Developments in Mainland China's New Music
Identifieur interne : 000A26 ( Istex/Corpus ); précédent : 000A25; suivant : 000A27Developments in Mainland China's New Music
Auteurs : Frank KouwenhovenSource :
- China information [ 0920-203X ] ; 1992-09.
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- Teeft :
- Beijing, Central conservatory, Chen xiaoyong, China information, Chinese music, Chinese orchestra, Conservatory, Early works, Electronic music, Hong kong, Jilin province, Orchestral works, Other works, Percussion players, Same institute, Shanghai, Shanghai conservatory, String quartet, Traditional instruments, Violin solo, Western orchestra, Yang liqing.
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DOI: 10.1177/0920203X9200700204
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Developments
in Mainland China's New MusicPart II: From Europe to the Pacific & Back to China
SAGE Publications, Inc.1992DOI: 10.1177/0920203X9200700204
Frank Kouwenhoven
The author is Secretary of the European Foundation for
Chinese Music Research (CHIME), and Editor of its journal CHIME, Leiden, The
Netherlands
The
first part of this article was devoted to the musical development of Chinese
avant-garde composers currently in the USA.' This second part deals with Chinese
avant-garde composers active in Europe and the Pacific, as well as with the
future prospects of new music in the PRC.2 When comparing the Chinese composers
in the USA with those in other parts of the world, we immediately discover
many differences, not only in terms of means and resources, but also in terms
of personal development. Germany: The Adventures of Yang Liqing Where did
it all begin in Europe? Quite possibly in Germany. This country was the first
on the continent to see the arrival of young Chinese composers in the early
1980s. There was no central figure like Chou Wen-chung to serve as a focal
point, however, nor was there a German equivalent to that queen of all cosmopolitan
cities of culture, New York.' After their arrival, the Chinese composers dispersed
to various German cities, had little or no contact with each other, and were
often entirely absorbed in local circuits of new music. One pioneer was Yang
Liqing, a composer from Shanghai who already arrived in Germany in 1980 and
stayed until 1983. He was among the very first Chinese who, shortly after
the Cultural Revolution, were allowed to leave China to study musical composition
in the West.4 He knew very little of new Western music, and he found the confrontation
with Penderecki's Violin Concerto an overwhelming and painful experience.
Yang: "I simply couldn't believe my ears. It was very difficult for me. In
Hannover, I met various people from the contemporary music scene, such as
Lachenmann, Kupkovic and Malherbe6, some of whom taught me composition for
some time, but I found it hard to adjust my ears to their music".' Eventually,
he became a pupil of Alfred Koerppen, a more moderate figure at the local
1 Frank Kouwenhoven,
"Developments in Mainland China's New Music, Part 1: From China to the United
States", in China Information, Vol. VII, No. 1 (Summer 1992), pp.
17-39.
2 Parts I and
II were published together under the title "Mainland China's New Music: The
Age of Pluralism" in CHIME, Leiden, No. 5 (Spring 1992), pp. 76-134.
The text in CHIME is somewhat longer. In addition, it includes photographs
of the composers discussed, as well as a greater number of score examples.
3 For the role
played by Chou Wen-chung, the godfather of new Chinese music in the USA, see
Part I, p. 32.
4 Yang Liqing
was born in 1942 in Sichuan Province. He studied composition at the Conservatories
of Shenyang and Shanghai with Huo Cunhui and Sang Tong, and began writing
music in the early 1960s. His list of works includes many piano pieces, various
concertos, full-scale ballets, symphonic poems and choral works, as well
as some works for traditional Chinese instruments. In 1986, he became a professor
of composition at the Shanghai Conservatory. He wrote the first Chinese language
monograph on Messiaen, and is currently working on a treatise on contemporary
techniques of instrumentation, taking his examples from Chinese avant-garde
music.
5 Helmut F.
Lachenmann is a German composer, a former student of Nono and Stockhausen.
Ladislav Kupkovic (b. 1936) is a Slovak composer and conductor, a colleague
of Yarlheinz Stockhausen and an interpreter of his music. Edmond Malherbe
is a French composer of microtonal music.
6 Based on an
interview the author had with Yang in Shanghai, April 1990.
3531
Musikhochschule.
"It was mainly Koerppen who familiarized me with notions like serialism and
Klangfarbenmelodie. When I returned to China in 1983, my musical style had
changed, somewhat comparable to that of Zhao Xiaosheng: it was modem and romantic
by turns". In China, Yang was praised mainly for his exuberantly romantic
pieces, like "Grievances at the Wujiang River" for pipa and orchestra (1986),
or the ambitious symphonic ballet "Wuzi pei" (1988), jointly written with
his fellow-composer Lu Pei. Their collaboration took the form of Lu Pei writing
the first two acts and Yang the last two. Taken as a whole, the work lacks
coherence, although both composers based their scores on a ten-note row of
Rodion Schedrin. This structural device only serves as a cursory link and
fails to truly connect the two halves of the ballet. The two composers pursued
rather different musical goals, and their "co-operation" is somewhat reminiscent
of the "collective" creations of Chinese artists under Maoism. It is perhaps
only in China that a piece so incongruous in style can still be written, but
- looking at it from a positive angle - it bears witness to the increasing
importance of individualism in the PRC, and it is also one of the few genuinely
modem dance scores that were ever written and performed there. "Wuzi pei"
was followed in 1989 by an impressive and gloomy piece for choir and orchestra,
"Prelude, Interlude and Postlude", which was part of a larger dance drama
called "Memorial without Words". Perhaps more important are some of Yang's
vocal chamber works, written while he was still in Germany. Mainland Chinese
composers with an interest in modern Western poetry or literature are rare,
but Yang is a fine example. In 1982, he wrote "Die Enstehung der Taodejing
von Lao-Tze" (The Coming into Being of Laozi's Daodejing) for unaccompanied
choir, based on a text by Brecht, and in the same year, he composed "Three
Songs", on poems by Lorca, for soprano, flute, cello and piano. The Brecht
piece retains the original German, which is quite unusual. (I could think
of many Western composers who set Chinese poetry to music, but almost none
who did so in the original language!) Another vocal work of interest is "Four
Poems from the Tang Dynasty" for soprano, piano and percussion (1981), also
sung in German. From a Western point of view, Yang Liqing remains an essentially
conservative composer, but his influence as an advocate of new music in China
has been tremendous. He is not only a respectable craftsman, but also the
author of many noteworthy Chinese books and articles on new music, and he
led the way to foreign countries for many younger Chinese students. In 1990,
Yang returned to Europe to teach new music for a year at the Mozarteum Musikhochschule
in Salzburg, Austria. Other Chinese Composers in Germany In the wake of Yang
Liqing, other Chinese composers also came to Germany. From 1982 onwards, Su
Cong (b. 1957 in Tianjin) spent several years at Berlin Free University as
a doctoral student of ethnomusicology, before settling down in Munich as a
composer of film music. His music for Bertolucci's film "The Last Emperor"
(1988) won him an Oscar and sudden fame, a fact which helped him to obtain
a position at the Film Academy of Baden-Wurttemberg as a lecturer on film
music.' Su also continues to write music for the concert hall. He started
his career by playing the piano under the guidance of his father Su Xia, a
composer of revolutionary music. At 16, he began to take some harmony lessons
with Sang Tong in Shanghai, and he developed a serious interest in composition
during his student years with Du Mingxin at the Beijing Central Conservatory.
As a student, he was less noticed than some of his classmates, like Tan Dun
and Qu Xiaosong.8 His earliest success was "Dong Village, A Concerto
7 The Film Academy
of Baden-Württemberg in Ludwigsburg (near Stuttgart) is the first academy
in Germany where it is possible to major in "film music", and Su Cong was
the first to supervise this program.
8 On Tan Dun,
see Frank Kouwenhwen, "Composer Tan Dun: Ritual Fire Dancer of Mainland China's
New Music", in China Information, VoL VI, No. 3 (Winter 1991-92),
pp. 1-25; and Part I of this article, pp. 28-32. Qu Xiaosong is also discussed
in Part I, pp. 28-30.
3632
for
Strings" (1981), a romantic piece. After his graduation and departure to Germany,
he became more interested in Western contemporary music, particularly while
listening to late-night radio-broadcasts. "I had to adjust my daily rhythm
of life completely in order to hear those radio concerts", Su remembers, "I
had to stay up late, eating supper at the same time, and a lot of new music
gave me serious stomach trouble".' The music he wrote in reaction essentially
reveals his continued interest in romanticism. He took no further composition
courses, except for one master class led by Dieter Acker in Munich in 1984.
Visits to Donaueschingen and Darmstadt brought him into fleeting contact with
composers like Stockhausen and Henze, but his subsequent encounters with film
composers like Maurice Jarre, Ernest Gold and Giorgio Moroda had a much deeper
impact. Among his works for the concert hall, "Concert Overture" for orchestra
(1983, revised in 1986) is probably the best. It is a tranquil, romantic piece
which shows him primarily as a dexterous craftsman, but hardly as an innovator.
It is difficult not to think of pictures when listening to it. Some of his
other concert works, like "Daybreak" (1984), also sound as if they were inspired
by film images." Other Chinese composers currently in Germany are Zhu Shirui,
who arrived in Stuttgart early this year", and Yang Jingmao. A far more important,
and arguably the most promising Chinese artist currently living in Germany,
however, is Chen Xiaoyong. Chen Xiaoyong. A Student of Ligeti's _ Chen Xiaoyong
(b. 1955, Beijing) is still shaking off the impact of his teacher Gy6rgy Ligeti
and of German austere complexity. His intricate music strikes one as very
"contemporary" in style, perhaps as "too Western", but its timbral qualities
and its rare concision make it unique. He arrived in Hamburg to study with
Ligeti in 1985, shortly after his graduation from the Beijing Central Conservatory.
