The seven pieces in this portfolio are an exploration about how to incorporate diverse ethnic elements - such as Chinese Peking Opera, folk culture, and ancient instrumental music - into conventional Western ensemble forms, in conjunction with certain compositional methods of contemporary music. Over the course of this portfolio I have largely allowed the material itself to drive the overall shape of the music, like most Chinese composers, I have never relinquished melody as a driving force in my music. In Haiku (2012) the electronic tape links the two acoustic instruments causing the listener to experience a dialogue between the flute and cello as if they were watching two different scenes simultaneously as via the split-screen cinematic technique. The piano suite Beijing (2013) is characterized by distinctive elements from traditional Peking Opera, ancient Chinese folk melodies, and extensive use of pentatonic melodies. Tension is achieved through contrast of both dynamics and tempi, dissonance created through pitch oppositions inherent within a particular harmonic field, as well as through the use of freely atonal elements and the accumulation of varying and often disparate musical materials. I approached the scoring for the sextet Pilgrims from the snow-covered plateau (2013) by way of combining the instruments that I felt would offer me the most interesting and vivid combined timbre with which to effectively evoke Tibetan temple horns. Double Riddles (2013) extensively draws on a large number of Chinese musical sources, extrapolating their materials (mostly pitch-related) and working this into my own compositions. These pieces were inspired the folk music and culture of Yunnan. The westerly wind said… (2014) relies on several simple approaches to reflect an 'antique' style: layered yet coherent details at once juxtaposed and integrated to create a general mood redolent of the past, but which never resorts to pastiche. Nuó (2015) attests to what I have found to be both an amazingly fruitful and challenging process of compositional research into the possibility for the integration of traditional aspects of Chinese music and culture with Western classical forms and modes of expression: combining Chinese musical materials alongside aspects of free atonality and pentatonicism. A Plum Tree Blossomed Fully in Front of Bi Fang Pavilion (2015) for symphony orchestra relies heavily on complex sound patterns based on gradations of colour derived from different techniques of orchestration.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:724280 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Jin, Jing |
| Contributors | Keeley, Robert Ian ; Milstein, Silvina Raquel |
| Publisher | King's College London (University of London) |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/portfolio-of-compositions-with-technical-commentary(f48b96f4-e288-43d4-ad9e-614b7c0d2d25).html |
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