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Post by SCWGuqin on Aug 25, 2006 21:49:42 GMT
I've heard some of the "new compositions" for guqin--the kind one finds on the official syllabus--and they're very impressive on the technical level. Mostly I've heard Gong Yi at the strings, playing Mei Yuan Yin, Loulan San, and Shan Shui Qing; I've also heard bits of LXT on Sanxia Chuan Ge.
Without making any judgments about their artistic (as opposed to technical) merit, it's safe to say that these pieces have not "caught on". LXT no longer plays SXCG and Feng Xue Zhu Lu; Gong Yi continues to record the occasional new piece, but nobody (including his students, now professors themselves) appears to have followed his example.
What do people think is the reason for this? I suspect it is that qin players are often attracted to the qin because it has *resisted* being made into a showy/experimental/virtuoso instrument in the fashion of guzheng, pipa, etc. Showy "made-for-conservatory" pieces seem to violate the qin aesthetic on fundamental levels. And also, when audiences go to hear qin, they go *expecting* to hear music that is outside the norm. Hence there is little motivation on either side to hear the qin doing stirring hymns to Zhou Enlai or crazy virtuoso evocations of hard labor. Do people think this is the case?
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Post by davidmdahl on Aug 26, 2006 0:05:24 GMT
Your supposition that the nature of the guqin makes it an unlikely instrument for a flashy barnburner intended to show off the performer's skill may be correct, but don't read too much into the lack of success of contemporary tunes. It is quite common in Western music that modern compositions are played at their premiere and then never again, so it is not surprising to see this happen in other music as well. This can be due to lots of reasons, but the fact is that a significant treasury of classics as there is on the guqin can be a difficult standard to measure up to. Maybe composers simply need to become more familiar with the guqin and how to write effectively for it. As the renaissance of the guqin continues to attract new players and audiences, maybe composers will learn to write tunes which capture the imagination of the current generation.
Best wishes,
David
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Post by Si on Aug 26, 2006 7:52:01 GMT
Have you heard "the oil lamp flickered" by Tse Chun Yan. Most os these are also new pieces but I would not know it unless I read the album notes.
For me I feel the Qin is too noble and dignified to be used to play those modern (20th century) tunes that are about "bumper harvests" etc that are so common in other instruments, and I sleep alot easier at night knowing that! I am open to new stuff as long as its tastfull (ie: not bumper harvest etc)
Are there any modern pieces in the qin syllabus?
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Post by Charlie Huang on Aug 26, 2006 11:12:40 GMT
As Gong Yi said, people don't play modern compositions coz they think that they can't be compared to ancient scores. The fact is, ancient scores were new at the time of their composition. The danger is that the future generations will say that we have contributed nothing new to the qin. GY advocates that we compose, and we should compose in modern styles using modern themes like the ancients did when those piece were 'modern'.
Compsition requires thought and not rushed. Indeed, I found some compositions too detached from the qin, but I've heard some, like GY's, sound pretty good (if you see him play, it is not showy-offy). I heard him play Chun Feng at the SS and wished to learn it to analyse it more properly.
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Post by calden on Aug 26, 2006 15:36:01 GMT
As Gong Yi said, people don't play modern compositions coz they think that they can't be compared to ancient scores. The fact is, ancient scores were new at the time of their composition. The danger is that the future generations will say that we have contributed nothing new to the qin. GY advocates that we compose, and we should compose in modern styles using modern themes like the ancients did when those piece were 'modern'. Words of wisdom applicable to any genre of music, CCC. I find this in the world of American Old-Time music (think Appalachian fiddle-and-banjo tunes.) There are those proponents who live by a strict set of rules and who wish to preserve the "authentic" nature of the music almost as archivists. Not a bad notion, but I doubt the originators were locked into the same non-creative mode, much less even thought about it. They simply made music from what their hearts were telling them. Same with traditional Irish and other Celtic musical forms. Once you try and compose in the "original" style you've lost what they were doing, because for those little old guys who sat around in pubs three hundred years ago, after a hard day in the field, sipping their Guiness and ogling the barmaid, for them this was all new and fresh and they were exploring and pushing the boundaries that they lived in. For us to do the same means something different, for we live in a different set of boundaries and contexts. Carlos
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