Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

1	Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 3:23
2	The Eternal Vow 3:01
3	A Wedding Interrupted 2:16
4	Night Fight 3:10
5	Silk Road 3:08
6	To the South 2:21
7	Through the Bamboo Forest 4:23
8	The Encounter 2:40
9	Desert Capriccio 4:33
10	In the Old Temple 3:46
11	Yearning of the Sword 3:34
12	Sorrow 4:02
13	Farewell 2:25
14	A Love Before Time (English Version) / Yo-Yo Ma 3:44
15	A Love Before Time (Mandarin Version) / Yo-Yo Ma 3:42

Barnes & Noble

Tan Dun's score for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a work of great emotion and originality. A distinguished composer of operatic and symphonic music, Dun has crafted a diverse musical world not often found in martial arts movies. But then again, Ang Lee's film is no ordinary kung fu action flick. Sure, there are plenty of fight sequences, choreographed by Yuen Wo-ping (The Matrix), but the action is intertwined with a story of tradition, honor, and ultimately love. Dun's music combines Western harmonies and instrumentation -- featuring exquisitely performed cello solos by Yo-Yo Ma -- with traditional Eastern instruments such as the rawap, tar drums, and erhu. This mix of East and West, old and new, vividly paints the film's atmosphere and the emotional state of its characters. "To the South" revels in sounds of nature and space, giving way to a rhythmic duet between Chinese flute and percussion. The tracks "Sorrow" and "Farewell" will haunt the listener's memory long after the end credits roll. The soundtrack ends with the film's theme song, "A Love Before Time," sung on two separate tracks in English and Mandarin by international star CoCo Lee. It's an enjoyable conclusion, although it does come as a surprise to have the captivating spell of the 13 preceding tracks broken by Dun's venture into pop. Jane Komarov

All Music Guide

Though it was made in Taiwan, set in China and written in Mandarin, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon is something of a cultural hybrid. The film was the brainchild of a Taiwanese director (Ang Lee) with an impressive Hollywood resume that includes Sense and Sensibility and The Ice Storm. The screenplay was adapted from a Chinese novel by two Asians and an American and it featured international movie star Chow Yun Fat. Stylistically, the movie drew as much from Hollywood romantic epics as it did from Chinese martial arts dramas. The challenge for the film's composer, Tan Dun, was to score the film with music that would represent its multi-cultural origins and multi-faceted influences. His solution was to blend sweeping Western orchestral music with traditional Chinese instruments like rawap, tar drums and Chinese erhu while using another internationally renowned Asian, cellist Yo Yo Ma, as a sort of bridge between the two styles. Dun's strategy works beautifully in the film; striking perfectly the delicate balance between the exotic and the familiar -- exactly what is required by a script that paints a romanticized fantasy version of ancient China grounded in universal emotional experience. The romantic themes ("The Eternal Vow," "Farewell") are stirring without being manipulative and memorable without being repetitive. Even more impressive are the musical pieces for the film's graceful combat scenes. Unlike most American action films, Crouching Tiger does not swamp the audience in discordant suspense music. And though the warriors do fly across their battlefields like stones skipping lightly across a pond, Dun does not attempt an E.T.-like soaring score. Instead, the action scenes are accompanied by vibrant Chinese rhythms, mercifully abandoning melody altogether. The only false moment on the soundtrack is the grating end credit pop ballad "A Love Before Time," which is performed by Asian American singer CoCo Lee. The song is a transparent attempt to mimic Celine Dion's megahit closer for Titanic, "My Heart Will Go On," and it is an infuriatingly commercial conclusion to a gloriously original film. Evan Cater