The Concept of the "Organic" in Tan Dun's Creative Work

Main Article Content

Sofiya Yu. Petrunina

Abstract

The phenomenon of organic music in the creative work of Chinese composer Tan Dun presents a considerable interest in the context of studying contemporary Chinese music. The author gives a brief review of the musicologists’ views from different countries on the organic music phenomenon. This article considers organic music as generalizing concept, including the connection with nature at different levels, the idea of the unity of the universe, man and nature, that is conveyed through polystylistics, the use of special organic instrumentation and its combination with instruments of the symphony orchestra. The synthesis as an integral feature of organic music is also reflected in mixing different cultural layers of East and West, archaic and modern, genres, performance manners. The important peculiarity is the role of the visual component, manifested in using multimedia, emphasizing the public attention on the organic instruments appearance.
At the same time, organic music in the article is presented as a genre direction, within which the “organic” manifests itself most clearly and concentrated. Its singling out as a separate genre can also be traced in the position of the composer himself, who unites “Water Concerto”, “Paper Concerto”, “Earth Concerto” and “Water Music” into a special organic genre group.


Keywords: Tan Dun, organic music, organic instruments, Chinese music, contemporary music.

Article Details

How to Cite
Petrunina С. Ю. (2023). The Concept of the "Organic" in Tan Dun’s Creative Work. Music Scholarship / Problemy Muzykal’noj Nauki, 53(4), 106–115. Retrieved from https://musicscholar.ru/index.php/PMN/article/view/1481
Section
History and Theory of Music
Author Biography

Sofiya Yu. Petrunina, Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Moscow, Russia

Postgraduate student at the History of Foreign Music Department of the Science and Composition Faculty