SUITENESS AS AN EMBODIMENT OF THE “NATIONAL” IN UKRAINIAN AND CHINESE PIANO MUSIC

Abstract

The article is devoted to the phenomenon of suiteness as a means of expressing the national in Ukrainian and Chinese piano music. It is noted that, beginning in the Baroque era, the instrumental suite demonstrated national characteristics, taking into account the geographical origins of the dances that formed its basis. The growing interest in the suite in the first half of the 20th century is attributed, on the one hand, to the absence of restrictions and strict rules regarding the sequence of movements, its variability, and its ability to combine diverse imagery, and on the other hand, to its inherent potential for expressing national color. It is emphasized that the tendency toward suite-based thinking is a characteristic feature of certain musical cultures, particularly Ukrainian and Chinese. The study identifies the Ukrainian inclination in the musical sphere toward small forms united into cycles, both in choral and piano music. This trait is also inherent to Chinese culture, in which laconic expression is a characteristic feature of artistic thinking. Through comparative analysis, the article traces the specific features of Ukrainian and Chinese mentalities and concludes that they share a fundamental common trait: Ukrainian and Chinese thinking is image-oriented, in contrast to the more logically structured Western European mindset. Within this context, the article examines “Ukrainian suites” and cyclic works with pronounced suiteness by M. Lysenko, V. Barvinskyi, and F. Yakymenko. It is noted that the first example of a suite cycle in Chinese piano music is Liu Xue’an’s “Chinese Suite”, in which the Western major-minor functional harmonic system is combined with the modal features of traditional Chinese national music.