His composition teacher there, Su Xia, hardly ever taught him any Western
music later than Beethoven, but friends and family provided him with records
and scores of contemporary composers. In 1984, the discovery of a score of
Ligeti's "Atmosph6res" made a deep and lasting impression on him. At that
time, he also studied folk songs in Jiangxi and Yunnan, and developed a deep
affinity with kunqu and other genres of traditional theater. The contrast
between the timbral layers of Ligeti's orchestral piece and the rough, timbral
heterophony of Chinese folk music - as well as the unexpected affinities which
he discovered between these outwardly incomparable worlds of music - ignited
the fire of inspiration. He wrote
9 From an interview
the author had with Su in Stuttgart, 13 February 1992.
10 Other works
by Su Cong are a Symphony, a Piano Fantasia on a theme by Liszt (1985), which
won second prize in an international Liszt composition competition in Budapest,
and three string quartets. The Second Quartet (1983) was re-arranged for
string quartet and orchestra. The Third Quartet (1987) won a prize in the
Weber Composition Competition in Dresden. Su has written music for a wide
variety of stage plays, television plays and films produced in Germany, China,
Japan, Taiwan, Canada and Switzerland. A project which attracted particular
attention was "Der tollwütige Mund" (The Rabid Mouth), a drama about the life
of the great German writer Heinrich von Kleist. It was staged by the Berlin
Theatre of Freedom in 1988, directed by Hans Neuenfels. Su Cong is currently
working on an opera or musical theatre play about the life of Marco Polo.
For a general introduction to Su Cong, see Du Wei, "Composer Su Cong", in
China Reconstructs, Beijing, February 1989, pp. 42-44.
11 While still
in China, Zhu Shirui (b. 1954 in Sichuan) was primarily active as a theorist,
writing important analytical articles in leading journals under his pen name
Si Rui. He studied composition in Sichuan with Gao Weijie and later went
to the Central Conservatory in Beijing, where he composed, amongst others,
a number of works for traditional instruments, such as "Gu feng" (Ancient
atmosphere, 1985) for a quintet, and "Sihe" (Combination of Four, 1988) for
erhu and pipa. Like Cui Wenyu's "Yun", they are free applications of
Western contemporary techniques in settings for ancient Chinese instruments.
Furthermore, Zhu wrote music for a number of important films produced at
the Xi'an film studios, including "The Black Cannon Incident" (Heipao
shijian, Huang Jianxin, 1987) and "They are still young" (
Tamen zheng nianqing, Zhou Xiaowen, 1987), a now banned film about Chinese
soldiers in Vietnam.
3733
a Piano
Quintet, so "modern" that it was ignored by his teachers and could only be
tape-recorded in secret during a night time session with friends. Later, Chen
used his experience as a professional viola player in the Beijing Symphony
Orchestra (1976-80) to write a conventional but brilliant Violin Concerto
(1985), in which he combined elements of Western serialism with the percussive
sonorities and melisma of Chinese opera. This concerto, his graduation piece,
was highly praised in Beijing, but within a few days after its premiere, Chen
Xiaoyong had already left China to study with Ligeti. With the support of
Yang Liqing, he had written a letter to Ligeti, sending him his Piano Quintet.
Naturally, he was not the only young composer who wanted to become Ligeti's
student. Ligeti would regularly work his way through huge piles of scores
sent to him by young promising composers, to select the few works of genuine
interest. Fortunately, Chen's quintet was among those picked out, and he invited
Chen to come to Hamburg. Ligeti taught him for several years, and supported
him financially. The maestro was impressed by the first work which Chen wrote
in Germany, a String Quartet (1986-87). It was performed and awarded first
prize at a festival in Donaueschingen in 1987. Chen Xiaoyong's music, like
Tan Dun's, can be described as a continuous play of light and darkness, of
timbral shades and tiny variations in pitch. Not surprisingly, Chen himself
is a respectable guqin player. But unlike Tan Dun, whose music is often violent,
theatrical and frequently marked by persistent rhythms, Chen's music is introvert,
austere, more tightly structured and far more complex in nature, betraying
his deep involvement in Western European music. Chen is actually still wrestling
to find his own voice. In his String Trio (1987-88), the influence of Ligeti
and Scelsi is still too obvious. Some of his recent pursuits are more promising.
In 1989, Chen wrote a fine and elegant "Duet for Violin and Zheng", (premiered
by himself and his Japanese wife, who is a zheng player), and he recently
finished an ambitious work for orchestra, "Die" (1988-92).12 Together with
colleagues, some of them also ex-pupils of Ligeti, he has founded a Studio
for Computer Music in Hamburg. It will be interesting to see how his future
explorations in this field compare with those of his Chinese contemporaries
in France. Chinese Composers in Paris Most Chinese composers arriving in Europe
in the early 1980s went to Paris, which is the heart of the new music scene
in France. A forerunner of the young generation was the woman composer Tona
Scherchen-Hsiao (b. 1938), a daughter of the conductor Hermann Scherchen and
the composer Hsiao Shu-sien. She was actually born in Switzerland but spent
most of her youth (1949-60) in China, learning Chinese music and playing the
pipa at the Conservatories of Beijing and Shanghai. Back in Europe, she studied
with Henze, Messiaen and Ligeti, and began to write sophisticated and complex
music, not unlike that of Chou Wen-chung, but distinctly French in orientation.
Her achievements have been overshadowed in recent years by some composers
of the younger generation, notably by Chen Qigang (b. 1955, Shanghai), currently
one of the leading figures in new Chinese music. Chen Qigang is respected
as a prominent composer, not only in France, but all over Europe. He was the
first of a steady stream of young Chinese artists coming to Paris from 1984
onwards, among whom were: . , . :... ly .. .. ' _ . ~ -', " , . '., \1
12 Premiered
in Baden-Baden, 5 June 1992. Other recent works are "Guan jü", for 16-part
choir (1987), "San Jie", for Chinese Orchestra (1990-91) and "Yün", for soprano
and 11 instruments (1991). "Yün" will be premiered in Cologne, in October
(1992). Chen Xiaoyong is active in the newly founded Gesellscheft für neue
Musik Hamburg (Hamburg Society for New Music), which will organize
its first festival in 1993. For a good introduction to Chen and his music,
see his own article "Chen Xiaoyong" in the program book of the Donaueschingen
Musilktagen 1987, pp. 35-36.
3834
Li Ying
(b. 1956, Tianjin) 13 Liu Bin Mo Wuping (b. 1959, Beijing) 14 Xu Shuya (b.
1961, Jilin) Xu Yi (b. 1963, Nanjing) 15 _ Zhang Haofu Zhang Xiaofu (b. 1959,
Jilin) Some of them have now lived in Paris for many years, adopting French
features in their music - the influences ranging from Debussy to Boulez, from
Faur6 to Tristan Murail. Their formal careers run parallel in many ways. Li
Ying, Xu Yi, Mo Wuping and Xu Shuya all started their careers at the ~cole
Normale de Musique. The last two, who came from Shanghai in 1988-89, went
on as students of Ivo Malec at the National Conservatory. It was Malec who
first roused their interest in electronic music. Zhang Xiaofu, from Beijing,
followed the same route. In recent years, the studios of IRCAM have become
a focal point for Chinese wishing to experiment in electronic and computer
music - something which is utterly impossible in their own country. Before
continuing our survey of Chinese composers in France, let us briefly consider
the general impact of this particular genre of music on China. Chinese Computer
Music? The question mark is justified, not because computer music is essentially
a Western invention, but because composers from the PRC have had very few
opportunities so far to experiment in this field. The East Asian involvement
in electro-acoustic music probably dates from the mid-1950s, starting in Japan
with the founding of the NHK studio in 1954. A limited number of analog synthesizers
found their way to other Asian countries in the late 1960s and 1970s, but
most of the electronic compositions created in this period were taped pieces,
using live sounds, or live performances in which the sounds were amplified
and transformed. Only a handful of East Asian composers have shown real enthusiasm
for electronic music. Takemitsu and Mayazumi in Japan created some taped pieces
in the 1960s. More recently, Suk-Hi Kang (Korea) and Lam Man-yee (Hong Kong)
have begun to explore the possibilities of genuine computer-steered sound
13 Li Ying is
the daughter of Li Huade, a well-known conductor and director of the Central
Conservatory in Beijing. From 1981 onwards, she studied at the Central Conservatory
with the conservative composer Shi Fu, finishing her studies already in 1983,
in a special crash course available only to children of talented parents (!).
She came to Paris in 1985 and studied for some time with Jacques Castérède
and with the Japanese composer Yoshihisha Taira. Her main interests as a
composer are in (romantic) orchestral works. Her most ambitious piece is
"Caprice du Shan Geu" for orchestra (1986).
14 Mo Wuping
studied composition with Luo Zhongrong in Beijing. He was a student of the
Central Conservatory from 1983 to 1988. His string quartet "Sacrificial Rite
in Village" (1987) won a prize at the World Music Days in Hong Kong in 1988,
and was later performed in Tokyo and in Amsterdam by the Arditti Quartet.
"Fan I", for male voice and ensemble (1991), won a prize at the Asian Festival
of Arts in June 1991, in Sendai (Japan). Other works include an "Overture",
for voice and orchestra (1988), "For Violin Solo" (1991) and "Ao", for bassoon,
harp, percussion and double bass (1992). His recent works show a sophistication
and powerfulness of expression that definitely place him among the true innovators
of Chinese music. He is a splendid vocal performer of his own music.
