Search - Dun Tan, Tan Dun, Imperial Bells Ensemble :: Tan Dun: Symphony 1997 (Heaven, Earth, Mankind)

Global music

Christopher Culver | 09/19/1999

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Structurally, Symphony 1997 exposes Dun's integration of Eastern and Western musical elements throughout the work. While composing intermediate and transitional material to collage, or link, historic musical "samples" in a large three-part form for the symphony, Dun incorporates referential and symbolic music to recall the past and the present interchangeably. Furthermore, Dun realizes this method via extracting examples of both Western and Chinese melodies, i.e. Great Wall sounding behind a foreground of Beethoven's Ode to Joy from the Chorale Movement of the Symphony No. 9, as if Dun's main message is one of cultural pluralism, perhaps even a necessary expression of gratitude between the West and Hong Kong for their shared sociopolitical prosperity. However, as per Dun's borrowing of Puccini, Beethoven, and Mahler, one could criticize his confusion in using Germanic and Italian themes over British material for a primarily British-Asian political event. Yet, on the contrary, Dun wishes for immediate recognition from the international audience, and the themes he chooses just happen to be more popular in nature."

An intriguing thorny cello concerto enveloped by gimmicky cr

Christopher Culver | 12/06/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Tan Dun's SYMPHONY 1997: Heaven -- Earth -- Mankind was written for the ceremonies on the reunification of Hong Kong with China. As it was meant for a great public spectacle, the work is of grand proportions. Besides orchestra (Hong Kong Philharmonic), there's children's choir, cello solo (Yo-Yo Ma), and the use of 2500 year-old bronze bells discovered in an excavation in 1978. Does it work? To an extant, but it is not Tan Dun's best work.



The symphony is split into three parts, which not only different from each other, but each consist of heterogenous material as well. It opens with a prelude, "Song of Peace" where the bells and childrens choir are presented, though at restrained dynamics. The first movement, "Heaven", alternates between Chinese dance rhythms and vocal techniques and the Western symphonic tradition. It includes an outright quotation of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. The last movement, "Mankind" is quite similar with its line on cello and bass instruments and the accompaniment of the children's choir. It ends with a repeat of the "Song of Peace" but with much bolder dynamics and



But it is the second movement of the symphony which forms the core of the work and which is the least gimmicky. "Earth (Yi3)" is an expanion of the composer's earlier piece Yi1. While that was a concerto for cello, this second movement adds bells. In four sections, its writing is meditative and at times angular, and the cello writing is remarkably virtuoso. The bells add little to the piece, at least in this recording, but there's more than enough here to fascinate the listener, and indeed one notices neat little details at every hearing.



If you don't know Tan Dun's work but want to check it out, avoiding world-music crossover gimmickry can be difficult, since so much of his music is written for popular consumption. If you are looking for uncompromising art music, the WATER PASSION (on Sony) and the highly entertaining and thought-provoking THE MAP (a DVD on Deutsche Grammophon) are worth seeking out. Come to the SYMPHONY 1997 to hear his cello concerto after you've already begun building a collection."