Concert traditions of choral conducting in China in the second half of the 20th – early 21st century

Abstract

Statement of the problem. Historically, choral performance and conducting in China got extraordinary development in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. But the artistic achievements of Chinese choral performance, the formation of organizational foundations and concert traditions of leading choral groups, the creative manner and achievements of outstanding conductors have not received adequate coverage and generalization in scientific literature. Only since the beginning of the 21st century, some attention of musicologists has been paid to conducting and choral practice and education (Ma Xu, A. Rastrygina, Liu Zhenyan), the activities of regional choral groups (Gui Junjie), the work of some outstanding artists and their groups (Tang Fang). The insufficient research of the stated problem actualizes the topic of the proposed article. Objectives, methods, and novelty of the research. The scientific novelty is due to the purpose of the article – to highlight the creative achievements of outstanding choral conductors and collectives, to reveal the formation of organizational foundations and concert traditions of Chinese choral art of the second half of the 20th – beginning of the 21st century, which did not become the subject of a separate study. A complex of scientific methods and approaches was used, the main of which are historical and cultural (for identification of the features of development, specifics, stylistics and forms of concert performance), historical and biographical (for covering the creative path of outstanding Chinese choral conductors and groups), musicological (analysis of individual performance style, artistic interpretation, repertoire policy), generalization (historical assessment of concert performance achievements of choral art in China). Research results and conclusion. A review of the development of choral art in China in the second half of the 20th – beginning of the 21st century proved that until the 1980s, the features of its development were determined by the ideology and policy of the Communist Party. It was found that the concert activity of the leading Chinese choirs is characterized by a peculiar manner of performance. The concert programs were analyzed, and it was found that the basis of the repertoire of most choirs are plays by Chinese composers and arrangements of songs of various peoples of China. Works of the world repertoire are mainly performed by Chinese groups during participation in international events. Since the 1990s, the organization of national and international choral competitions and festivals has played a significant role in the development of concert traditions and the spread of choral concert activities in China. At the beginning of the 21st century, the expressiveness of the musical component has been enhanced by theatrical performance. With the spread of Internet networks and computer technologies, new virtual forms of choral concert work are being introduced.