15 Xu Yi studied
composition with Chen Mingzhi at the Shanghai Conservatory, graduating in
1986. Among her early works are various chamber pieces for traditional instruments,
such as "A Fathomless Interval Across Infinity" (1984), "Xu Su" (Empty Valley)
for trio (1986), and "Han shan si" for soprano voice, dizi, erhu and
guqin (1986), both of which won prizes in Shanghai. She also wrote
a Symphony (1986) for Western orchestra. "Nei dong" (Internal moving) for
soprano, violin, clarinet and piano (1987) and "Tao I" for Western ensemble
(1991) were played at women composers' festivals in Washington and in The
Netherlands. Other recent works include a String Quartet "Pour l'Erreur"
(1989), "Seul(e)", for clarinet solo, strings and percussion (1989), "Apesanteur"
for flute, two voices, two percussion players and strings (1990) and "Jiu
Gong" for strings (1990). Xu Yi's music is generally reflective and quiet
in character, and often influenced by Taoist philosophy.
3935
technology.
' ~~' The PRC only entered this field in the early 1980s, when digital synthesizers
became available " in Beijing and Shanghai, becoming popular almost overnight.
They were employed mainly in pop and popular music, and only haltingly found
their way to avant-garde music due to the costs involved. Commercial studios
of light music could easily afford to pay for the instruments, but composers
at music conservatories could not. Zhao Xiaosheng already dabbled with synthesizer
music during his stay in the USA (1981-1984) but lost his interest after his
return to Shanghai, where no sophisticated equipment was available. The situation
was different in Beijing. There were attempts at the Beijing Central Conservatory
to set up a genuine studio for computer music with support from the Australian
Ministry of Culture. Two lecturers at the University of Sydney, Ian Fredericks
and Martin Wesley-Smith, went to China in 1986 to install a Fairlight computer
on behalf of the Australian government, and also taught a handful of students
how to use it. It was the first professional computer music studio on the
Mainland. The Chinese appeared to be interested in it and actually wanted
to install more synthesizers and a Macintosh computer, but it seems that the
initiative was thwarted by the Tiananmen massacre and subsequent events in
1989. Nevertheless, a number of young composers in Beijing did write electronic
music, even before this period, using synthesizers borrowed from pop musicians.
Examples are Chen Yuanlin's "Hao" (1986) and "Nfwa butian" (1986) and Zhu
Shirui's "Goddess" (1984). The latter piece employs as many as seven synthesizers,
which was, according to Zhu, the total number of synthesizers in Beijing at
the time.'8 At the Chinese Conservatory in Beijing, some composers also began
to use synthesizers. Jin Xiang (b. 1935) wrote various tone poems for orchestra
including synthesizers, such as "Chao Xueqing", "Hong lou fuxiang" (both composed
in 1989) and "Nuwa" (1990). There were very few attempts to use previously
taped sounds in combination with live music, or to create electronic effects
by attaching contact microphones to instruments or other sound sources. This
was mainly due to the poor quality of the available equipment - usually locally
manufactured walkman recorders. In the abovementioned works, the composers
are still mainly in the process of discovering basic possibilities of relatively
unsophisticated equipment, and none of the pieces has attracted much attention
abroad. At present, apart from the inexpensive digital synthesizers which
are widely used in popular music (mostly Yamaha and Rowland), electro-acoustic
equipment in the PRC is still very limited, both in regard to quality and
availability. Since avant-garde music receives very little support from the
Chinese government, it is unlikely that official subsidies will be forthcoming.
In the future, perhaps only very successful pop singers and other commercial
artists - usually backed by recording studios - will be able to buy new and
more expensive technology. The composers who went abroad, in contrast, often
have splendid facilities at their disposal, such as those at IRCAM in Paris.
Any genuine development in the field of electro-acoustic composition is likely
to take place outside the PRC, unless economic and political changes there
lead to a more favorable climate. Composers like Zhang Xiaofu, Zhang Haofu",
Xu Yi, Xu Shuya and Chen Qigang have all worked with the computer music facilities
of IRCAM or the
16 Zhu discovered
them in the possession of friends and colleagues. He borrowed the instruments,
taught himself how to play them, and finally managed to bring all of them
together in several performances of improvized music, together with friends.
Local audiences, eager to hear the synthesizers, were enthusiastic. The outcome
of Zhu's explorations in this field was the piece "Goddess", premiered in
September 1984. It was probably the first composition of electronic music
ever to be played in a concert of "serious" music in China. The exceedingly
sketchy score and a tape-recording of the concert were eventually taken to
Australia, where the piece was re-edited and re-arranged with the help of
advanced music computers and sound synthesis modules by Chan Kam-Biu, a music
student from Hong Kong. The composer himself was not involved in the editing
and never heard the result!
17 Zhang Haofu
is originally from Beijing. He came to Paris from Brussels (Belgium), where
he studied for several years. Recently, his String Quartet (1991) was premiered
in Brussels.
4036
French
National Conservatory. Xu Shuya, in particular, has been most active in this
field.18 In 1990, he wrote "Taiyi", a dynamic and energetic five-minute piece
for tape, based on electronically transformed sounds of the xiao (a vertical
bamboo flute), played by Xu himself. In 1991, he wrote ' a more introvert
sequence to this piece, "Taiyi II", for flute solo and tape. Both works attest
to his craftsmanship in this field, and his great enthusiasm for it. He counts
his teacher Ivo Malec, but also York Holler and Bernard Parmegiani among his
major inspirations." Xu hopes to continue his adventures in electronic music,
drawing new materials from Chinese opera and folk music. He has also demonstrated
a great technical mastery in handling more conventional means in works like
"Choc", for four celli (1989), "Dongba" (1990) and "Chute en Automne" (1991),
both for instrumental ensemble. The sheer complexity of these works is reminiscent
of Brian Ferneyhough. Their brilliance may disappoint Western listeners who
expect works by Chinese composers to sound "Chinese". Like Xu Yi, Xu Shuya
draws a great deal of inspiration from Taoism, even with regard to musical
sounds, but his philosophical ideas are translated primarily in terms of Western
technique. Among Chinese composers, I find it hard to think of anyone comparable
to Xu Shuya when it comes to the complexity of his scores, but for him, complexity
has never been an aim in itself. His early works, written in China, show a
preference for lyrical and melancholic moods - "autumn" being an ever reccurring
theme in their titles. His recent music is sometimes more dramatic and energetic
in nature. In comparison, the works of Zhang Xiaofu appear to be more reflective,
inclined towards New Age, experimental jazz or even rock music. His "Yin,
Po6me musical fantastique" for xiao and synthesizers (1988), may occasionally
remind listeners of the worlds of Jan Garbarek or Terry Riley.2° Chen Qigang
has only recently begun to explore the possibilities of electronic music.
At the time of writing, I have not yet heard the results, but his achievements
in other fields certainly raise expectations. Chen told me that he has suddenly
become very enthusiastic about computer music, somewhat to his own astonishment.
Chen Qigang: A French Flavor More than any other Chinese composer in Paris,
Chen Qigang has surprised audiences with a distinctly audible "French" flavor
in his music, a delicacy of instrumentation directly inherited from Ravel
or Debussy, and a familiar kind of melancholy that will certainly appeal to
listeners with a romantic taste. The instrumental colors and the pensive melos
of the music are, however, largely his own. Moreover, it is not difficult
to distinguish oriental elements in his works. It appears that Chen has succeeded
in reinforcing the meaning of romanticism in Chinese music without lamely
reverting to the Western stereotypes of the past. Nothing in Chen's childhood
in Beijing seemed to point in the direction of an artistic talent or a future
career in music. He was the son of a well-known calligrapher, but not exactly
a talent
18 Xu Shuya
was born in 1961 in Jilin Province. His father is a traditional opera composer,
his mother a singer. He took cello lessons and studied composition at the
Shanghai Conservatory of Music (1979-1983), where Ding Shande and Zhu Jian'er
were his most important teachers. He worked as a lecturer at the same institute
before coming to Paris in December 1988. Among his early works are a Violin
Concerto (1982), a String Quartet (1982), a Cello Concerto (1984), as well
as the exquisite "Waiting in Autumn" for three flutes, string quartet and
52 string instruments (1985) and an ambitious symphony, "La Courbe" (1986).
While these works betray a wide range of influences, from Debussy to Ligeti,
and from Stravinsky to Takemitsu, they also attest to Xu Shuya's astonishing
control of Western techniques.
19 B. Parmegiani
is a composer of electronic music at GRM (Groupe de Recherches Musicales)
in Paris. Y. Höller (b. 1944, Germany) is a student of B.A. Zimmermann, a
one-time colleague of K. Stockhausen.
20 Zhang Xiaofu
played bassoon and erhu (Chinese fiddle) in local orchestras in Changchun
(Jilin Province) before coming to Beijing in 1978. He studied composition
at the Central Conservatory with Wu Zuqiang, graduating in 1983, and went
to Paris in 1989, taking lessons from Yoshihisa Taira and Ivo Malec. His recent
compositions include "Three Odes to the Spring" for bamboo flute solo and
Chinese orchestra (1988), a String Quartet (1989) and "Xuan", five pieces
for soprano, clarinet and percussion (1990). In China, he also wrote some
large-scale works for Western orchestra, as well as film and stage music.
4137
in drawing
or in calligraphy himself. He learned to play the piano and the clarinet,
and was impressed by a musical performance by young children at the Central
Conservatory. He decided he wanted to go there and was eventually accepted
as a student, much to the surprise of his parents. Even his classmates - Tan
Dun, Qu Xiaosong, Ye Xiaogang, Chen Yi, Zhou Long and others - did not think
of him as a composer. He was perhaps more of a linguistic genius; he had a
respectable knowledge of French and English long before any of his colleagues
learned to speak any foreign language. While the others wrote avant-garde
pieces that shocked Chinese audiences in the early 1980s, Chen composed almost
nothing, except romantic miniatures and one orchestral piece. Partly guided
by his teacher Luo Zhongrong, he concentrated on technique, on harmony and
counterpoint, feeling that he still lacked the "scientific" knowledge to write
a genuine modern piece of music. He went to France in 1984 and began to study
with a number of influential composers." A landmark experience for him was
his encounter with Olivier Messiaen, who became his teacher between 1984 and
1988, as well as an ardent supporter. Chen developed a personal friendship
with the maestro and spent some of his summer holidays at Messiaen's home.
