Tan Dun – On Taoism; Orchestral Theatre I; Death and Fire (1993)

No Hollywood Heroes or Hidden Dragons here, but Tan Dun at his barbaric best. Or worst, depending on whether you like incontrollably exploding crossfires taking you by surprise and giving you a hell of a fright. Chinese ritualistic sounds? Yes, the vocals in the first track “On Taoism” (you hear Tan Dun’s voice here) certainly remind of Beijng Opera; but for the rest, I’d say it has a lot in common with Rihm’s alternating between soft whispers and brutal violence. Tan Dun is easily a little bit stranger on the ears, of course, thanks to his experience with Chinese opera and general interest in Asian traditional instruments.
I wonder if Rihm and Dun were in touch with each other when they worked on their Passion music for the Bach year; patterns in there are strikingly similar.

Tough stuff! But definitely the better part of Tan Dun, who must have understood works like these aren’t going to make him a millionaire. As, most likely, the Hollywood enterprises did.
I’m curious to hear if you, like me, heard ecchoes of Bartok’s Miraculous Mandarin Suite couple of minutes before the end of “Orchestral Theatre”? And Stravinskyan rhythms in "Death and Fire (which track I like best, by the way)?

Tracks

On Taoism (1985)

01. On Taoism [0:13:35.32]

Orchestral Theatre I (1990)

02. Orchestral theatre I (1990) [0:20:31.13]

Death and Fire - Dialogue with Paul Klee (1992)

03. Portrait [0:03:01.47]
04. Animals at full moon [0:02:54.35]
05. Senecio [0:02:00.25]
06. Ad Parnassum [0:02:38.28]
07. Self portrait [0:06:58.22]
08. Twittering machine [0:01:06.18]
09. Earth witches [0:01:07.25]
10. Intoxication [0:02:34.07]
11. JS Bach [0:01:35.68]
12. Death and fire [0:02:20.50]

Performers:

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra – Tan Dun