Piano composition Сhen Yi and “Duo Ye”: the question of the new quality of traditional techniques in contemporary Сhinese music

The article takes a brief overview of the main trends in the development of Chinese piano music of the XX century. Since the 1930s, the problem of preserving the national cultural heritage is beginning to mature in China. In subsequent years (1930-1970s), there is a tendency for the synthesis of “European” and “national” and its gradual strengthening. Since the 1980s, a new trend has been brewing - an appeal to the archaic layers of the ancient Chinese culture. The most significant in this respect is the piano composition «Duo Ye» («多耶», 1984) by modern American composer of Chinese origin Chen Yi (陈怡). The author sets a task to follow in this example the application of elements and techniques of Chinese national music in modern piano creativity. The intonational material of the work is based on traditional songs and dances of the national minority of Dong (侗) living in Guangxi province. The title of the song “Duo Ye” originates from the name of the ancient Chinese write with songs and dances. A number of principles for the construction of the ritual rite “Duo Ye”, for example the idea of a “soloist-choir” dialogue, becomes the basis for the playwriting of the piece by Chen Yi. The principle of dialogue manifests itself at the level of comparing the two elements of the main topic (“question-answer”), and in other sections of the form. One of the signs of Chinese musical culture traditions influence is the presence of wide areas of the material improvisational development. The internal conditioning of the rhythmic formulas of the piece by Chen Yi comes from the archaic principles of the rhythmic construction of ancient Chinese music. In this piece, the composer uses two rhythmic models - Yu He Ba and Jin Gan Lan. The principle of dialogue in the upper and lower piano registers comparison in the development of the main theme is the projection of the rhythmic model of Yu He Ba, which implies the unification of different timbres of percussion instruments in the realization of one musical thought expressed in the conditional “period”. “Rhythmic model Jin Gan Lan” consists in a proportional increase in the number of strokes, and then in their decrease. That is the form of the “golden olive”. Including the original material of folk music, the composer aims to convey to the listener the idea of the fundamental principles of Chinese culture, its self-worth. On the other hand, the composition clearly shows the influence of the compositional techniques of Western European music of the 20th century. This is expressed in the provision of intonational connections between the sections of the form, the use of extended-tonality techniques, chords of complex structure, etc., which can be considered as the composer’s attempt to speak about the native culture using modern language, while presenting the “traditional” in the new quality, in the new sound solution.

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