One of the elements that contributed to the power of the Korean Drama "Dae Jang Geum" ("Jewel in the Palace") was this excellent score. The soundtrack album contains all of the major leitmotifs from the show as continuously developing themes, later cut and pasted artfully to deepen the psychological power of the scene. There may be one or two minor variations that are not captured on this compilation, but the essential music is found here.
The soundtrack is an interesting mix of western scoring with Western & authentic Korean instruments, very well-played (and sung). On the CD, there is also a small video (no subtitles, unfortunately) of the scoring of the show, which leads to an even greater appreciation for the care and committment devoted to creating this series, a well-integrated work of art. An interview of the tenor Safina is, as I recall, in English. That they made use of an international star cross-over tenor (Safina sang the Police's "Roxanne" in "Moulin Rouge") has been remarked on before as an example of the committment to making this production something special. He sings the "Hopeless Love" theme. The English translations of both this number and a version of the main title theme are fairly crude and, from more literal translations I have read, lose the subtlety of the originals. But the scoring on the love theme is top notch and the "O-na-ri" little girls' chorus is hard to listen to without a smile on your face. The more wistful older-womens' version is also here.
I enjoyed listening to this CD, as well as viewing the 54 episodes of this great Korean drama. The music is great, but the CD is 62 minutes long, so there was more room to include some of the other great music tracks from the drama. The CD is just a small sampling of the fantastic music found in the original DVD collection.