The works he wrote in France show a consistent development and each work represents
a clear step forward. "Le Souvenir" for flute and harp (1985) underlines his
affinities with French impressionism. "Yi" for clarinet and string quartet
(1986) was his first genuine exploration of Western contemporary techniques,
a surprisingly concise and energetic piece, but regarded by Chen as a "study"
because it mainly reflected established trends. "Voyage d'un Reve" for sextet
(1987) appeared to bridge the two worlds of lyrical impressionism and contemporary
instrumental brilliance, as explored in his previous pieces. The work was
a conscious homage to Debussy, but also an attempt to move away from over-conspicuous
"avant-garde" gestures. It won a prize in Darmstadt, Germany. "Yuan" (Origins),
for large orchestra (1988), was his first essay in modern orchestral writing,
in which he tried to recreate the sensibility and timbral finesse of his chamber
pieces on the much larger canvas of the symphony orchestra. He added some
Chinese percussion instruments, but only a well-informed listener would discern
"Chinese" elements in the very complex score. "Yuan" was stronger and more
concise than any of his previous pieces, and also less overtly "romantic".
By now, his overriding interest in timbral variety was more than evident in
the magic of his instrumentation. He further explored this direction in "Lumi6res
de Guan.gling", for instrumental ensemble (1989), and he reached new heights
in "Potme Lyrique", for baritone and ensemble (1990). "Lumi~res" was primarily
inspired by images from a film he had seen which suggested harmonic and timbral
colors, a union of sound and pictures that was new to him. But arguably, the
most fortunate union in Chen Qigang's music is that of music and words, as
realized in his "Potme Lyrique". For this piece, he drew inspiration from
classical Chinese poetry and vocal techniques used in Chinese opera. The music
was a profound expression of the feelings caused by separation - a double
separation in this case, not only the distance between individual human beings,
but also the enormous distance that separated Chen Qigang from his native
land. He managed to bring these elements together in a piece of perfect unity,
in which Chinese and Western elements are no longer discernible as separate
ingredients. The ensemble-writing leaves no doubt about his superb command
of Western techniques. He found an excellent performer for the work in Shi
Kelong, a Chinese baritone living in Paris. Shi is well-versed both in Western
and in Chinese operatic vocal techniques. Nevertheless, subsequent performances
of the piece with other soloists - including a Polish countertenor - prove
that the solo part can also be executed
21 Ivo Malec,
Claude Ballif, Betsy Jolas and Jacques Castérède. He also followed courses
at IRCAM and with Franco Donatoni in Siena (Italy). Several of his works
were awarded prizes in international composition contests held in France,
Darmstadt (Germany), and Trieste (Italy). He received scholarships from the
International Nadia Boulanger foundation and from SACEM (1989). Among his
most recent works are "Feu d'Ombres" for soprano saxophone solo and ensemble
of wind instruments (1991), as well as a work for flute and orchestra (1991)
and a work for instruments and electronics prepared at IRCAM (1991-92).
4238
by singers
without any training in Chinese techniques. 22 In "Po6me Lyrique" - revised
and renamed "Po6me Lyrique II" in 1991 - Chen Qigang has liberated himself
from his Western examples (Faur6, Debussy, Messiaen, Ligeti), retaining in
terms of technique and expressiveness what is needed to define his own, unique
idiom. While he insists that he does not primarily want to be a "Chinese"
composer, his music has almost imperceptibly grown closer to the cultural
traditions of Asia. Moreover, his aesthetic opinions are remarkably close
to those expressed in the Confucian classics. His concept of beauty encompasses
classical melodic eloquence, grandeur, dignity, a harmonious spirit and the
absence of harsh, "vulgar" sounds or any undue excitement. His music can be
powerful and dramatic, loud and fast, but it is never theatrical, raw, folksy,
or deliberately "primitive" like Tan Dun's. Chen and Tan Dun are at opposite
ends of a scale which shows the tremendous range of possibilities offered
by the spiritual union of Western and Chinese musical ideas. Chen distances
himself from certain academic trends in European music, notably from serialism
and the tremendous impact in France of a composer like Boulez. He has stated:
"I don't like to choose a position between Orient and Occident, rationalism
and irrationalism, nationalism and internationalism, I rather prefer to retain
from each whatever benefits me, anything that can help me in finding my personal
style. I feel that I increasingly possess the courage to refuse to respond
to musical fashion, especially here in Paris, that capital city of cultural
snobbery. It has been difficult for me to find that courage His recent successes
as a composer have proved him right. He is much praised in France and Germany,
and last year, his music was performed for the first time in the USA, by the
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra conducted by George Benjamin. Benjamin is
another very successful student of Messiaen's and a friend of Chen's. There
are more than cursory similarities between Chen and Benjamin, especially where
their command of instrumental colors is concerned. Needless to say, "color"
was the magic word in the entire oeuvre of Messiaen, and it may well have
been the reason why he was so proud of these two students of his. Chinese
Composers in Other Parts of the World Naturally, Chinese composers have also
found their way to many other parts of the world.2" Some have identified themselves
so much with local traditions that they have totally been absorbed by them.
This is especially true of some composers currently living in Russia, such
as Chen Baohua (b. 1937, Beijing) and Zuo Zhenguan (b. 1945, Shanghai), who
became part of the Soviet "music-for-the-masses" tradition. In general, these
artists have not been able to earn reputations comparable to those of their
colleagues in the USA and Europe. A possible exception is Huang Anlun, a composer
who has adopted features of Prokofiev,
22 Two CD recordings
have been planned for release in the autumn of 1992, one by the ensemble 2E2M
in France, one by the Nieuw Ensemble in Amsterdam. Shi Kelong will be the
vocal soloist in both versions. The French CD will contain more works by
Chen Qigang, while the Dutch one (on the label Etcetera) will include recent
compositions by other Chinese composers: Mo Wuping ("Fan"), Guo Wenjing ("She
Huo"), Xu Shuya ("Chute en Automne") and Qu Xiaosong ("Yi"). These works
were all premiered in Amsterdam in the spring of 1991.
23 From a letter
to the author, dated 8 September 1990.
24 To name just
a few: Huang Anlun and Wang Haiping in Canada, Sun Yi (b. 1954) and Chu Hua
(b. 1941, Yixing) in Australia, Mei Hongfu in Holland, Yao Henglu (b. 1951,
Beijing) in England, Da Pingqiu in Finland, and Wang Yanqiao in Japan.
4339
Hindemith,
Bart6k and others in his music.2' Like Yang Liqing, he was among the first
Chinese composers to go abroad after the "Cultural Revolution". He went to
Toronto in 1980 and later studied with Jacob Druckman at Yale University.
His list of works is impressive, including several operas, three ballets,
two oratorios, many orchestral works and concertos, as well as piano solos
and chamber music. His style is conservative and firmly dependent on Western
models. His works have been widely performed in Asia and the West, notably
in the USA and Canada, where many of his works were premiered. Australia:
Julian Yu Another exception is Julian Yu, a composer from Beijing now living
in Victoria, Australia.' He is among the few young Chinese composers who studied
in Japan - he was a pupil of Joji Yuasa in the early 1980s. In 1985, he settled
in Australia and later took Australian nationality. In 1988, he studied with
Hans Werner Henze and Oliver Knussen in Tanglewood. His musical style is firmly
rooted in Western avant-garde, the influences ranging from Scriabin to Takemitsu.
The idea for one of his recent orchestral works, the ten-minute "Great Ornamented
Fuga Canonica" (1988), came to him while he was researching the evolution
and development of melody in traditional Chinese music. He tried, in his own
words, to transplant the "richness and variety of ornamentation of traditional
Chinese melodies" to the medium of the Western orchestra, while using a theme
from Bach's "Musical Offering" as basic material. Unlike some critics, I would
say that the principle of folk improvisation which he adopted to develop this
material is not specifically Chinese, but universal. The way in which people
in China learn to sing or play folk music, first by imitation, then by improvising
until they are able to embellish a tune and transform it in their own, individual
way, is not necessarily different from the process of learning folk music
in other parts of the world. Lawrence Whi.ffin's conclusion that, by applying
this method, Yu effectively blends "characteristic Chinese idioms with European
atonality" does not seem convincing.' The term "Chinese idiom" implies the
use of typical Chinese intervals, typical Chinese ornaments or rhythms, but
nothing of the sort can be detected in the "Fuga Canonica". The work is neither
a homage to Bach nor a tribute to Chinese tradition. The original Bach theme
is there, but in augmented form, and hidden underneath thick layers of orchestral
sound which make it unrecognizable. There are no conspicuous borrowings from
Chinese music either, but the work is a technically brilliant and impressive
achievement in its own right. The music is marked by loud, sonorous, Messiaen-like
exclamations in brass supported by metal percussion, and
25 Huang Anlun
was born in 1949 in Guangzhou, son of the Chinese conductor Huang Feili. He
began his education at the Beijing Central Conservatory (1961-1968). He taught
modem harmony and counterpoint, took lessons with Chen Zi. In 1980, he moved
to the University of Toronto, Canada. Later, he went on to study with Lothar
Klein in London and with Jacob Druckman at Yale University, at the same institute
where his father Huang Feili had once been taught by Paul Hindemith. In 1982,
he wrote a romantic Piano Concerto for the pianist Joseph Banowetz, who had
become a personal friend. The concerto was recorded on CD in Hong Kong ("First
Contemporary Chinese Composers Festival 1986", HK 8.240442). Other recent
works are an opera, "Yue Fei" (1985), a Brass Trio (1985), a Toccata in D
for 30 cellos (1986), and the "Eastern Cantata" for unaccompanied choir (1986).
26 Julian Yu
was born in Beijing in 1957 as Yu Jingjun. He studied composition at the Beijing
Central Conservatory and joined its teaching staff upon graduation. From
1980 to 1982, he studied in Tokyo with Joji Yuasa and Schin-ichiro Ikebe.
