One thing for sure about this recording–it’s got atmosphere, which makes sense since the music originally was written for a film set in a rainy, misty winter in the Greek city of Thessalonika. Its subject, the last hours of a terminally ill poet as he attempts to return an Albanian refugee boy to his home, is full of strange imagery and strong emotion. Any composer could see rich musical opportunities in such a scenario, and Eleni Karaindrou, who has collaborated with filmmaker Theo Angelopoulos on at least a half-dozen other projects, including the highly regarded Ulysses’ Gaze, manages to evoke the blue-gray landscape and describe the dark-garbed characters with old-world simplicity and a wonderful knack for picturesque themes and melodies. She does this with skillful combinations of classical and folk instruments–oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, mandolin, accordion, cello–and a firm understanding of the director’s every nuance and visual intention. For the recording, ECM producer Manfred Eicher took Karaindrou’s original music and, according to the composer, “merged the colors and the rhythms . . . and created out of them a new work,” which is to say, he formed the compositions into a program for listening–a welcome departure from the standard bits and bites “soundtrack” album hodgepodges. The sound has a slight, perhaps intentional, grittiness that I suppose is appropriate for the mood. You don’t have to see the movie to enjoy this music, but after your hear it, you’ll probably want to.
