Tan Dun’s Martial Arts Trilogy: USA Tour Dates

Tan Dun’s Martial Arts Trilogy

Four U.S. Summer Tour Dates Announced

Martial Arts Trilogy features selected music from three critically acclaimed martial arts film soundtracks composed by Tan Dun - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Banquet and Hero. Available July 19, the compilation features world-renowned soloists Yo-Yo Ma, Lang Lang and Itzhak Perlman.

Leading directors Ang Lee, Zhang YiMou and Feng Xioagang turned to Tan Dun’s dramatic music to help turn these films into cultural and artistic touchstones as well as box office hits. The recurring musical themes of this film trilogy – sacrifice, desire, transcendence, revenge, and power – demonstrate an artistic quality beyond film music that can be appreciated in its own right.

This summer, The Martial Arts Trilogy Tour will bring Tan Dun’s music to large audiences across the nation. Tan Dun will conduct his compositions with various soloists at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and in New York City as part of the Lincoln Center Out of Doors program. This is followed by an eight-city tour of China, with stops in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and other major cities. The tour concludes with the NHK Symphony in Tokyo and at the Singapore Festival in December.

Tan Dun’s innovative repertoire encompasses classical music, multimedia performance, and Eastern and Western traditions. He has conducted the world’s most famous orchestras, including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Berliner Philharmoniker, Orchestre National de France, Philadelphia Orchestra and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. His ability to reach wide audiences is shown by his first Internet Symphony, commissioned by Google/YouTube and heard by over 25 million people online, and his multimedia work, The Map, which has toured more than 30 countries. Tan Dun has received numerous awards, including an Academy Award and a Grammy for Crouching, Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Japan’s Recording Academy Awards for Best Contemporary Music CD (Water Passion after St. Matthew) and the Grawemeyer Award.


U.S. TOUR DATES

July 21 - San Diego Symphony - San Diego, CA

August 5 - Wolf Trap – National Symphony Orchestra - Washington, DC

August 12 - Lincoln Center Out of Doors - New York, NY

September 3-4 - Hollywood Bowl - Los Angeles, CA

Wonderful World (Soundtrack) by Craig Richey - Reviewed

Behind the Smile
Review by Richard Buxton

A perhaps unique, and certainly uncommon compliment that can be attributed to CRAIG RICHEY’S score for WONDERFUL WORLD is its strong resemblance both the synopsis of the film and the poster. Merely glancing at the simplistic poster or taking in a written description of WONDERFUL WORLD’S plot sets up an array of expectations. From the clean and understated title font and character image montage, to the curiously depressing sight of a man holding a paper smile to his face, WONDERFUL WORLD creates a strong sense of familiarity, albeit subconscious familiarity. The juxtaposition of the title with the clearly forlorn eyes that sit above the paper smile that seeks to fool you is a trait that can be instantly recognized as being a part of the score too. CRAIG RICHEY’S score is one of lies, in that behind the often happy facade lies an ocean of sadness, a sadness that lingers in the ear of the listener defying their initial reactions.

READ THE FULL REVIEW

Game of Thrones (Soundtrack) by Ramin Djawadi - Reviewed

A Score of Fire and Ice
Review by Richard Buxton

Due to a certain epic trilogy released in the first half of the last decade, the fantasy genre brings with it increasingly high musical expectations. Soaring themes of discovery, conflict and conquest are commonplace in a genre packed with memorable scores, and so it is understandable that a television series based on the critically acclaimed A SONG OF FIRE AND ICE novels will be expected to uphold such traditions.

From the opening moments of GAME OF THRONES pilot episode “Winter Is Coming”, all signs point to a series that has every intention of maintaining a faithful grip on the ambition held by author GEORGE R. R. Martin. The scale of spectacle that HBO has become renowned for is ever-present, giving the series that vital extra sheen of authenticity. The stellar cast lends itself well in creating a cast of compelling characters that inhabit the vast mythology on display in the Seven Kingdoms.

Seeing the likes of RAMIN DJAWADI in the role of composer should come as no surprise given his ever-growing experience in television scoring. His previous experience ranges from the gritty suspense of PRISON BREAK to the sci-fi drama of FLASH FORWARD. While both of these stand out as high-end productions for a composer, they offered little opportunity for DJAWADI to truly express himself and the universe of the shows. GAME OF THRONES is exactly that. A chance to be enveloped in a vast world of history, a chance that most composers surely dream of.

