During intermission, I summarized what I heard: Sharply leaping melodies that are like controlled yells, and two other melodies that sounded decent. The only thing is, Tan Dun repeated them over and over.

Of course, he did develop them — just not so well. Then, he added the Chinese zheng, a twangy instrument, to the harp. However, the tones did not match. The zheng follows the five-tone scale. It's this pattern of notes that gives Asian music its significance. With the harp, you have a different scale.

Also, almost all the melodies had the same personality: The Emperor, for instance, had the same characteristics as the prisoner, Shadow.