The Patriot Yue Fei is a Chinese television series based on the life of Yue Fei, a Song Dynasty general widely regarded as a patriot and national hero in Chinese culture for his role during the Jurchen campaigns against the Song Dynasty. While the plot is based on historical sources, it also includes elements of fiction and draws ideas from the novel Shuo Yue Quanzhuan and other folktales on the general's life. Filming started in 2011. It is the first Chinese historical television series to be broadcast on HBO. The score is composed by Nathan Wang...

Nathan Wang has turned in a mightily impressive score for the TV series The Patriot Yue Fei. Once again, I find myself surprised at how many beautiful themes and set pieces he crams into a singe album. Like his other recently released soundtrack through Plaza Mayor, Chinese Zodiac, Wang seems to have crafted a labour of love here.

I've been listening to this score constantly for over a week and I've yet to get bored of it - there isn't a dull track on the album... and certainly no filler material.

There's a segment of music that appears in 'Fearless Yue Fei / Following General Liu / The Army of Yue / First Encounter of the Chariots' and a couple of other tracks, which reminded me of the 1947 song 'Almost Like Being in Love', which featured in the musical and movie Brigadoon.

Another highlight was 'Yue Fei The Patriot Piano Suite', which see Wang playing some of the more notable themes on the piano. The album contains 24 tracks (1 hr, 7 min).

If you're a fan of beautifully crafted scores, then you really need to add this to your collection.

9

Darren Rea