The divergence and convergence of modern music

Mondo Culture Updated on 2024-01-28

In the Chinese composer community, there is an unwritten practice of "labeling". Some composers are called "traditionalists", some are called "modernists", and a few are eclectic, although some scholars do not agree with this classification and basis. Throwing away the characteristics of the genre, the requirements of the subject matter and the limitation of the use occasion, the traditional school and the modernist school divided by style dominate the aesthetic standards of China, and also point to the development trend of creation. Whether it is a traditional school or a modernist school, it is written about modernity, and the two tributaries finally merge into the great river and sea of contemporary Chinese creation.

New works are blooming.

If you want to understand the trend of modern **, it is undoubtedly the best way to understand the current modern **. Fortunately, 2023 provides a great opportunity for this proposition.

In late September, I watched the 9th Yangtze River Piano Festival in Yichang, Hubei Province. On a dripping night, the old Yichang Theater in the center of the city is holding a special piano performance of "Huaxia Qinying". In the ** hall with free admission, the audience was bustling, and the enthusiastic opening remarks and well-behaved words of the male and female hosts made this ** meeting look more like a party than it sounded.

Unlike the usual male performers in suits and leather shoes, Ge Hao, an associate professor at Shanghai ** College, took the stage wearing a floral shirt with a Hawaiian tropical style. With the help of a translator, he roared and played, and from time to time he jumped up from the piano bench in the cathartic area. The unusual performance and unique sound made the listeners who had listened to "Colorful Clouds Chasing the Moon" for several days scratch their ears and cheeks. Even in the auditorium, where the lights are out, you can still see people pointing at the pianist, talking to each other, as if full of question marks and curiosity. For many people, this may be the first time they have listened to Wen Deqing's "Love Song and the Boatman's Trumpet" live, and felt the "immersive" performance of the pianist beating his chest.

This year's modern ** activities are intensively staged with a total of hundreds of modern works, and the Yangtze River Piano Festival hosted by private enterprises is just one of many activities. From the beginning of the year to the end of the year, there are countless modern ** events competing on the stage. Some of them are held once a year, some every two years, some every three to four years, and some people can't remember the last time they were held. These various activities will appear in 2023 due to various development laws and coincidences, showing a modern ** flourishing state.

Looking at the modern ** festivals or various exhibitions and performances that will be unveiled in 2023, it is advisable to divide them into two categories according to the nature of the organizer or the dominant party for discussion.

The first category is sponsored by the first department and led by the troupe, including the "Shanghai Spring" International ** Festival, the "Symphony of the Times-National Excellent Orchestra Invitational Performance", the National Centre for the Performing Arts "Chinese Symphony Spring", the Chinese Opera Festival held in Hangzhou, the National Excellent Symphony Works Exhibition held in Harbin, and the National National Instrumental Music Exhibition held in Langfang, Hebei Province. The second category is hosted or led by universities, including the Beijing Modern Festival hosted by the University, the Shanghai Contemporary Festival hosted by the Shanghai University, the China-ASEAN Week hosted by the Guangxi University of the Arts, the Chengdu Contemporary Week hosted by the Sichuan University, and the Guangming Chamber Music Festival hosted by the Shenzhen College of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, China.

In addition, art troupes such as Zheng Xiaoying Opera Art Center and Gansu Provincial Song and Dance Theater, performance venues such as Beijing Dahua City Performing Arts Center, colleges and universities such as Xi'an ** College, Wuhan ** College, Zhejiang ** College, Xinghai ** College have a series of modern ** performances, which does not include countless closed-door discussions and industry forums around the creative direction.

Like the classical** and overseas group markets, the modern** performance will also usher in the legendary "revenge" growth in 2023.

The difference between route and aesthetics.

Although the works presented in these activities are colorful, blooming and all-encompassing, through on-site observation of most of the above-mentioned activities, I always feel that there is an imperceptible watershed that naturally separates the plain of modern China into two banks, and naturally divides the camps of some composers into two categories, although almost all composers are or have worked in ** colleges. To put it simply, on one side of the river is the leading and leading activities of the troupe, and most of the works they promote are melodious, easy to understand, and singing, and the composers behind the works take the so-called "melody school" as the key. On the other side of the river are university-led, composition-led activities, most of which are arbitrary, difficult and obscure, with diverse themes, and creators who are proud of the so-called "modernists".

But just as the river will be diverted, some kind of interaction between the two camps is not absent. On the contrary, there are some striking and striking examples of the composer's ability to blend ideas. Composers Ye Xiaogang and Zhou Xianglin's representative works have appeared on the main stage of various modern events in batches, such as Zhou Xianglin's orchestral and opera works not only appeared in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanning, Chengdu and other places held in contemporary festivals, but also by the performance group, by the "Symphony Spring", China Opera Festival and the National Excellent Symphony Works Exhibition and so on to the stage.

Some composers seem to be able to move between the two genres as well. When Wen Deqing's adaptation of Czerny's "Three Super Xi Pieces for Orchestra" premiered in Nanning by the University of the Philippines Symphony Orchestra at the end of the year, many colleagues in the ** hall of the Guangxi Culture and Arts Center couldn't believe their ears at first, and after repeatedly reading the program list to confirm that it was correct, they almost couldn't believe their eyes. Wen Deqing's orchestral piece, which was inspired by her daughter's practice, may be understood as a sign of the composer's transition from modernism to melodism, even if it is only a temporary borrowing, even if the catchy melody originally came from Austria more than 200 years ago.

