There they put trumpets. Changing a formula recognized by all and appreciated by the general public may not seem very advisable (many food brands have experienced it over the years), but the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has not found a cure. IT HAS “the dawn of a new era”As stated in the press release on the new Champions League formula, which starts on Tuesday 17 September (in particular with Lille’s trip to Sporting Portugal), the body that presides over the destiny of continental football has chosen to modify more than just the formula of this competition that brings together the best European clubs. It has also updated its anthem.
The gradually rising layers of strings that make the symphonic work immediately identifiable are still there, as are the words intoned by the choristers in three languages (French, German and English), UEFA revealed at the end of August. “a slightly improved re-recording” of this title, which is “one of the most recognized in the world of sports and entertainment”. The British Tony Britten, who composed the score thirty-two years ago and who remains at the helm, “improved the orchestration and re-recorded the music”evokes the instance. Incorporating, therefore, trumpets, whose commas serve as a counterpoint to the songs, and other wind instruments that start in a fanfare to accompany the end of the hymn.
“It’s time to change the tone”argued former Swedish international Zlatan Ibrahimovic on his Instagram account on Monday, posting a video where he is seen Conducting an orchestra playing the Champions League soundtrack in an Italian-style theatre. Among the protagonists of UEFA’s communications campaign to “sell” the new version of its premier club competition, the former AC Milan star (the club that faces Liverpool on Tuesday) now embodies this rejuvenated version of the anthem. Which, like the tournament, still retains much of its structure.
“A request of gravity”
Assuming to have been inspired by the ascending phase of Zadok the priest, In 2015, Tony Britten told Agence France-Presse about the genesis of Handel’s work. “There was a request for seriousness in the request, It shouldn’t give the impression of “cheap pop music”. We had to feel that there was substance there. » The anthem, which was first heard in a stadium on 25 November 1992, during the launch of the Champions League in its previous version, has over time become a music whose first notes make footballers (and their fans, who welcomed this update) coldly.
With now thirty-six teams (up from thirty-two previously) and a single “championship” instead of a group stage, this “Super League” that does not say the name – and rightly so – UEFA and its boss, Aleksander Ceferin, had established themselves as the main opponents of the secession attempt launched, in the spring of 2021, by twelve major European clubs, led by Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Juventus of Turin, which begins this September 17 with great fanfare. Hoping that the new version of their anthem will coincide with a fanfare debut.