His music has won several international prizes, including the Koussevitzky
Tanglewood Composition Prize (1988), the 35th Premio Musicale Citta di Trieste
(1988) and the 10th Irino Prize (1989). His works are published by Universal
Edition. Recently, his puppet music theatre "The White Snake" (1990), commissioned
by Hans Werner Henze, was performed at the New Music Theatre Festival in
Munich, Germany. Last year, he won Australia's prestigious Paul Lowin Award
for orchestral works, for his 21-minute piece "Hsiang Wen, Propitious Filigreed
Cloud" (1991). For a brief introduction to the composer written by himself,
see "Tradition, Ethnic Integration and Contemporary Composition", in Sounds
Australian, Winter 1991, pp. 25-27.
27 Cf. Lawrence
Whiffin's entry on Julian Yu, in Contemporary Composers, London: St.
James Press, 1992.
4440
by complex
sound figurations which are occasionally reminiscent of Scriabin or Richard
Strauss. There are indeed moments of unabashed romanticism, in which the music
of still other fin-de-siecle composers is momentarily brought back to life.
Less ambitious but perhaps more concise in expression than the "Fuga Canonica"
is "Wu Yu", written in 1987. It is a brief and powerful exercise in orchestral
dynamics and colors. Another fine work with an exquisite sense of timbre is
"Scintillation II", for piano, two vibraphones and glockenspiel (1987). The
choral work "In the Sunshine of Bach" (1990) treats a theme from "The Art
of the Fugue" in serialist fashion. "Reclaimed Prefu" for two pianos (1989)
again takes a Bach tune as its point of departure. Interestingly, as in the
"Great Ornamented Fuga Canonica", the final result is again closer in spirit
to (late) Scriabin than to Bach. Julian Yu has gradually established himself
as one of the more promising young Australian artists. Like Chen Qigang, he
is not interested in parading as a typical "Chinese composer", but characteristically,
some of his best works do contain oriental elements, not so much in their
structure or melodic materials as in their delicate sense of color and dynamic
contrast. The Present Situation in China But it is in China, not the West,
that this broad survey should end. What about the young composers who stayed
behind in China, those who did not or could not go abroad and had to make
the best of it at home? What about the youngest generation in particular?
Do they write interesting and original music, following the road opened up
to them by people like Tan Dun and Qu Xiaosong? Sadly, young music students
in China know very little of developments abroad. Tightened emigration rules
make it ever more difficult for them to leave China, and increased ideological
control imposes limits on the spread of new musical techniques. Young composers
in China today are often just as ignorant of the outside musical world as
their predecessors were ten or twelve years ago. At the moment, there are
no concerts of genuine avant-garde music, and the best thing they can do is
study tapes or scores of new music which are copied and handed around privately
or by sympathetic teachers. There is no doubt that the 1989 massacres in Beijing
and other cities have had a very negative impact, but new music has not come
to a total standstill. For example, there is a large group of composers who
try to maintain the newly-won level of liberty of the early 1980s in works
that would not be called "contemporary" in the West, but which are still sufficiently
novel in the PRC context.' Their position is comparable to that of their middle-aged
teachers whom I described in Part I ~ Most of them are active in local Song
and Dance Troupes, and their output includes full-scale Stravinskian ballets,
as well as works of well-nigh Elgarian pomposity for all sorts of official
occasions. A number of them also write film music or pop song arrangements.
In addition, some have also written delicate and attractive ensemble pieces
for traditional Chinese instruments, works which may yet win them wider audiences
abroad, either in avant-garde concerts or in the context of "world music".
Xu Jianqiang's "Dao Bai", for sheng, xiao and sanxian (1986) is a fine example
of the genre, in which playing techniques and expressive means of traditional
instruments are stretched to new limits. All the same, it is a composer of
the older generation, Zhu Jian'er (b. 1922 in Tianjin), who has outshone all
their achievements in his extraordinary Fourth Symphony (1990) for dizi (bamboo
28 Examples
of these composers are: Han Lankui (b. 1959, Lanzhou), Jiang Xiaopeng (b.
1954), Liu Xing (b. 1962), Ma Jianping, Pan Guoxing, Shi Zhengbo (b. 1957),
Wang Xilin (b. 1937), Wu Shaoxiong (b. 1955, Quanzhou), Xu Cbangjun, Xu Jianqiang
(b. 1953, Shanghai), Xu Jixing (b. 1960, Guangxi), Zhang Dalong (b. 1955,
Shanxi), Zhang Qianyi (b. 1959, Shenyang), Zhao Guang, Zheng Bing (b. 1956,
Dalian), Zou Xiangping (b. 1951, Sichuan).
29 Part I, pp.
19-20.
4541
flute)
solo and strings. This remarkable piece recently won the Queen Marie Jos6
prize in Geneva, Switzerland. It is a moving and powerful elegy, in an idiom
reminiscent of Ligeti or Penderecki, arguably the best work that Zhu Jian'er
has ever written, and one that demonstrates that musical innovation in China
is not the exclusive domain of the younger generations. Zhu began his career
as a romantic composer in the 1940s, but he switched to Bart6k and to serialism
in the 1980s, and continued to modernize his style afterwards. His extraordinary
development should encourage his contemporaries - young or old - to be more
daring, and to view every new creative effort as an exploration of unknown
territory. The Remains of the "New Wave" Another hopeful sign is that there
is still a small group of composers who may be considered as the remains of
the "New Wave". Some were directly involved in the birth of the genuine avant-garde
movement in China in the early 1980s. Others, only a few years younger, discovered
new music in the mid-1980s, early enough to respond to it wholeheartedly before
the present winter of artistic freedom set in. All of them continue to write
controversial pieces. Those known to me are: . Chen Qiangbin Guo Wenjing (b.
1956, Chongqing) He Xuntian (b. 1954, Sichuan) Liu Yuan (b. 1959, Hangzhou)
Quan Jihao (b. 1955, Jilin) Of these, He Xuntian and Guo Wenjing are probably
the best-known. Their music has often been performed abroad. He Xuntian studied
composition with Gao Weijie at the Sichuan Conservatory. His most popular
work, "Tianlai: Sounds of Nature" (1986) is an evocative and haunting piece
for " seven performers, using some thirty different instruments.' It combines
elements of folk music and primitivism with a touch of suspense and a good
sense of timing. The instruments were designed by the composer himself: bamboo
pipes, pieces of wood or metal, drums deliberately damaged to change the timbre,
a large arsenal of specially tuned flutes, and ceramic pots with ~- holes
in them. The piece was a remarkable experiment in sound color and spatial
contrasts. It won prizes in Shanghai (1986) and the USA (1990). In 1987, it
was followed by "Meng si ze: Four Dreams" an intriguing and nightmarish concerto
for erhu and Western orchestra. His other orchestral works of the same period,
the Symphony "Tonal Patterns" (1986) and "Telepathy" (1988), sound as if they
are much indebted to Ligeti, although the composer has stated that he did
not know Ligeti's music at the time. A more recent work like "Phonism" for
ensemble (1990), appears to embroider on the Ligetian principle of slowly
shifting timbral layers, but without breaking any new ground. "Imagine the
Sound" (1991), also for chamber ensemble, is a study in quietude; it lacks
the powerful impact of his earlier pieces. Guo Wenjing began to play the violin
at the age of eleven, and studied at the Beijing Central Conservatory. He
became very active in the field of film music. His style was deeply influenced
by the folk music of Sichuan Province, particularly local opera and folk song,
but also by Western examples. It is the voice of Shostakovich in particular
that rings through Guo's symphonic cantata "Shu Dao Nan" (1987), an elegy
which mourns the tragedies of war. In a country that has still not been able
to cope psychologically with the atrocities of the "Cultural Revolution",
it is hardly a suprise that Shostakovich's music has become very popular.
Influences of his sombre and eerie style, especially of the later symphonies
- his shattering reply to the continuing atrocities of totalitarianism - can
be detected in the works of a great many Chinese composers. But it was Bart6k,
not Shostakovich, who has made a deep and lasting impact on Guo's style.
30 For a technical
discussion of this work and the composition theory on which it is based, cf.
Si Rui, "Shiyanxing - Ren yi lü - duiyingfa ji qita - xi 'Tianlai'", in
Renmin yinyue, 1989, No. 2, pp. 12-13.
