Effect of national traditions on the dramaturgy of the piano concert «The Four Spirits» by Chen Yi

Abstract

Genre of the piano concert holds a prominent place in the works of contemporary Chinese composers. The interest is due to the integration of Chinese culture into the Western music world, the awareness of piano versatility for national musical material adaptation. Article analyses for the first time one of the most recently written works of the contemporary Chinese- American composer Chen Yi – the piano concert “The Four Spirits” (2016). The purpose of the article is to determine the effect of ancient Chinese mythology on the content and structure of the piano concert “The Four Spirits”, written by Chinese composer Chen Yi. The methodology uses musical and theoretical analysis method to study work’s musical drama and program basis.The concert analysed combines organically pan-European and national features, when the national dominates over the European. This is manifested in the concert at the content level, through Chinese mythology images, as well as in the musical language, by stylizing and quoting folk melodies common in various regions of China. Referring to the basics of Chinese mythology, Chen Yi reproduces in the 4-part cycle of the suite type the imagination of four sacred animals, symbols of Chinese culture: dragon, xuanwu (a combination of turtle and snake), tiger and phoenix. The composer stylizes in the lyrical and energetic music of the first part of the concert the Chinese folk songs from Central China. Mysterious mood and imagery of the second part are reproduced by the sonorous orchestral recording and spatial layers in the piano-solo part. Dramatic images of the third part, which is a link to the final, arise due to collisions of piano registers emphasized by means of orchestration. The fourth part is lively and energetic; the thematic material is borrowed from the folk melody of Southern China. The piano and orchestra are transformed in each part into an organic whole, symbolizing the spirit of Chinese culture. The unique national traditions, in particular the ancient mythology of the Chinese people, became the source of the original musical ideas and their original embodiment by the modern Chinese composers.