IN DEFENCE OF CHINESE PIANO MUSIC: EXPLORING THE IMPACT OF ASSIMILATION, POLITICS AND GLOBALIZATION ON CHINESE PIANO COMPOSITIONS 1949-2012

Abstract

Despite growing global interest in Chinese piano music, the availability of sound recordings online and in stores and the existence of many articles of the subject, Chinese piano music still remains mostly unfamiliar to Westerners. Most comments on Chinese piano music by Western critics have been negative and dismissive. Many Westerners have criticized the Chinese for copying Western products. The goal of my project is to promote contemporary Chinese piano compositions. My project consists of three recitals (recorded on CDs) on which I have performed and demonstrated a wide range of Chinese piano music and this supplementary thesis aiming to prove that Chinese works deserve to be regarded as distinctive products in their own right. I maintain that one should not simply evaluate Chinese piano music according to a set of “universal” (read: “Western”) values. I have also argued that one should explore the concept of assimilation within Chinese culture, and understand how Chinese piano works have appropriated, assimilated and sinicized external Western compositional techniques, making them an organic part of Chinese culture. The importance of the social-cultural and political needs of the Chinese nation and how political situations might have shaped the music in China have to be considered. Finally, one should also examine the impact of globalization and observe how it has affected the development of piano music in China.