The album is the soundtrack for the movie, made by Ang Lee (great movie BTW if you haven't seen it).
The soundtrack is by Tan Dun. It has won numerous awards, including a Grammy & the classical Brit Contemp Music Award.

Overall, the music is haunting and fascinating. An underlying plaintive melodic theme runs throgh most of the compositions. It is very well captured using many instruments. The melody is complex enough that it does not get boring after a few listens. Overall, this is a great intro to Chinese classical music. Track 1 is a good one, becuase in the first few seconds, it has a loud assemblage of many instruments at the same time...a good test for a speaker. Track 4 is also good for checking out bass drumming. The cello and other instruments are great for checking out the tone and detail of a system.

The music is remarkably soothing. I listen to this album a lot, even though I have heard it so many times.

Hope this information was useful to all of us.
-akhilesh

Doesn't Yo Yo Ma perform on that soundtrack? That is one of the recordings we played at your house, isn't it? I seem to recall we listened to it and it was excellent. I meant to buy it and forgot.

Thanks for the reminder!

Wayne