World-premiere recording of Tan Dun’s ‘Buddha Passion’ set for release
30/6/2023
The world-premiere recording of Tan Dun’s Buddha Passion – an epic choral work which will also launch the Edinburgh International Festival this summer – is set for release on 4 August.
Described by the New York Times as “a kind of rock star of the modern music scene”, the multi-award-winning composer and UNESCO Global Goodwill Ambassador conducts as he begins his recording partnership with Decca.
Tan Dun’s Buddha Passion, the title role of which was created and is portrayed in this recording by Chinese bass-baritone Shenyang, is a captivating tale of wonder, truth and gentle but irresistible transformation. The monumental work involving massed choirs, large orchestra, six percussionists and an array of soloists including indigenous singers, traditional Chinese instruments and a dancing pipa player, is the first such ‘Passion’ on a Buddhist rather than Christian narrative.
Set at the foot of the Himalayas and inspired by Chinese and Sanskrit texts, the story follows a little prince as he finds enlightenment and becomes Buddha, meeting an array of characters before reaching Nirvana. The life-affirming score fuses the ancient wisdom of Buddhism with the musical tradition of JS Bach’s Passions, featuring hypnotic orchestral textures and Eastern vocal techniques.
The epic work was inspired by a visit to the vast myriad of ancient caves containing countless musical murals in the Dunhuang desert. Tan Dun explains that “these musical paintings depict more than four thousand musical instruments, three thousand musicians and five hundred orchestras. I was so deeply moved that I could almost hear the sounds emanating from the murals.” After years of research, composing, and striving to bring the murals to life through the vast forces of orchestras, choirs, Chinese instruments and sounds of nature, Buddha Passion was completed in 2018. Tan Dun felt that he had created a bridge that brings the distant – “from Dunhuang to Europe, from ancient times to today,” connecting people with the shared compassion and the love of ancient art.
