Live: The Concert Event

Performer: Yanni
Engineer: Yanni; Travis Meck
Producer: Yanni
Distributor: Image Entertainment

Notes: Personnel: Yanni (keyboards, synthesizer); Alfreda Gerald (vocals); Armen Movsessian, Erika Walczak, Zachary Carrenttin, Kristen Autry (violin); Ilona Geller, Eugene Mechtovich (viola); Sarah O'Brien (cello); Pedro Eustache (flute, duduk, reeds, saxophone); David Hudson (didjeridu); April Cap (oboe); Kerry Hughes (trumpet); Jim Mattos (French horn); Dana Teboe (trombone); Colin O'Malley, Ming Freeman (keyboards); Charlie Adams, Charlie Adams (drums); Walter Rodriguez (percussion); Victor Espinola (vocals, harp); Michelle Amato (vocals). Recording information: Madalay Bay Events Center, Las Vegas, NV. Arranger: Yanni. This concert recording captures Yanni performing live in Las Vegas in 2005. Featuring a large, talented ensemble, LIVE emphasizes the Greek composer's penchant for sweeping musical vistas, highly charged instrumental interplay, and the fusion of styles from around the globe. Live strings and brass complement Yanni's trademark keyboards, while other instruments, including didgeridoo and hammered dulcimer, flesh out the sound. There is quite a bit of stretching out here, as Yanni allows the members of his band ample room to solo; however, atmosphere remains paramount in Yanni's music, and LIVE delivers on the artist's evocative, ethereal aesthetic. Recorded and filmed for DVD live at the Mandalay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas during Yanni's 2005 world tour, this 65-minute set delivers what you'd expect from a live Yanni album: an eclectic, cinematic fusion of world, new age, and mainstream contemporary pop styles. The 13 songs are, with one exception, drawn from releases dating back to the 1980s ("Keys to the Imagination" having been the title track of his 1986 album) all the way up to the most recent studio effort predating this recording, 2003's Ethnicity (from which three songs are presented). Indeed, a few of these same songs have shown up on previous Yanni concert albums. (The one piece that hadn't shown up on prior Yanni releases, "The Storm," is actually based Antonio Vivaldi's 18th century violin concerto "Summer.") It's well recorded -- on "125 channels of digital audio," according to the back cover -- with a two-dozen-strong cast of supporting musicians in the band and orchestra, plus a couple of vocalists adding the occasional atmospheric singing. The slick drama of both the material and the execution, in fact -- perhaps because of many listeners' associations of Yanni music with the Olympics -- makes you feel as though many of the pieces are introductory fanfares to some spectacular event. For Yanni fans, however, this sort of concert is the spectacular event. ~ Richie Unterberger

One of modern instrumental music's most distinctive and popular composers, Yanni popularized the combination of synthesizers and full-scale symphony orchestra. The Greek performer combined his musical abilities with a flair for flamboyant visuals, coming across like a more dignified, New Age version of Liberace. His mix of music and spectacle made him a star in the 1990s.

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