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By JOHN FLEMING
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 1, 2001
CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON: ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK, COMPOSED BY TAN DUN (SONY CLASSICAL) -- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is one of the year's hottest movies. Could its success have anything to do with the score by Tan Dun, a leading Chinese composer? Not likely, since martial arts fans are more turned on by kicks than chords. Still, the soundtrack album is of more than passing interest to classical listeners, with its exotic instrumentation (the rawap, tar drums, Chinese erhu) and cello solos by Yo-Yo Ma.
Like most movie scores, Dun's music sounds a bit insubstantial and vague when heard by itself, but you can imagine the dramatic, percussion-driven tracks meshing well with director Ang Lee's choreography of the fighting. In fact, Lee has likened the martial arts scenes to numbers in a film musical.
Ma's solos are simple, romantic tunes for the most part. He recorded them in a New York studio, and they were later integrated into the score, played by an orchestra in Shanghai. The cellist shares billing in the album credits with pop singer CoCo Lee, who performs the swoony end-title song, A Love Before Time, in English and Mandarin versions.Grade: B