a look at the music of Vangelis Papathanassiou

Introduction

Remembering her success five years earlier with 'Ich hab' keine Angst' , Italian singer Milva returned to Vangelis' studio in London one more time to work on a new album. Milva is actually short for Maria Ilva Biolcati (born in Goro, Ferrara). As with her first cooperation with Vangelis, this album is released in two languages, in Italian named 'Tra Due Sogni' and in German named 'Geheimnisse'. Milva to this day is still a popular singer in Europe, especially in Germany and Italy.

Tracklist

Although both 'Tra Due Sogni' and 'Geheimnisse' have the same number of songs, they both contain one song that is not featured on the other...  Curiously, the track 'In Sogno' on 'Tra Due Sogni' is a new version of 'Da Oben Ist Sein Zimmer', a song already included on their first cooperative album 'Ich hab' keine Angst'.

The following list shows the differences between the two:

Credits

Vangelis is credited for composing all songs on both albums, but only as arranger of three songs: "Canto a Lloret" (Du Gibst Mir Mehr),  "Cuori Di Passagio" (Wuenche) and "L'Ultima Carmen" (Die Letzte Carmen). It's obvious that Vangelis also plays on  these three songs.

Tracklist and credits on the Karussel cd

Discography

LP
1986 Metronome 829897 West-Germany/Greece/Spain/Argentina
1986 Dischi Ricordi SMRL 6362 Italy

Maxi single
1986 Canto a Lloret/Canto a Lloret (edit)/Blue Notte  Barclay 885478 France

Single
1986 Canto a Lloret/Blue Notte  Metronome 885478 France
1986 Canto a Lloret/Spring, Summer, Winter and Fall  Polydor 885681 Spain

CD
1986 Metronome 829897 West Germany
1986 Karussel 841487 West Germany
1986 Seven Seas KICP 210 Japan

LP
1986 Metronome 829656 West Germany

Single
1986 Du Gibst Mir Mehr/Etwas Mehr  Metronome 885121 West Germany
1986 Deine Frau/Arie  Metronome 885428 West Germany

CD
1986 Metronome 829656 West Germany 

Generally speaking 'Tra Due Sogni' (and the singles) are harder to find than 'Geheimnisse'. The cd has become a real rarity, while the LP can still be found on second-hand sites.

Recording Studio

Apparently it took 4 studios in all to record, mix and produce this album::

Miscellania

Lyrics

For all the lyrics of Geheimnisse, go to : Vangelis and Milva Lyrics: Geheimnisse

Review
‘Tra Due Sogni’ and ‘Geheimnisse’ (recorded slightly later) together form the second partnership between Vangelis and singer Milva. In contrast to its predecessor, here Vangelis' contribution is more extensive because, apart from the music, he provides the arrangements and digital production for six tracks. The others are produced by Klaus Ebert and arranged by Harry Baierl, who plays keyboards on all tracks, along with a few other musicians on sax, guitar etc. Because Vangelis is not able to write out arrangements in a music score and probably has to communicate the pieces by playing them to the others, this begs the question why he doesn't go on and actually play on the album itself. As with ‘Ich hab’ keine Angst’, the reason is probably that Milva's own band had to take it out on one of her many tours (in 1986 she in fact performed in Athens at the same ancient Herod Atticus theatre where Vangelis later had his oratorio ‘Antigone’ performed) and so had to be familiar with it. But it is sometimes claimed that nevertheless a few Vangelis-played parts found their way into the material on these albums.
Due to Vangelis' more direct involvement, the album has quite a sophisticated feel to it – state-of-the-art pop music of the melancholic variety. This plus the heavy percussion sometimes makes the whole thing sound like that typically over-the-top German krimi-music. It is very well possible that some listeners find this sort of music quite distasteful.
All music is new, apart from the cover of the old Aphrodite's Child single 'Spring, Summer, Winter and Fall' and 'L’Ultima Carmen/Die Letzte Carmen', a Vangelis arrangement of Bizet's music for his opera. This plus the excellent 'A Tradimento/Ich Weiss, Was Ich Will' are the upbeat tracks but the rest reflects one of Vangelis' main strengths: thoughtful mood-music. This is heard most poignantly in 'Venedig Im Winter' – possibly the best track (and, being about Venice, strangely absent on the Italian version of the album), although 'Blue Notte/Wie Wolken' and 'Desiderato Sogno/Arie' also come close.

Review by Ivar de Vries

Movements