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DC Showcase (Soundtrack) by Jeremy Zuckerman, Benjamin Wynn [The Track Team] - Review

DC Doldrums
Review by Marius Masalar

One would imagine that superheroes would make for a great musical inspiration. Indeed, if past scores have been any indication, it seems like an easy assumption to make — even outside of the feature film world. Take Christopher Drake’s material for films like Batman: Under the Hood as an example. Whatever magic inspiration was being channeled there seems to have flown over the heads of JEREMY ZUCKERMAN & BENJAMIN WYNN, whose collected material from SUPERMAN/SHAZAM: THE RETURN OF BLACK ADAM and other DC original animated shorts (JONAH HEX, GREEN ARROW, and THE SPECTRE) is frustratingly lackluster and makes for an uneven and unsatisfying listening experience.

Skipping over the negligible “WB Logo” (1) stinger to the “DC Showcase Main Title” (2) gives us a good sense of what’s to come. The synthy opening pushes into what promises to be a strong and engaging theme; mysterious and colourful. Unfortunately, as soon as we expect it to actually start, it ends with a twinkly flourish. Make note of that feeling of flattened anticipation because you’ll be revisiting it a lot throughout this album. “Black Adam” (3) is a dark 5-note theme for the villain that’s presented once in the low strings and woodwinds before the cue hammers itself out with percussive hits after a mere 40 seconds. So much for tension. The mood takes a sharp turn with “Billy Batson” (4), a cheerful and light track that presents a simplistic but effective and pleasant characterization of Billy. It’s also the first track on the album thus far that’s longer than a minute, so the ideas have a bit of time to breathe and develop.

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SoundCast Episode #29 - More of the Rings with Doug Adams

Episode #29 - More of the Rings with Doug Adams

Author Doug Adams (The Music of The Lord of the Rings) joins the crew to talk Howard Shore's score for the epic trilogy.  In addition, we hit our usual "What We've Been Listening To" segment, and also talk patriotic scores for the US, Canada, and UK.

Episode Highlights

00:20 — Introduction and welcome
02:18 — The Music of the Lord of Rings book reactions
12:30 — What have we been listening to?
24:44 — Patriotic/ Americana Scores
34:53 — More Lord of the Rings
43:32 — What's the next best thing to The Lord of Rings music?
61:10 — Anticipating The HObbit

Music Clips (Select music clips contained in this podcast)

00:00 — "The Bridge of Khazad Dum" (The Fellowship of the Ring) by Howard Shore
06:25 — "The Bridge of Khazad Dum" (The Fellowship of the Ring) by Howard Shore
15:51 — "Autobots" (Transformers) by Steve Jablonsky
19:49 — "Prologue" (Harry Potter/ Philosophers Stone) by John Williams
23:10 — "Fawkes the Phoenix" (Harry Potter/ Chamber of Secrets) by John Williams
24:05 — "Along for the Ride" (Monte Carlo) by Michael Giacchino
28:24 — "Finale" (The Ice Storm) by Mychael Danna
30:32 — "The Queen" (The Queen) by Alexandre Desplat
33:59 — "Flight from Edoras" (The Return of the King) by Howard Shore
37:05 — "The Lighting of the Beacon" (The Return of the King) by Howard Shore
38:02 — "The Tales That Really Matter" (The Two Towers) by Howard Shore
39:11 — "Minas Tirith" (The Return of the King) by Howard Shore
41:33 — "For Frodo" (The Return of the King) by Howard Shore
44:36 — "Guilty Of Being Innocent Of Being Jack Sparrow" (Pirates/Stranger Tides) by Hans Zimmer
50:57 — "The Empire State Building" (King Kong) by James Newton Howard
53:13 — "Dream is Collapsing" (Inception) by Hans Zimmer
56:02 — "The Blitz, 1940" (The Lion, Witch, Wardrobe) by Harry Gregson-Williams
60:10 — "Bag End" (Fellowship of the Ring) by Howard Shore
66:11 — "The Shire-The Hobbits (Mock-Up)" (Lord of the Rings: Rarities CD) by Howard Shore
73:10 — "The Return Of The King Trailer" (Lord of the Rings: Rarities CD) by Howard Shore

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