SYNTHESIS OF STYLISTIC FEATURES OF CHINESE AND EUROPEAN MUSIC IN THE CONCERTO FOR YANGQIN AND ORCHESTRA “POETRY OF THE STRAITS” BY XIANG ZUHUA

Abstract

The figure of Xiang Zuhua as a composer, musicologist, and yangqin musician is presented. The artist developed his innovative style of playing, composed a set of works for the mentioned instrument, and published relevant scientific papers, making a significant contribution to the process of academicizing yangqin. A comprehensive analysis of musical expressive means and architectonics in the Concerto for Yangqin and Orchestra “Poetry of the Straits” by Xiang Zuhua made it possible to elucidate the main features of the style of the music piece and the artist. When analyzing the composition, the interaction of the soloist yangqin parts and the orchestra is also marked in the context of the work’s dramaturgy and under its figurative content. The study of the artist’s musical language in the piece concerned proved the interaction of musical thinking of genetically different origins: European and traditional Chinese with a certain dominance of the latter. The analysis of Xiang Zuhua’s Concerto “Poetry of the Straits” demonstrated the synthesis of genetically different traditions of European and traditional Chinese music. The composition has a non-standard form for a classical Western European concerto: the work consists of an introduction, two contrasting parts, and an epilogue. The contribution skillfully combines the folk tunes of the East and Western European classical harmony. This, first of all, refers to modal variability, majorminor versatility, the use of non-standard sequences for European harmony, an alternative principle of the development of thematic material, contrasting alternation of parts within form, non-typical for the concerto genre. The Concerto for Yangqin and Orchestra “Poetry of the Straits” by Xiang Zuhua, which combines the traditions of national Chinese music and features of Western European classics, justifies the composer’s high professionalism.