4642
His
String Quartet "The River of Sichuan" (1981-84), while showing his extraordinary
craftsmanship in this genre, is suffused with Bart6kian rhythms and chords,
and it is the "Miraculous Mandarin" which shines through in his splendid piece
"Suspended Ancient 'Coffins on the Cliffs in Sichuan" for two pianos and orchestra
(1983). This exuberant work also shows a more daring and more personal Guo
Wenjing; it demonstrates a new kind of sophistication through a free adaptation
of elements of rural folk music. He explored this line more fully in his attractive
"Concerto for Violin and Orchestra" (1986-1987), but he really found his true
voice in "She Huo", a piece for Western ensemble with added Chinese percussion
(1991) which evokes the atmosphere of outdoor rural folk festivities. Guo
is not exactly fond of the spiritual and artistic refinement of Chinese calligraphy
or elite music. The philosophy of tiny gestures, quietude, acquiescence, "emptiness"
- everything that is so often regarded as the very essence of Chinese culture
- does not really appeal to him. He grew >' up in rural Chongqing, amidst
the rough cries of boat people and the loud banging of percussion players
in ritual opera. This world is brought to life again in his own pieces in
an inimitable way, using the superb command of both Western and Chinese vocal
and instrumental techniques that puts Guo in the frontline of contemporary
composers and true innovators in Asia." Chen Qiangbin and Liu Yuan are both
graduates of the Shanghai Conservatory. They impressed the audience at the
Shanghai Spring Festival in 1991 with relatively unconventional works: Chen
with a Violin Concerto (1990) that appeared to combine influences of Prokofiev,
Schnittke and Shostakovich, and Liu Yuan with a 30-minute Symphonic Rhapsody
(1988-89).32 Liu Yuan has continued to perfect his technical abilities in
a broad repertoire of pieces, including opera, piano music, symphonic works
and works for Chinese instruments. He wrote some attractive works for a small
ensemble, in which he combines a Chinese sparsity of lines with an unusual
intensity of expression, notably "Gui yi" for two guqin, xiao and baritone
(1987) and "Postlude of Symphony No. Zero", a dynamic piece for cello and
two percussion players (1989). Quan Jihao, finally, is a composer of Korean
descent. He studied with Wang Jianzhong and Yang Liqing in Shanghai. He has
recently joined the teaching staff of the Shenyang Conservatory. His early
works, including a Violin Concerto (1982) and various works for piano solo,
are " influenced by Bart6k, serialism and occasionally by Spanish (!) music,
but he has gradually developed a strong interest in his Korean roots. This
is shown in his recent chamber works, such as his Quintet for Chinese Instruments
"Zong" (1987) and "Yao sheng tan yin" (Looking into the secret of the vibrato)
for Chinese ensemble (1988), as well as in some of his orchestral music, such
as the Fantasy "Shan hun" (1990). His style sometimes resembles that of Isang
Yun, especially in his very introvert and "empty' chamber pieces, but Quan
Jihao is a strong musical personality in his own right, whose future development
should be followed carefully. It is regrettable that he has had very little
opportunity to have his works played abroad, since he definitely merits greater
attention The Youngest Generation Among those still studying at the conservatories,
there are many promising young composers, like Zhu Lixi (b. 1961, Shanghai),
and Hao Weiya and Fang Quanyi, both students at the Beijing
31 Guo Wenjing
is currently a composition teacher at Beijing Central Conservatory. His works
have won many prizes in national competitions. He has scored music for more
than twenty-five Chinese films and television plays. His Prelude for piano
"The Gorge" (1979), his Rhapsody for cello and piano "Ba" (1982), his Suite
for Violin Solo (1985) as well as his String Quartet were recorded on a commercial
tape by the China Record Company in 1986 (AL-56). Among his other works are
"Two Movements" for Orchestra (1983) and the symphonic poem "Sutra Streamers"
(1986).
32 Unfortunately,
I have not been able to hear the Rhapsody or to study the score.
33 Quan's Suite
for piano solo "Long and Short" (1985) was recorded on CD: The Dream of Heaven,
New Piano Music from China", produced on the German label Wergo in 1988 (WER
601238-50).
4743
Central
Conservatory. Other names can be added: Jia Guoping (b. 1964, Shanxi) is a
very skilled young composer now living in Beijing. Yang Liqing in Shanghai
is currently the mentor of some r promising students of Korean descent: Qin
Wenchen, Soong Pier-an34, Wu Aiguo' and Yin Mingwu. Some of them took part
in the 1991 Shanghai Spring Festival with various chamber , works.' \ Of course,
the future prospects of new music in the PRC depend not only on the available
talent, but also on political and economic circumstances. Young students who
cross the boundaries of what is currently accepted in the conservatories as
"proper music" run the risk of being expelled, losing all future career perspectives
as far as music is concerned. At present, the absolute limit of "modernit~'
seems to be drawn at twelve-tone music. Recently, there was also the extraordinary
case of Yu Qiang, a student who organized an artistic happening although his
Conservatory had forbidden him to do so. As a result, he got into serious
trouble. Preparing the Soup of Life in a Shanghai Garage ... ' ~ - ..; ° ..:
¡ Yu Qiang (b. 1964, Sichuan), a student of Yang Liqing, recently conducted
a musico-theatrical experiment somewhat in the spirit of John Cage, which
he described as an example of "action art" (xingwei yishu). It took place
in secret in the garage of a waste-disposal factory in Shanghai. Originally,
Yu had selected the roof of the Shanghai Conservatory as the most suitable
site, but the Conservatory forbade the project. Someone later informed the
Conservatory of Yu's performance in the garage, and he was severely reprimanded
as a result. His chances of finding a job as a composer in Shanghai are reduced
to zero. If one examines what actually took place, however, the turmoil which
it caused seems quite out of proportion. The experiment took place on the
evening of 27 December 1991. It was freezing cold, so everyone present wore
thick overcoats. The center of the garage was cleared and Yu decorated this
space with music scores hanging from ropes: fragments of Beethoven, bits of
traditional guqin music, scraps of Haubenstock-Ramati, of He Xuntian, even
some pages of Yu's own compositions. Tape-recordings of all this music were
simultaneously heard through loudspeakers. The garage floor was strewn with
tiny clay and wooden musical instruments, made by an artist who is a close
friend of Yu's. In the course of several hours, Yu Qiang and some of his friends
conducted a strange ritual which he called "1/8" (quaver note). The audience
- a handful of students and some factory workers - observed it all in bemused
silence, and some even joined in spontaneously. While the opening bars of
Beethoven's Fifth Symphony pounded through the loudspeakers, the music sheets
were plucked from the ropes and quietly torn to pieces. These were collected
in a big pot and boiled in water. Ginger, soya bean oil, pepper and other
ingredients were added to transform the wet paper mash into a spicy Sichuanese
soup - a symbol for the "soup of life". When the soup was ready, it was eaten
with spoons. Yu and his colleagues then began playing Chinese chess, doing
calligraphies, or making music on the tiny ceramic instruments scattered over
the floor. -
34 Soong Pier-An
is also known in Shanghai under his Chinese name An Chengbi. He was born in
Heilongjiang in 1965. He is currently studying composition with Yang Liqing
and Zhao Xiaosheng, and has written many orchestral and chamber works. Both
his septet "Mingwu", and "San Jo" for violin and piano won prizes in Chinese
composition contests. His music combines serialist influences with the quietude
and meditative character of much Korean traditional music. There is also
a touch of Messiaen in his works.
35 Wu Aiguo
has written various "impressionist" pieces for Chinese instruments. His piece
"Meng" (Dream), for sheng (Chinese mouth organ) and ensemble remains
interesting throughout the entire composition.
36 Their music
drew little attention during the Festival, but only because in China, there
is no real concert tradition of chamber music for Western instruments. Qin
Wenchen's "2-1-2" for two cellos, piano and two percussion players (1990),
Soong Pier-An's "Mingwu" for septet (1989) and some works by Wu Aiguo and
Yin Mingwu all demonstrate technical abilities which put these students on
a par with composition students in the West. Some may prove to be sufficiently
talented to secure themselves a position in the international avant-garde
circuit in the near future.
4844
Towards
the end of the ritual, these beautifully made instruments were crushed with
big hammers and hack-knives, the remains of the soup poured out over the debris,
and the resulting wet pulp was subsequently kneaded and moulded. Yu first
shaped it into something resembling the Chinese character ren (human being),
but the final outcome was a music note - a quaver. End of project. The Shanghai
Conservatory criticized the event for being "nihilistic", having nothing to
do with "serious" music. However, Yu had intended it as a sincere homage to
the music he loves and to Chinese philosophy. When I met him in Shanghai in
April 1992, he minutely explained the meaning of the ritual, and the Taoist
and Buddhist principles underlying it. He also played a tape of some of his
recent musical compositions, amongst others "Ji, A Memorial Rite" (1991),
which leaves no doubt about his musical talents. 37 He now hopes to be able
to move to Beijing, where he has been invited to join the teaching staff of
the Chinese Music Conservatory. He has the support of a number of older composers
who have full confidence in his unorthodox ideas. One might say that in Yu's
experiment, the spirit of John Cage has found its way to China. Or is it rather
a spirit which happens to be akin to Cage, but which has always been native
to China? . (End of this article. Glossary appears on the following pages)
37 It is a partly
improvized, experimental piece for cello, percussion and zheng.
4945
GLOSSARY
. , , ...,
Chen
Baohua Chen Mingzhi Chen Qiangbin . Chen Qigang Chen Xiaoyong Chen Yi Chen
Yuanlin Chou Wen-chung Chu Wanghua Cui Wenyu Da Pingqiu Ding Shande Du Mingxin
Fang Quanyi Gao Weijie . Guo Wenjing Han Lankui Hao Weiya He Xuntian Huang
Anlun Huo Cunhui Jia Guoping Jiang Xiaopeng Jin Xiang Li Huade Li Ying Liu
Bin Liu Xing Liu Yuan Lu Pei Luo Zhongrong Ma Jianping Mei Hongfu Mo Wuping
Pan Guoxing Qin Wenchen ' Qu Xiaosong Quan Jihao Sang Tong Shi Fu Shi Zhengbo
Si Rui, (=Zhu Shirui) Soong Pier-an (An Cheni Su Cong Su Xia Sun Yi Tan Dun
Wang Haiping
r~T~-G~
t _ %JW~ ~~~ )~a %>b fig ~a~ %R3 q~ ~~~.~~L, zlZ- S7'?~ ~X~ /S#% SS#lli fil~il
~ fiSi"t Z#Y llf&+ ~-J~ ~ it#fl X#lti ~~ XM £'I& ° £') Q Bt§ ~.~'.
;~ . ,J , , %#L* ~B? #&M ~X~ W-J~ ~X~~ ~ ;E5t,-- S-IES ibi) ER . ;bi)
l~*363 ~X . #>Z i~ J~' a~~ ....
