Composer Tan Dun signs to Decca Classics

Tan Dun, the Chinese composer and conductor behind the Oscar, Bafta and Grammy-award winning score for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, has signed an exclusive, long-term partnership with British record label Decca Classics.

The first album of the partnership will be released on 3 March. Five Souls is made up of five movements for small ensemble include water percussion, harp, brass, strings and digeridoo. The deal will also see Decca release its first major new album in April, the world premiere recording of Tan Dun’s Buddha Passion, the first such ‘Passion’ on a Buddhist rather than Christian narrative, which the composer conducted in its UK at London’s Royal Festival Hall last month.

Co-Presidents of Decca Label Group, Tom Lewis and Laura Monks, say, ‘We are so proud to welcome Tan Dun to Decca. He is a global statesman for classical music; arguably one of the most inventive, energetic and warm-hearted composers alive. His story is quite extraordinary. He embodies the sometimes unimaginable and unique way in which music can change your life.’

Born in 1957 in a remote village in Hunan in China, Tan Dun was sent to the country at the aged of 16 to work planting rice. Expected to stay there for the rest of his life, Tan Dun escaped with a travelling opera troupe and, when China’s Cultural Revolution came to an end in 1976, smuggled himself onto a train to audition for Beijing’s Central Conservatory of Music.

Now living in New York, Tan Dun has won an Oscar, Bafta and Grammy for his score for the 2000 film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon directed by Ang Lee. As a UNESCO Global Goodwill Ambassador he has written music for events including the celebration of the new millennium, the Beijing Olympics and the reunification of Hong Kong with China, as well as becoming the first composer ever commissioned by Google/YouTube.

Later this year the world premiere recording of Tan Dun’s 25-minute percussion concerto, Tears of Nature will be released on Decca Classics alongside five previously unavailable catalogue albums.

Tan Dun says, ‘Decca has always been a dream for me. As a young artist, I could never have imagined that one day we would embrace each other. I’ve worked with many recording labels over the years, but now, connecting with Decca, I understand. It is so pure and classical and, yet cool and fresh and open to all sorts of music and cultures, it is a very special place. I feel deeply honoured to be part of it.’