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Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... only if you are familiar and comfortable with Philip Glass' tendency to endlessly explore the subtlies of a situation with introspective and subdued rhythms, marginal harmony, and only slight development of motifs. Avoid it... if you expect anything other than a deeply respectful and minimalistic musical tribute to a troubling period in Buddhist culture. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
One of the most interesting aspects of Kundun to consider at the time was its concurrent release with John Williams' score for 1997's other Dalai Lama film, Seven Years in Tibet. The two works, despite merging Western and Eastern elements and featuring Gyuto Monks as the representation of their ethnicity, are frightfully different in their tone and sense of authenticity. While Williams' score, with the help of Yo-Yo Ma's cello performances, is more pleasing to Western ears, Kundun will be far more challenging for most average film score collectors. It could be argued that Glass' slight touch, with dissonance or inflection in each cue, is a culturally superior representation. Glass does not offer blatant themes, but instead presents a series of simple motifs over string and percussion rhythms typical to his career. Bass tones created by the monks, bassoons, contra bassoons, and Tibetan horns are powerful, but they often meander in pitch, creating an atonal backdrop for whatever wandering line for brass or woodwinds that Glass explores at great length in the treble region. While a few of these motifs do expand in their development throughout the score, the ponderous rhythms do become tiresome outside of the context of the film. Each cue's rhythm is a slight variant of the one that came before, and the ideas typically end abruptly at the conclusion of each album track. Gently thumping drums are mixed in dull fashion in most of the cues, creating a muted soundscape that only dilutes the score's appeal further. The motifs explored early in the score, in "Reting's Eyes" and "Chinese Invade," finally reach a harmonious and resonating crescendo in "Escape to India." The easy highlight of the score, "Escape to India" combines more aggressive string rhythms, as tonally pleasant as they would be in The Illusionist almost a decade later, with a chanting choir and gorgeous flute solos in its latter half. Every idea in the score culminates to one, impressive full ensemble and soloist conclusion that, as usual, ends abruptly. Overall, Glass conveys his respect for Buddhist culture very well in Kundun, but his knack for leaving the listener with nothing more than a generally subdued impression of that culture makes for a tedious album. Kundun will not appeal to most film score fans expecting a Seven Years in Tibet kind of listening experience.
Score as Heard on Album: ** Overall: ***
The album is contained within a cardboard slip-cover that features a note from the director about the score. Notable performances listed on the insert include: Michael Riesman (conductor, piano, celeste, synthesizer), Richard Sher (cello), Susan Jolles (harp), Andrew Sterman (piccolo), Carol Wincenc (flute); Henry Schuman (oboe), Steven Hartman (clarinet, bass clarinet), Lauren Goldstein-Stubbs (bassoon, contrabassoon), Sharon Moe (French horn), Wilmer Wise (trumpet), Alan Raph (bass trombone), Dhondup Namgyal Khorko (Tibetan horns, cymbals), Gordon Gottlieb (percussion), Gyuto Monks - Monks of the Drukpa Order. Recorded at The Looking Glass Studios in New York. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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