Ryuichi Sakamoto, David Byrne, and Cong Su’s score to The Last Emperor is being reissued this March.
The Bernardo Bertolucci-directed film, released in 1987, tells the story of Pu Yi, the last monarch of the Chinese Qing dynasty, prior to the republican revolution in 1911. Its score sees Sakamoto, Byrne and Su aim to emulate the musical traditions of Imperial China with the use of traditional percussion instruments and Erhu – a two-stringed bowed fiddle. You can listen to the film’s main theme above.
Music On Vinyl will release The Last Emperor on March 5, 2021.
