Introduction
Montserrat Caballé (1933-2018) was a renowned Spanish soprano, often considered one of the best sopranos of the 20th century. Apart from her classical work she is widely known for singing the song ‘Barcelona’ together with Freddie Mercury. Although this song was originally released in 1987, ‘Barcelona’ was adopted as one of the official songs of the 1992 Olympic Games held in Caballé’s birthplace, Barcelona.
In 1995 Montserrat Caballé and Vangelis worked together for the first time, when the soprano contributed her voice to one track on “Foros Timis Ston Greko”, a limited album release by Vangelis to raise funds for the purchase of paintings by Domenikos Theotokopoulos (also known as ‘El Greco’).
In November 1998 Montserrat Caballé released her album “With All My Heart”, a classical oriented album that featured one song written by Vangelis: ‘The Prayer’, a duet of Caballé with her daughter Montserrat Martí. The album was not widely released, only in Europe and Brazil with specific variations in Germany (titled “Von Ganzem Herzen”) and Spain ( “Con Todo Mi Corazon”). No singles were released off the album.
The year before Vangelis had also contributed two songs to Caballé’s album “Friends For Life”: ‘March With Me’ and ‘Like A Dream’, and both Montserrat Caballé and her daughter Montserrat Martí appeared on stage with Vangelis during the opening ceremony of the IAAF World Athletics Championship ‘97 in Athens, where they premiered ‘The Prayer’.
Around this time Montserrat Caballé stated in several interviews that she was working with Vangelis on a new orchestral album with choirs, but unfortunately this album was never released. However, in 2013 Vangelis and Montserrat Caballé recorded yet another song titled ‘Habanera’, which was ultimately released in 2020 on the album "Armenia and Artsakh - An Isle of Christianity".
Montserrat Caballé passed away on the 6th of October 2018 in Barcelona.
Tracklist and credits
- The Prayer
- Composed, arranged, produced and performed by Vangelis.
- Vocal by Montserrat Caballé and Montserrat Martí.
Discography
CD
- 1998 BMG Classics 74321 57994 Europe/Brazil “With All My Heart”
- 1998 BMG Classics 74321 62975 Germany “Von Ganzem Herzen”
- 1998 BMG Classics 74321 63707 Spain “Con Todo Mi Corazon”
Recording studio
According to the album notes ‘The Prayer’ was recorded in Athens in August 1998. This probably refers to one of Vangelis’ home studios in Athens.
Links