CHARIOTS OF FIRE

The legendary composer and man behind some of the best film scores, Vangelis had a singular vision. Nigel Williamson honours the recently departed electronic music innovator

-  Nigel Williamson

It surely has to be the most famous piece of film music since Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson said their last goodbyes at the train station in Noel Coward's Brief Encounter to the strains of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No.2. You know the one. A group of athletes are seen in slow motion, running barefoot on wet sand as the waves break in the background to the pulsating electronic beats and soaring melody of Vangelis' score. It is, of course, the opening scene to Hugh Hudson's 1981 movie Chariots Of Fire, the story of Eric Liddle the Scottish runner who wouldn't race on Sunday because of his Christian faith and Harold Abrahams, the Jewish athlete who ran to overcome prejudice.

Mixing a formal classicism with the rhythmic and tonal possibilities of synthesisers and electronic percussion, Vangelis' majestic theme perfectly reflected the nobility of the two men who refused to compromise their principles as they trained for the 1924 Olympic Games.

"The story of these runners is full of magnificent and profound messages and that's what inspired me", Vangelis said. "The rest I did instinctively, without thinking about anything else other than to express my feelings, using the technological means that were available at the time."

The instrumental theme - the official title of which was simply Titles, but which everybody knows as Chariots Of Fire - topped the American charts, was a top-20 hit in Britain and won Vangelis an Oscar for best movie score, beating John Williams' soundtrack for Raiders Of The Lost Ark. Vangelis' theme has also become an enduring if unofficial anthem for the Olympic Games ever since, the ultimate air-punching moment of gut-busting sporting endeavour. No medal ceremony would be complete without it.

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