I've been listening to this CD from the time it was released. Then why so much time to voice one's opinion, some would ask? One: I discovered 'MouthShut' only lately and Two: It's never too late to say something, especially as good as this.

Why Classical Orchestra with Modern Instruments?

Many would vouch for me if I should say music performed by an Orchestra is the richest form of music. In an Orchestra, Violin, Viola, Cello and Doublebass comprise the Strings section, Trumpet, Tuba, Horn and Basoon comprise the Brass section, Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Saxophone comprise the Wind section, Cymbals, Tam Tam, Timpani comprise the percussion section and Harp occupies a unique place, we could call it the Plucked String section. Traditionally, the Guitar and Mandolin are not used in Orchestral Compositions. The wide variety of instrument's used, the unique range of each instrument and the timbre of different instruments make an Orchestra sound so rich and emotive.

Yanni's approach

Yanni in his concert 'Live at the Acropolis' has seamlessly combined the Classical elements of an orchestra with all the modern instruments like the Synthesizer, Guitar, Bass Guitar and of course aria-like human voices. What happens when one combines elements like these? One would be opening out a huge canvas with infinite colors to use, if you still don't believe what I'm trying to say, forget reading this review, just grab a CD or a cassette and listen to it and the more you'll try to contradict me, the more you'll agree with me. A Synthesizer opens out our aural regions to a whole new variety of sounds and when these sounds combine with the orchestra, there are infinite ways to grab a listener's attention and enthrall him with the sheer magic of a combination of sounds at a surreal level.

The tracks

'Santorini' is the first track in this compilation. It opens with the whole orchestra greeting you like welcoming you into their world. As the name of the track suggests this track is like a volcano spewing out lava, you have all kinds of instruments playing but they cause no destruction except for amazing you with their sounds. The beat used in this track is very unique to Yanni, he follows the same pattern in 'Within Attraction'. This track ends when you least expect it to. You most probably won't have heard this beat pattern before, in India we have music directors who use it but to the West it is uncommon. Interspersed among all tracks is intermittent piano works of the main theme of each track which brilliantly highlight Yanni's virtuosity on the Piano. He's a prolific pianist, you'd agree to me after listening to Keys to Imagination, the left hand plays fast arpeggios while the right is even faster playing the melody.

'One man's dream' is essentially every musicians dream, a piano opens out with a short piece, eventually the strings support it and in the end it gets a full orchestral treatment. The last track 'Aria' is inspired by a Classical piece called 'Lakme', Yanni used it for the British Airways Commercial earlier. There are pieces when individuals dazzle you with their control and speed over the instrument they are playing, the bass guitar by Ric Fierabracci and drumming by Charlie Adams and Joel Taylor is one to look out for in 'The Rain must fall', the violin duet between Karen Briggs and Sharhad Rohani, who's also the conductor of the Orchestra, in 'Within Attraction' and some scintillating other instrumental parts keep your ears full. Just keep prying deep with your ears, you'll stumble upon a gem. There are other reviews in this same forum which brilliantly take you to the tracks, so I'm not doing that again.

Instrumentalists

Sharhad Rohani, is an accomplished violinist and also the conductor of 'Live at the Acropolis'. This compilation also features Karen Briggs, who's a prolific violinist. Many would have seen her in the movie 'Music of the heart' in which she shared stage with greats like (late) Issac Stern, Itzhak Perlman and the like. Pedro Eustache is the flautist in this album, he's proficient in playing a lot of wind instruments and something that we Indians could be proud of is that he also learned Indian flute under Pt.Hariprasad Chaurasia for some time. Charlie Adams and Joel Taylor are the drummers and works cannot describe the energy they exhibit on stage, unparalleled. Alfreda Gerald and Jeanette Clinger are the the female aria-like voices. Yanni is supported on the keyboards by Julie Homi and Bradley Joseph and they fill in the gaps very well. Orchestral support is provided by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

In essence

If one would want to classify Yanni's music one could call it Contemporary Classical. But most companies call it World Music or New Age which is not appropriate. Another striking aspect which is unique to Yanni is the way he names his tracks, no track could have a more appropriate name. All tracks try to evoke positive vibes from the listener, we don't have a single track which one could call even remotely negative. Yanni also believes in giving a listener an emotion and let him relate it to himself, so a simple word like 'happiness' can represent a range of emotions from taking a walk on a pleasant day to winning a big sports event. Music, when used correctly is very direct and extremely accurate in describing even the most subtle human emotions. Good music, does not describe the circumstances, but how the circumstances make you feel . It does not project gender , the listener can personalize it and in a far more precise way, Yanni excels in doing this and hence makes him a very special composer.

Conclusion

Music heals us, it's the most valuable and unexpected gift that one can get in return for the effort of intensely relishing to it. There's so much music today that expresses anger and to some degrees it is necessary. Great artists try to give positive music, which inspires people, it tries to get them into a frame of mind where they appreciate, and even enjoy the world they live in .... despite all it's problems. Go ahead indulge yourself in this ocean of music and you'll thank yourself in future for making this nice choice.