Reflection of Mongolian musical culture in Liang Lei's String quartets

Abstract

The article is devoted to the identification of elements of the Mongolian musical tradition in the quartet work of the outstanding modern Chinese composer Liang Lei. The focus is on two quartets: "Serashi Fragments" (2005) and "Gobi Gloria" (2006), which found their artistic embodiment of the song folklore of the Mongols with its characteristic performance styles - urtyn-duu, bogino-duu, features of playing national instruments, primarily on the morin khura, a special the form of performance for two voices is chaoer. A special place in quartets is occupied by imitation of the sound of traditional instruments, which is manifested both at the level of sound acuity and in terms of the textured arrangement of voices. Two Mongolian songs are used as quotation material in the quartets - "One White Sheep" and "Night Sky", which are reinterpreted by the composer, acquiring an instrumental character. The indicated works are included in the range of works written based on Mongolian themes and folk traditions. It is indicated that the studied quartets of Liang Lei are a vivid example of modern compositional searches aimed at discovering ways to harmoniously combine traditional models and modern techniques. This work combines a large volume of literature and musical scores, as well as relevant theories and existing results of Chinese and Russian scientists. Based on the analysis of musical scores, the string quartet in the Mongolian style by Chinese composer Liang Lei is analyzed from the point of view of its compositional basis, technique and cultural overtones. The conclusion of this work is that Liang Lei, as a composer who lived in both China and the United States, has a deep understanding of Eastern and Western cultures and philosophies and is able to skillfully use Western compositional techniques and instruments to creatively combine traditional Oriental music, embodying his own ideas and preserving traditions. The main contribution and innovation of this work is the acquaintance and analysis of the life, creativity and ideas of famous modern Chinese and Chinese-American composers, which demonstrates to the Russian reader the modern achievements of China in the field of musical innovation, as well as the multicultural subtext of a group of composers who received different education in China and in the West, which is represented by Liang Lei.