Guo Wenjing’s Di Flute Concert “The Sad Deserted Mountain” in the Field of Cultural Dialogue

This article examines the development of the di flute concerto genre in China, using Guo Wenjing’s “The Sad Desolate Mountain” as an example. The study utilizes a combination of scientific methods, including a systems approach, a historical approach, and an analysis of the musical work. Three vectors of development of the instrumental concerto genre in Chinese culture in the 20th and 21st centuries are presented: the European-s tyle concerto, the folk concerto, the concerto for a national instrument, and the orchestra of Chinese instruments. In examining the second type of concerto, in which a solo Chinese instrument is contrasted with a symphony orchestra, the author aims to identify the specific aspects of the concerto genre’s interpretation in Guo Wenjing’s “The Sad Deserted Mountain”. The author addresses the following objectives: to identify the main types of instrumental concerto in Chinese music of the 20th–21st centuries; to determine the specific features of the di flute concerto genre; to analyze the compositional features and musical language of Guo Wenjing’s di flute concerto “The Sad Deserted Mountain”. The author identifies the following principles of the composer’s work in the concerto genre: 1) maintaining the soloist’s cadences and the three-part structure of the classical genre invariant; 2) dramatizing the genre by enhancing harmonic and modal tension; 3) activating the rhythmic element (irregular accents, syncopations, polymetry, etc.). 4) the absence of modal support on the pentatonic scale and an approach to free atonality; 5) the creation of a striking contrast between the dense orchestral sound and the virtuoso soloist. The research approach is novel, as it explores the transformation of the European concerto genre under the influence of a non-E uropean solo instrument. Guo Wenjing’s piece offers a fresh perspective on the possibilities of creating and enhancing drama in the concerto genre with the solo bamboo flute. 

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