Philip Glass: Music: Kundun

Kundun

(1997) 94'

Music by Philip Glass

CAST:
4 vln, hp, vc, cb, Tibetan horns, Tibetan cymbals, xyl, bdm, vox (Tibetan Monks), fl. bd,. 2 tmb, glock, fr hn, piano, celeste, oboe, bn, tpt, pic, t dm, vox (chorus), tuba, triangle, syn.

COMMISSION:
Martin Scorcese

SYNOPSIS:
In 1937, in a remote area of Tibet close to the Chinese border, a two year old child is identified as the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, the compassionate Buddha. Two years later, the child is brought to Lhasa where he is schooled as a monk and as head of state amidst the color and pageantry of Tibetan culture. The film follows the fourteenth Dalai Lama into adulthood: when he is 14, the Chinese invade Tibet and he is forced into a tenuous coalition government; he travels to China to meet with a cynical Mao; and, finally, in 1959, ill and under siege, he flees to India.

NOTES:
Philip Glass is an artist of tremendous sensitivity whose music works from the inside of the film, from its heart, to produce a powerful emotional intensity which remains for days in the listener's head... For me, the images in the film no longer stand on their own without Philip Glass' music. I consider myself fortunate, indeed blessed, to have worked with him on Kundun.

--Martin Scorsese

PUBLISHER:
Dunvagen Music Publishers

SEE ALSO

Kundun