Hero | Tan Dun | Majesty, Beauty, and Sorrow

Hero | Tan Dun | Amazing

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UP BEAT BROADWAY Yellow Pills, Vol. 4 Seven Days in May Edita gruberova Hero

	Hero Tan Dun Sony, 2004 average customer review:based on 23 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Tan Dun straddles the very different worlds of concert music and film scores, winning admirers in both. He's perhaps best known for his score to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which shares with Hero a visual poetry that transcends the sword-filled action film genre. In Crouching Tiger, Tan Dun's music was often striking. In Hero he often lapses into repetition and cliché, a failing compensated for by several appealing cues. The Overture, for example, begins with the mournful wail of ancient Chinese instruments set against pounding drums, a promising start that evokes ancient China and the struggles to come. There's a mournful soprano vocalise in "Gone With the Leaves," and the "Warriors" cue recalls Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky. The plucking of the ancient Chinese lute in "In the Chess Court" evokes a timeless, peaceful mood, contrasting with the thrilling kodo drummers showcased in "Swift Sword." Itzhak Perlman gets cover billing for violin solos any competent studio fiddler could have handled. Tan Dun's admirers will want this, and audiophiles will love those kodo drummers. --Dan Davis

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Majesty, Beauty, and Sorrow

This is, quite simply, one of the best musical compositions I have ever had the honor to experience. Although it is simpler than the "Crouching Tiger" score in some respects, it is also more focused. The main theme is interpreted again and again, and the effect is like the overall waxing and waning of the tides, and the continuous flow of water on the sands. The soundtrack "Hero" is actually a sharp reflection of the water of the Empyrean, and its four pillars of Consciousness, Spirit, Soul and Nature. It is a manifestation of the Womb of Creation, Providence, Life, and Death; it carries within it the vibrations of love, lordship, and the baptism of trial and tribulation that the seekers of Justice and Walayah cannot escape. "Hero" is much bigger than the associated film: it will open your heart and the ducts of your eyes (particularly -- but not restricted to -- the tracks Gone with the Leaves and Love in Distance). For the cognizant, the tears it generates hearken back the Passion of the Hero of the Ages, the Martyr of the Desert Plain, the Nexus of Walayah where the most severe trial and tribulation meets the most intense cognizance of the Source of creation in a burst of supreme sacrifice and delight. Experience it!

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Amazing

I cant really begin to describe how amazing this soundtrack is, and how well it fits with the movie.

So Beautiful!

I love the emotion, the longing in the music of this album. You can just feel it. I am working on a novel, and this album is one of my top choices to listen to when I am writing because it conveys so much feeling.

A Heroic Performance!!

First of all, you'll want to watch the movie before purchasing this, which is a good thing because the movie is also excellent! A good soundtrack mesmerizes the audience, filling them with the emotion of the scene before them. This soundtrack performs admirably, probably better than any I have ever heard. One would be hard pressed not to be affected by this powerful performnce. It has something to offer most anyone's taste as far as emotion goes, from action, to romance, to tragedy, all done at an epic scale using plenty of traditionally Chinese themes and instruments. So basically, its great, and receives my highest recommendation.

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MUSIC WITH BEAUTY AND DIGNITY

The more I listen to the new Chinese symphonic music, the more I like it. Years ago I was familiar with Chinese Opera music, with its wildness, its sinuosity and fierce percussion. But then, the orchestra was always small -- nothing like a European Symphony -- and the orchestra was often nothing other than percussion accompaniment with one or two strings, for the acrobatics and dancing, except for occasional solo arias. It was music designed to cut through large spaces filled with crowds of noisy people. But now with composers like Tan Dun with their western training and brilliant scoring ability for full orchestra and chorus -- singing in ways comparatively new to Chinese music, don't forget -- we are able for the first time to experience a little of that vast reservoir of musical tradition and sentiment which heretofore was kept from us by cultural barriers. Of course it has to do with the resurrection of China as an important cultural force in the world, and as well, with the world's reception of and reaction to the spectacle of such riches. And now, thanks to modern recording techniques, great things can be experienced by millions, everywhere.

Yet, good music never explains well. Here we find a type of Suite taken from of one of the composer's filmscores and, really, all one need do is watch the movie to see what goes where, or how the bits fit. But, myself, I don't use the music for that purpose. I take it as ear candy, and nearly pure listening. Gorgeous is as gorgeous often does.

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