5046
Wang
Jianzhong Wang Xilin Wang Yanqiao Wu Ai'guo Wu Shaoxiong Wu Zuqiang Xia Liang
Xu Changjun Xu Jianqiang Xu Jixing Xu Shuya Xu Yi . Yang Jingmao Yang Liqing
Yao Henglu Ye Xiaogang Yin Mingwu Yu Jingjun (Julian Yu) Yu Qiang Zhang Dalong
Zhang Haofu Zhang Qianyi Zhang Xiaofu Zhao Guang Zhao Xiaosheng Zheng Bing
Zhou Long Zhu Jian'Er Zhu Lixi Zhu Shirui Zou Xiangping Zuo Zhen'guan
1~
~B)S .", *~oo w ©t% wffl§i X~. *ai* ~~s~ ~~2~ iF85V ~1>( I%»Jti ~~~ tllt'>w
at/J,ff;1 Pflfls -F~~ . , lL*at lL~* ~-i— 5*/J' 7e ~7é %w& ~fJ< ~~. ~? ~-Li~ *tYisb S~? E«Xx</meta-value></custom-meta></custom-meta-wrap></article-meta></front><back><notes><p>1 Frank Kouwenhoven, "Developments in Mainland China's New Music, Part 1: From China to the United States", in <italic>China Information,</italic> Vol. VII, No. 1 (Summer 1992), pp. 17-39.</p><p>2 Parts I and II were published together under the title "Mainland China's New Music: The Age of Pluralism" in <italic>CHIME,</italic> Leiden, No. 5 (Spring 1992), pp. 76-134. The text in <italic>CHIME</italic> is somewhat longer. In addition, it includes photographs of the composers discussed, as well as a greater number of score examples.</p><p>3 For the role played by Chou Wen-chung, the godfather of new Chinese music in the USA, see Part I, p. 32.</p><p>4 Yang Liqing was born in 1942 in Sichuan Province. He studied composition at the Conservatories of Shenyang and Shanghai with Huo Cunhui and Sang Tong, and began writing music in the early 1960s. His list of works includes many piano pieces, various concertos, full-scale ballets, symphonic poems and choral works, as well as some works for traditional Chinese instruments. In 1986, he became a professor of composition at the Shanghai Conservatory. He wrote the first Chinese language monograph on Messiaen, and is currently working on a treatise on contemporary techniques of instrumentation, taking his examples from Chinese avant-garde music.</p><p>5 Helmut F. Lachenmann is a German composer, a former student of Nono and Stockhausen. Ladislav Kupkovic (b. 1936) is a Slovak composer and conductor, a colleague of Yarlheinz Stockhausen and an interpreter of his music. Edmond Malherbe is a French composer of microtonal music.</p><p>6 Based on an interview the author had with Yang in Shanghai, April 1990.</p><p>7 The Film Academy of Baden-Württemberg in Ludwigsburg (near Stuttgart) is the first academy in Germany where it is possible to major in "film music", and Su Cong was the first to supervise this program.</p><p>8 On Tan Dun, see Frank Kouwenhwen, "Composer Tan Dun: Ritual Fire Dancer of Mainland China's New Music", in <italic>China
Information,</italic> VoL VI, No. 3 (Winter 1991-92), pp. 1-25; and Part I of this article, pp. 28-32. Qu Xiaosong is also discussed in Part I, pp. 28-30.</p><p>9 From an interview the author had with Su in Stuttgart, 13 February 1992.</p><p>10 Other works by Su Cong are a Symphony, a Piano Fantasia on a theme by Liszt (1985), which won second prize in an international Liszt composition competition in Budapest, and three string quartets. The Second Quartet (1983) was re-arranged for string quartet and orchestra. The Third Quartet (1987) won a prize in the Weber Composition Competition in Dresden. Su has written music for a wide variety of stage plays, television plays and films produced in Germany, China, Japan, Taiwan, Canada and Switzerland. A project which attracted particular attention was "Der tollwütige Mund" (The Rabid Mouth), a drama about the life of the great German writer Heinrich von Kleist. It was staged by the Berlin Theatre of Freedom in 1988, directed by Hans Neuenfels. Su Cong is currently working on an opera or musical theatre play about the life of Marco Polo. For a general introduction to Su Cong, see Du Wei, "Composer Su Cong", in <italic> China Reconstructs,</italic> Beijing, February 1989, pp. 42-44.</p><p>11 While still in China, Zhu Shirui (b. 1954 in Sichuan) was primarily active as a theorist, writing important analytical articles in leading journals under his pen name Si Rui. He studied composition in Sichuan with Gao Weijie and later went to the Central Conservatory in Beijing, where he composed, amongst others, a number of works for traditional instruments, such as "Gu feng" (Ancient atmosphere, 1985) for a quintet, and "Sihe" (Combination of Four, 1988) for erhu and <italic>pipa.</italic> Like Cui Wenyu's "Yun", they are free applications of Western contemporary techniques in settings for ancient Chinese instruments. Furthermore, Zhu wrote music for a number of important films produced at the Xi'an film studios, including "The Black Cannon Incident" (<italic>Heipao
shijian,</italic> Huang Jianxin, 1987) and "They are still young" (<italic> Tamen zheng nianqing,</italic> Zhou Xiaowen, 1987), a now banned film about Chinese soldiers in Vietnam.</p><p>12 Premiered in Baden-Baden, 5 June 1992. Other recent works are "Guan jü", for 16-part choir (1987), "San Jie", for Chinese Orchestra (1990-91) and "Yün", for soprano and 11 instruments (1991). "Yün" will be premiered in Cologne, in October (1992). Chen Xiaoyong is active in the newly founded <italic>Gesellscheft für neue Musik
Hamburg</italic> (Hamburg Society for New Music), which will organize its first festival in 1993. For a good introduction to Chen and his music, see his own article "Chen Xiaoyong" in the program book of the <italic>Donaueschingen Musilktagen 1987,</italic> pp. 35-36.</p><p>13 Li Ying is the daughter of Li Huade, a well-known conductor and director of the Central Conservatory in Beijing. From 1981 onwards, she studied at the Central Conservatory with the conservative composer Shi Fu, finishing her studies already in 1983, in a special crash course available only to children of talented parents (!). She came to Paris in 1985 and studied for some time with Jacques Castérède and with the Japanese composer Yoshihisha Taira. Her main interests as a composer are in (romantic) orchestral works. Her most ambitious piece is "Caprice du Shan Geu" for orchestra (1986).</p><p>14 Mo Wuping studied composition with Luo Zhongrong in Beijing. He was a student of the Central Conservatory from 1983 to 1988. His string quartet "Sacrificial Rite in Village" (1987) won a prize at the World Music Days in Hong Kong in 1988, and was later performed in Tokyo and in Amsterdam by the Arditti Quartet. "Fan I", for male voice and ensemble (1991), won a prize at the Asian Festival of Arts in June 1991, in Sendai (Japan). Other works include an "Overture", for voice and orchestra (1988), "For Violin Solo" (1991) and "Ao", for bassoon, harp, percussion and double bass (1992). His recent works show a sophistication and powerfulness of expression that definitely place him among the true innovators of Chinese music. He is a splendid vocal performer of his own music.</p><p>15 Xu Yi studied composition with Chen Mingzhi at the Shanghai Conservatory, graduating in 1986. Among her early works are various chamber pieces for traditional instruments, such as "A Fathomless Interval Across Infinity" (1984), "Xu Su" (Empty Valley) for trio (1986), and "Han shan si" for soprano voice, <italic>dizi, erhu</italic> and <italic>guqin</italic> (1986), both of which won prizes in Shanghai. She also wrote a Symphony (1986) for Western orchestra. "Nei dong" (Internal moving) for soprano, violin, clarinet and piano (1987) and "Tao I" for Western ensemble (1991) were played at women composers' festivals in Washington and in The Netherlands. Other recent works include a String Quartet "Pour l'Erreur" (1989), "Seul(e)", for clarinet solo, strings and percussion (1989), "Apesanteur" for flute, two voices, two percussion players and strings (1990) and "Jiu Gong" for strings (1990). Xu Yi's music is generally reflective and quiet in character, and often influenced by Taoist philosophy.</p><p>16 Zhu discovered them in the possession of friends and colleagues. He borrowed the instruments, taught himself how to play them, and finally managed to bring all of them together in several performances of improvized music, together with friends. Local audiences, eager to hear the synthesizers, were enthusiastic. The outcome of Zhu's explorations in this field was the piece "Goddess", premiered in September 1984. It was probably the first composition of electronic music ever to be played in a concert of "serious" music in China. The exceedingly sketchy score and a tape-recording of the concert were eventually taken to Australia, where the piece was re-edited and re-arranged with the help of advanced music computers and sound synthesis modules by Chan Kam-Biu, a music student from Hong Kong. The composer himself was not involved in the editing and never heard the result!</p><p>17 Zhang Haofu is originally from Beijing. He came to Paris from Brussels (Belgium), where he studied for several years. Recently, his String Quartet (1991) was premiered in Brussels.</p><p>18 Xu Shuya was born in 1961 in Jilin Province. His father is a traditional opera composer, his mother a singer. He took cello lessons and studied composition at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music (1979-1983), where Ding Shande and Zhu Jian'er were his most important teachers. He worked as a lecturer at the same institute before coming to Paris in December 1988. Among his early works are a Violin Concerto (1982), a String Quartet (1982), a Cello Concerto (1984), as well as the exquisite "Waiting in Autumn" for three flutes, string quartet and 52 string instruments (1985) and an ambitious symphony, "La Courbe" (1986). While these works betray a wide range of influences, from Debussy to Ligeti, and from Stravinsky to Takemitsu, they also attest to Xu Shuya's astonishing control of Western techniques.</p><p>19 B. Parmegiani is a composer of electronic music at GRM (Groupe de Recherches Musicales) in Paris. Y. Höller (b. 1944, Germany) is a student of B.A. Zimmermann, a one-time colleague of K. Stockhausen.