Marco Polo

Dun (Artist), Montano (Artist), Young (Artist), Chen (Artist), Botti (Artist), Bryant (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 7, 1997)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B0000029VJ
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #345,669 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Marco Polo (An Opera Within an Opera)

2. The Book of Timespace: Winter

3. Piazza

4. No

5. What a Place That Was

6. Venezia Vento

7. Journey - Shin Tsen

8. Wayward the Air This Morning

9. Listen

10. The Past Goes On

See all 14 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Marco Polo, opera: Slowly on Your Thighs

2. Marco Polo, opera: Sea a Sound a Thing an Animal

3. Marco Polo, opera: Bazaar

4. Marco Polo, opera: S--SKSK...Every Face a Mask

5. Marco Polo, opera: S--SKSK...Spilled from a Fountain

6. Marco Polo, opera: Book of Timespace: Summer

7. Marco Polo, opera: Desert...As Near as My Finger's End

8. Marco Polo, opera: Desert

9. Marco Polo, opera: M-----

10. Marco Polo, opera: Silence

See all 19 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The libretto's fine and music's powerful., September 28, 1999

By 

Karl Henzy - See all my reviews

This review is from: Marco Polo (Audio CD)

It's silly to suggest that other critics would not attack Marco Polo just because the libretto was written by Paul Griffiths. Ever see Siskel and Ebert attack each other's views? In fact, Griffith's libretto may not be a great work of literature, but great works of literature don't always make for the best librettos, since the text ends up competing with the music. Griffith's libretto is a perfect vehicle for Tan's powerful music, negotiating its way quite brilliantly between East and West, ancient and modern. Why is "complexity" such a dirty word for some of these people? Simple diatonic melodies, repeated endlessly by minimalist composers, or worse, warmed over romanticism or classicism, just can't communicate the full drama of some experiences (such as Tan's rich sense of the ambiguities in both Eastern and Western sensibilities and values).

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Visceral, powerful--one of the best operas of the century., January 7, 1999

By 

Karl Henzy - See all my reviews

This review is from: Marco Polo (Audio CD)

Look: this is one powerful work. Be ready to be in a state of amazement from beginning to end. Tan is only 40 (born in '59), so it's hard to imagine how he'll to follow up this masterpiece. With Wolfgang Rihm's Conquest of Mexico, it's one of the two best operas since Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre. I'm trying to think of how to describe the music, and it just seems impossible to convey. A blend of Eastern and Western--but that doesn't begin to convey the work's moments of visceral power or strange beauty. Get this and enjoy.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars WORTHLESS MUSICAL DRIVEL, June 3, 2008

By 

Alfredo R. Villanueva (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Marco Polo (Audio CD)

I RARELY TAKE A RECORD OFF BEFORE I HAVE HEARD IT IN ITS ENTIRETY, BUT I MUST SAY I WAS TOTALLY TURNED OFF BY TAN DUN'S PRETENTIOUS, UNMELODIC SCORE AS WELL AS BY THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE LIBRETTO. THIS COMPOSER SHOULD STICK TO MOVIE MUSIC, FOR WHICH HE IS SO MUCH BETTER SUITED. THE ONE OPERA? IN MY COLLECTION I AM SURE NEVER TO PLAY AGAIN!