Music by Sakamoto/Byrne - Last Emperor (CD, Imported)

The Last Emperor, director Bernardo Bertolucci's epic tale of Pu Yi, the exiled final potentate of China's 3,000-year old Qing dynasty, was the big winner at the 1988 Academy Awards, taking Oscars for (among others) Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Score. The composing trio of Sakamoto/Byrne/Su was an unusual one to be sure, but it's clearly Sakamoto who carries the day here. The avant-garde trained/former Yellow Magic Orchestra pop mastermind crafted a seamless fusion of grand Western themes, Asian shadings, and his own deliciously distinct timbrel sensibilities; an accessible if deceptively modern classicism. Not surprisingly given his Talking Heads roots, Byrne's efforts are more rhythmic and minimal, yet his consuming passion for world music thoroughly evidences itself as well. His lyric and lilting "Main Title Theme" (one of the film's unusual elements was its use of two main themes by separate composers) may offer a pleasant surprise to listeners overly familiar with his pop work. The composer Cong Su is represented by just one cut; but it's a gentle, ethereal spin on Chinese folk influences that fits well with his fellow composers' work. --Jerry McCulley