This impression of listening to the scene prompted me to look for the reasons behind it. Based on the law of Party A's determination of aesthetics, the activities hosted by the ** and led by the troupe need to face the public, and some activities are even broadcast live throughout the whole process, so they will take into account the aesthetics of sociality and audibility, and the route is clear. As academic highlands, colleges and universities will naturally set up cutting-edge topics and shoulder the responsibility of cultivating future composers. Although both are modern platforms, their emphases are slightly different, just like under the same roof of "physics", there will be theoretical physics and applied physics.

Colleges and universities are theoretical research positions, since theory guides practice, the first competition for young people hosted by colleges and universities may guide the future of modern times. In 2023, the works competitions hosted by universities, whether it is the "Baichuan Award" in Shanghai or the "Sunshine Cup" in Chengdu, the winning works can be effortlessly included in the category of modernism. Is this telling that the modern ** encouraged by the academic side will inevitably embark on a road of no return that sounds difficult and obscure?

Some scholars disagree with the labeled classification of composers as modernists and traditionalists, including composer Wang Ruiqi, an associate professor of composition and conducting at Shanghai ** University. She believes that even if the audience finds the works unpleasant, they also have the meaning of exploring as a composer individually, "Modern ** may carry the creator's naïve thoughts, or the composer's naïve bias, but they are all the embodiment of the composer's pursuit of innovation and change." In this respect, they are enterprising, exploratory works that young people deserve to be understood, tolerated and respected. ”

Heaven and earth people empathize.

One would surely say that the idealized approach is a combination of tradition and modernity, experimentation and practicality. A group of accomplished composers can indeed have the best of both worlds. Lu Qiming not only portrayed the pride of "Ode to the Red Flag", but also wrote the Qingqing and I of "Lushan Love";Ye Xiaogang has both the historical weight of "Shaoling Thatched Cottage" and the poetic lyricism of "Jade Guanyin". A group of composers, including Tan Dun, have indeed shifted from the young and vigorous avant-garde to the mature and steady romantic, thus gaining household names. If the long river of ** is formed by the convergence of thousands of tributaries of individual growth, then the way out of modern ** will not run counter to the aesthetic orientation of the composition competition that promotes talents, and finally experience the transformation from modernism to tradition just like the personal growth of composers?

Wang Ruiqi believes that all Chinese composers embody the core of the fusion of modernity and tradition, and the difference is only the form of expression. "The exploration of new timbre, new sound and new functions of musical instruments in the Western world has been basically completed at the end of the 20th century, and many unique features of Chinese composers, including the use of a national instrument or a group of national instruments with Chinese characteristics and the world's popular symphony orchestra to compete, integrate, highlight and transform, there is a very deep knowledge, but also has great potential. The development direction of modern ** is to appreciate both elegance and vulgarity, and integrate China and the West, which makes people feel empathy. Contemporary ** has great potential in China. She added, "It is not an exaggeration to say that the future of modern ** is in China." ”

While the concept of the composer is important, the practice of the troupe is also crucial. As the main commissioner, the troupe has always been the driving force behind the creation, and a large part of the future of modern ** is equivalent to what kind of creation the performance group needs. Luo Xiaoci, the director of the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra and a guzheng player, mentioned that the different combinations of Chinese instruments will bring infinite possibilities to China's creation, "A new work of full length, it will take several years for the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra to conceive with the composer and finally perform it. In recent years, the orchestra has commissioned such themes as "Folk Music on the Sea", "Gardenia Blooms" and "Above the Clouds", all of which are experimenting with different combinations of ethnic instruments. There is a lot of room for the development of national instrumental music groups, as well as the creation of ** around them. ”

The balance of ideology, artistry, universality and nationality is the development direction of modern development. Chen Musheng, deputy director of the composition and conducting department of Shanghai ** Academy and composer, summarized the idealized Chinese creation with a set of theories inspired by Lao Zhuang's way of "heaven, earth and man". In his view, "heaven" is in line with the way of heaven and the laws of nature: "The beauty of sound is scientific and regular, and the consensus of hearing on beauty is imprinted in human genes. The beauty and harmony of sound should be based on the laws of nature, which is the 'way of heaven'. "The land is the human environment, and the nationality reflects the influence of regional culture, including language, Xi customs, and Xi habits of life." Chinese aesthetics are influenced by traditional Chinese culture, whether it is the so-called Chinese music school or Chinese style, its essence is the product of the influence of regional culture, which is 'authentic'. ”

After mastering the way of heaven and earth, it is the human factor. "The 'man' here refers to the reverence for human nature and the admiration for truth, goodness and beauty. It is a language without borders, but the premise is that it is based on human nature, which is called 'humanity'. In Chen Musheng's view, the harmony and unity of heaven, earth, and humanity is an important quality of all great works of art, "Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is such a great model and immortal work." ”

When the state of perfection of heaven, earth and man is reached, that is, "harmony", which means that it is in harmony with the universe. This brings us back to the theory of Pythagoras, who believed that mathematics could explain everything in the world, and that the laws of harmony could explain all the laws of the universe. Chen Musheng said.

Perhaps, this set of transcendent genres, camps and even styles is enough to depict the modern ** trend in a perfect state by borrowing the wisdom of the ancients. However, in the long practice of reaching the other side, whether it is the commissioner, the creator or the audience, we must remain patient, give young composers full room for growth, and let them slowly understand and integrate in the diversion of creation, and become more and more "heaven, earth and people".

Tang Ruofu text.

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