</p><p>20 Zhang Xiaofu played bassoon and <italic>erhu</italic> (Chinese fiddle) in local orchestras in Changchun (Jilin Province) before coming to Beijing in 1978. He studied composition at the Central Conservatory with Wu Zuqiang, graduating in 1983, and went to Paris in 1989, taking lessons from Yoshihisa Taira and Ivo Malec. His recent compositions include "Three Odes to the Spring" for bamboo flute solo and Chinese orchestra (1988), a String Quartet (1989) and "Xuan", five pieces for soprano, clarinet and percussion (1990). In China, he also wrote some large-scale works for Western orchestra, as well as film and stage music.</p><p>21 Ivo Malec, Claude Ballif, Betsy Jolas and Jacques Castérède. He also followed courses at IRCAM and with Franco Donatoni in Siena (Italy). Several of his works were awarded prizes in international composition contests held in France, Darmstadt (Germany), and Trieste (Italy). He received scholarships from the International Nadia Boulanger foundation and from SACEM (1989). Among his most recent works are "Feu d'Ombres" for soprano saxophone solo and ensemble of wind instruments (1991), as well as a work for flute and orchestra (1991) and a work for instruments and electronics prepared at IRCAM (1991-92).</p><p>22 Two CD recordings have been planned for release in the autumn of 1992, one by the ensemble 2E2M in France, one by the Nieuw Ensemble in Amsterdam. Shi Kelong will be the vocal soloist in both versions. The French CD will contain more works by Chen Qigang, while the Dutch one (on the label Etcetera) will include recent compositions by other Chinese composers: Mo Wuping ("Fan"), Guo Wenjing ("She Huo"), Xu Shuya ("Chute en Automne") and Qu Xiaosong ("Yi"). These works were all premiered in Amsterdam in the spring of 1991.</p><p>23 From a letter to the author, dated 8 September 1990.</p><p>24 To name just a few: Huang Anlun and Wang Haiping in Canada, Sun Yi (b. 1954) and Chu Hua (b. 1941, Yixing) in Australia, Mei Hongfu in Holland, Yao Henglu (b. 1951, Beijing) in England, Da Pingqiu in Finland, and Wang Yanqiao in Japan.</p><p>25 Huang Anlun was born in 1949 in Guangzhou, son of the Chinese conductor Huang Feili. He began his education at the Beijing Central Conservatory (1961-1968). He taught modem harmony and counterpoint, took lessons with Chen Zi. In 1980, he moved to the University of Toronto, Canada. Later, he went on to study with Lothar Klein in London and with Jacob Druckman at Yale University, at the same institute where his father Huang Feili had once been taught by Paul Hindemith. In 1982, he wrote a romantic Piano Concerto for the pianist Joseph Banowetz, who had become a personal friend. The concerto was recorded on CD in Hong Kong ("First Contemporary Chinese Composers Festival 1986", HK 8.240442). Other recent works are an opera, "Yue Fei" (1985), a Brass Trio (1985), a Toccata in D for 30 cellos (1986), and the "Eastern Cantata" for unaccompanied choir (1986).</p><p>26 Julian Yu was born in Beijing in 1957 as Yu Jingjun. He studied composition at the Beijing Central Conservatory and joined its teaching staff upon graduation. From 1980 to 1982, he studied in Tokyo with Joji Yuasa and Schin-ichiro Ikebe. His music has won several international prizes, including the Koussevitzky Tanglewood Composition Prize (1988), the 35th Premio Musicale Citta di Trieste (1988) and the 10th Irino Prize (1989). His works are published by Universal Edition. Recently, his puppet music theatre "The White Snake" (1990), commissioned by Hans Werner Henze, was performed at the New Music Theatre Festival in Munich, Germany. Last year, he won Australia's prestigious Paul Lowin Award for orchestral works, for his 21-minute piece "Hsiang Wen, Propitious Filigreed Cloud" (1991). For a brief introduction to the composer written by himself, see "Tradition, Ethnic Integration and Contemporary Composition", in <italic>Sounds Australian,</italic> Winter 1991, pp. 25-27.</p><p>27 Cf. Lawrence Whiffin's entry on Julian Yu, in <italic>Contemporary Composers,</italic> London: St. James Press, 1992.</p><p>28 Examples of these composers are: Han Lankui (b. 1959, Lanzhou), Jiang Xiaopeng (b. 1954), Liu Xing (b. 1962), Ma Jianping, Pan Guoxing, Shi Zhengbo (b. 1957), Wang Xilin (b. 1937), Wu Shaoxiong (b. 1955, Quanzhou), Xu Cbangjun, Xu Jianqiang (b. 1953, Shanghai), Xu Jixing (b. 1960, Guangxi), Zhang Dalong (b. 1955, Shanxi), Zhang Qianyi (b. 1959, Shenyang), Zhao Guang, Zheng Bing (b. 1956, Dalian), Zou Xiangping (b. 1951, Sichuan).</p><p>29 Part I, pp. 19-20.</p><p>30 For a technical discussion of this work and the composition theory on which it is based, cf. Si Rui, "Shiyanxing - Ren yi lü - duiyingfa ji qita - xi 'Tianlai'", in <italic> Renmin yinyue,</italic> 1989, No. 2, pp. 12-13.</p><p>31 Guo Wenjing is currently a composition teacher at Beijing Central Conservatory. His works have won many prizes in national competitions. He has scored music for more than twenty-five Chinese films and television plays. His Prelude for piano "The Gorge" (1979), his Rhapsody for cello and piano "Ba" (1982), his Suite for Violin Solo (1985) as well as his String Quartet were recorded on a commercial tape by the China Record Company in 1986 (AL-56). Among his other works are "Two Movements" for Orchestra (1983) and the symphonic poem "Sutra Streamers" (1986).</p><p>32 Unfortunately, I have not been able to hear the Rhapsody or to study the score.</p><p>33 Quan's Suite for piano solo "Long and Short" (1985) was recorded on CD: The Dream of Heaven, New Piano Music from China", produced on the German label Wergo in 1988 (WER 601238-50).</p><p>34 Soong Pier-An is also known in Shanghai under his Chinese name An Chengbi. He was born in Heilongjiang in 1965. He is currently studying composition with Yang Liqing and Zhao Xiaosheng, and has written many orchestral and chamber works. Both his septet "Mingwu", and "San Jo" for violin and piano won prizes in Chinese composition contests. His music combines serialist influences with the quietude and meditative character of much Korean traditional music. There is also a touch of Messiaen in his works.</p><p>35 Wu Aiguo has written various "impressionist" pieces for Chinese instruments. His piece "Meng" (Dream), for <italic>sheng</italic> (Chinese mouth organ) and ensemble remains interesting throughout the entire composition.</p><p>36 Their music drew little attention during the Festival, but only because in China, there is no real concert tradition of chamber music for Western instruments. Qin Wenchen's "2-1-2" for two cellos, piano and two percussion players (1990), Soong Pier-An's "Mingwu" for septet (1989) and some works by Wu Aiguo and Yin Mingwu all demonstrate technical abilities which put these students on a par with composition students in the West. Some may prove to be sufficiently talented to secure themselves a position in the international avant-garde circuit in the near future.</p><p>37 It is a partly improvized, experimental piece for cello, percussion and <italic>zheng.</italic></p></notes></back></article></istex:document></istex:metadataXml><mods version="3.6"><titleInfo lang="en"><title>Developments in Mainland China's New Music</title><subTitle>Part II: From Europe to the Pacific & Back to China</subTitle></titleInfo><titleInfo type="alternative" lang="en" contentType="CDATA"><title>Developments in Mainland China's New Music</title><subTitle>Part II: From Europe to the Pacific & Back to China</subTitle></titleInfo><name type="personal"><namePart type="given">Frank</namePart><namePart type="family">Kouwenhoven</namePart><affiliation>The author is Secretary of the European Foundation for Chinese Music Research (CHIME), and Editor of its journal CHIME, Leiden, The Netherlands</affiliation></name><typeOfResource>text</typeOfResource><genre type="research-article" displayLabel="research-article" authority="ISTEX" authorityURI="https://content-type.data.istex.fr" valueURI="https://content-type.data.istex.fr/ark:/67375/XTP-1JC4F85T-7">research-article</genre><originInfo><publisher>Sage Publications</publisher><place><placeTerm type="text">Sage CA: Thousand Oaks, CA</placeTerm></place><dateIssued encoding="w3cdtf">1992-09</dateIssued><copyrightDate encoding="w3cdtf">1992</copyrightDate></originInfo><language><languageTerm type="code" authority="iso639-2b">eng</languageTerm><languageTerm type="code" authority="rfc3066">en</languageTerm></language><relatedItem type="host"><titleInfo><title>China information</title></titleInfo><genre type="journal" authority="ISTEX" authorityURI="https://publication-type.data.istex.fr" valueURI="https://publication-type.data.istex.fr/ark:/67375/JMC-0GLKJH51-B">journal</genre><identifier type="ISSN">0920-203X</identifier><identifier type="eISSN">1741-590X</identifier><identifier type="PublisherID">CIN</identifier><identifier type="PublisherID-hwp">spcin</identifier><part><date>1992</date><detail type="volume"><caption>vol.</caption><number>7</number></detail><detail type="issue"><caption>no.</caption><number>2</number></detail><extent unit="pages"><start>30</start><end>46</end></extent></part></relatedItem><identifier type="istex">30059F3E1941A5CE535BEF88D33D52D2587F5D2C</identifier><identifier type="ark">ark:/67375/M70-2518B25K-T</identifier><identifier type="DOI">10.1177/0920203X9200700204</identifier><identifier type="ArticleID">10.1177_0920203X9200700204</identifier><recordInfo><recordContentSource authority="ISTEX" authorityURI="https://loaded-corpus.data.istex.fr" valueURI="https://loaded-corpus.data.istex.fr/ark:/67375/XBH-0J1N7DQT-B">sage</recordContentSource></recordInfo></mods><json:item><extension>json</extension><original>false</original><mimetype>application/json</mimetype><uri>https://api.istex.fr/document/30059F3E1941A5CE535BEF88D33D52D2587F5D2C/metadata/json</uri></json:item></metadata><serie></serie></istex></record>Pour manipuler ce document sous Unix (Dilib)
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