House of Flying Daggers [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]

by Shigeru Umebayashi

Overview

Shigeru Umebayashi's score for Zhang Yimou's House of Flying Daggers is a study in simplicity, featuring a few understated but hypnotic themes that are repeated with different arrangements of traditional Chinese and Western instruments. Considering that Umebayashi also wrote the music for Wong Kar Wai's In the Mood for Love, it's understandable that this score's romantic moments are among the standouts. The "Lovers" theme has a pure, yearning melody that works as well in a stripped-down arrangement as it does in the more lavish "Lovers (Flower Garden)" and "Lovers (Mei and Jin)." Soprano Kathleen Battle's version of the song is more overtly Western-sounding but still retains the melody's almost unearthly beauty. The score's bittersweet romance is balanced out by a few percussion-driven tracks that score the film's action sequences, but even pieces like "Battle in the Forest" and "No Way Out" are more melodic than might be expected. Gentle drama and restraint are the watchwords for most of the score, particularly on "Bamboo Forest," "Taking Her Hand," "Ambush in Ten Directions (Shi Mian Mai Fu)," and "The House of Flying Daggers" itself. The score's subtlety helps give House of Flying Daggers its own identity and, in the long run, makes the music more compelling than more bombastic music would be. ~ Heather Phares

Product Details

Release Date:	03/07/2025
Label:	Music On Vinyl
UPC:	8719262038264

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Shigeru Umebayashi   Primary Artist
Kathleen Battle   Primary Artist,Soprano,Soprano (Vocal)
Xu Bin   Pipa
Li Qi   Pipa
Duan Yan   Pipa
Wang Qi   Pipa
Gao Ruiyun   Pipa
Zhang Xue   Yang Chin
Zou Yu   Pipa
Zhang Ziyi   Vocals
Ikuo Kakehashi   Percussion
Kouichiro Tashiro   Guitar
Deng Le   Pipa
Hitoshi Konno   Violin
Bi Xiaodi   Piano
Jiang Ting   Pipa
Jia Peng Fang   Erhu
Aki Takahashi   Ocarina
Zhou Yu   Pipa
Bob Zung   Saxophone
Zhang Xuanlian   Yang Chin
Takehiko Yamada   Piano
Dai Ya   Dizi
Song Hongfei   Pipa
Arigat Orchestra   Orchestra
Wang Qiao   Pipa
Xue Ke   Erhu
Tomoko Kanda   Vocals,Voices
Shu Fang   Pipa
Wang Shuai   Percussion
Shota Mochizuki   Bamboo Flute

Technical Credits

Shigeru Umebayashi   Composer,Score,Producer
Detchapat Arttasan   Design,Art Direction
Tadashi Yatabe   Programming
Syuu Masuyama   Interpretation
Sachiko Miyano   Orchestration
Ooizumi Takashi   Assistant
Yoshiko Uchida   Assistant
Hiroki Ogawa   Assistant
Tsutomu Satomi   Sound Coordinator
Tadashi Yabe   Programming
Kaori Kobayashi   Assistant
Wu Chunli   Assistant Engineer
Li Yuesong   Engineer,Recording Supervision
Xu Gang   Mixing,Mixing Engineer
Kazushige Yamazaki   Mastering,Mastering Engineer
Kasuya Shouhei   Assistant
Zou Chang   Assistant Engineer
Takashi Oizumi   Assistant
Okuda Hiroaki   Assistant
Toshiyuki Kuwahara   Assistant
Bai Xiao Yan   Photography
Minoru Tanaka   Mixing,Editing
Kumiko Sekiguchi   Production Coordination