The University of Southern Mississippi The Aquila Digital Community Dissertations Fall 12-2016 A Discussion of Shiguang Cui’s Piano Concerto No. 2, Focusing on a Stylistic Analysis and Traditional Chinese Musical Elements Yuting Ji University of Southern Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations Part of the Composition Commons, Music Performance Commons, and the Other Music Commons Recommended Citation Ji, Yuting, "A Discussion of Shiguang Cui’s Piano Concerto No. 2, Focusing on a Stylistic Analysis and Traditional Chinese Musical Elements" (2016). Dissertations. 903. https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations/903 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by The Aquila Digital Community. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of The Aquila Digital Community. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A DISCUSSION OF SHIGUANG CUI’S PIANO CONCERTO NO. 2, FOCUSING ON A STYLISTIC ANALYSIS AND TRADITIONAL CHINESE MUSICAL ELEMENTS by Yuting Ji A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School and the School of Music at The University of Southern Mississippi in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Musical Arts Approved: ________________________________________________ Dr. Ellen Elder, Committee Chair Assistant Professor, Music ________________________________________________ Dr. Elizabeth Moak, Committee Member Associate Professor, Music ________________________________________________ Dr. Christopher Goertzen, Committee Member Professor, Music ________________________________________________ Dr. Joseph Brumbeloe, Committee Member Associate Professor, Music ________________________________________________ Dr. Hsiaopei Lee, Committee Member Associate Professor, Music ________________________________________________ Dr. Karen S. Coats Dean of the Graduate School December 2016 COPYRIGHT BY Yuting Ji 2016 Published by the Graduate School ABSTRACT A DISCUSSION OF SHIGUANG CUI’S PIANO CONCERTO NO. 2, FOCUSING ON A STYLISTIC ANALYSIS AND TRADITIONAL CHINESE MUSICAL ELEMENTS by Yuting Ji December 2016 Shiguang Cui (崔世光) (b. 1948) is a Chinese composer and pianist. To celebrate the 2008 Summer Olympic Games held in Beijing, his work Concerto for Ten Concert Grand Pianos and Orchestra was commissioned by the Dean of the National Center for the Performing Arts, Mr. Ping Chen. Ten internationally-renowned pianists were invited to give the world premiere on August 19, 2008. The pianists were Claude Frank, Phillippe Entremont, Vladimir Feltsman, Louis Lortie, Yunyi Qin (秦云轶), Shikun Liu (刘诗昆), Lang Lang (郎朗), Cyprien Katsaris, Guillermo Gonzalez, and Sha Chen (陈萨).1 This piece was originally conceived as Concerto for Ten Concert Grand Pianos and Orchestra, and was composed in 2008 with the title China Jubilee (喜庆中国). The original concerto for ten pianos was never published. The only published edition of this work is for two pianos, with the second piano serving as the orchestral reduction, with a different title: Piano Concerto No. 2.2 The work contains four movements. My dissertation contains four chapters. Chapter I, a brief history of the development of keyboard instruments in China, includes information about several 1. Shiguang Cui, “China Jubilee–Concerto for Ten Concert Grand Pianos and Orchestra,” unpublished article by the composer, Hong Kong, December 30, 2008. 2. Ibid. ii important pianists who contributed to the development of the piano and to Chinese piano music. Chapter II gives an overview of Shiguang Cui’s career as a composer, his works for the keyboard, and background information on the Piano Concerto No. 2. Chapter III contains a stylistic analysis of the Concerto No. 2, including pentatonic scale techniques, use of the interval of a fourth, and the employment of traditional Chinese textural techniques as well as Western rhythmic and textural compositional techniques. Chapter IV discusses the influence of Chinese traditional musical elements in the Piano Concerto No. 2. These include Chinese folksongs and dances, quotation from Chinese operas, and the influence of Chinese instruments. Piano Concerto No. 2 is an important contribution to the genre and to the development of Chinese piano music. My hope is that more Chinese works will be composed, and that more pianists will be inspired to learn and perform Cui’s Piano Concerto No. 2 as well as his solo piano music. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to express my sincere gratitude to my piano professor and committee chair, Dr. Ellen Elder, who gave me valuable help in the completion of this project. Her professional knowledge, patience, and support have inspired me in my future career as a teacher. I also sincerely thank all of my committee members, Dr. Elizabeth Moak, Dr. Christopher Goertzen, Dr. Joseph Brumbeloe, and Dr. Hsiaopei Lee, for their guidance and encouragement during my years of doctoral study. iv DEDICATION I would like to express my deep gratitude to my parents, who provided their unconditional love, support, and encouragement to me in all aspects of life. I also wish to express my gratitude to respected Mr. Shiguang Cui, and my friends Jessica Ramer (USM Writing Center), Jonathan Embry, and Jingxian Wang, who rendered their help during this period of my project work. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iv DEDICATION .................................................................................................................... v LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ........................................................................................... viii LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES .................................................................................... ix CHAPTER I – A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF KEYBOARD INSTRUMENTS IN CHINA .............................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER II – SHIGUANG CUI AND HIS WORKS FOR KEYBOARD ................... 10 Cui’s Life and Works for Keyboard ......................................................................... 10 1948-1973–Student Years ..................................................................................... 10 1973-1984–Work in China ................................................................................... 13 1984-1994–Studies and Work in the United States .............................................. 14 1994 to the Present–Late Career and Return to China .......................................... 15 Works for Keyboard ................................................................................................. 16 Piano Concerto No. 2 (China Jubilee) ..................................................................... 19 CHAPTER III – ANALYSIS............................................................................................ 24 Stylistic Analysis of Piano Concerto No. 2 .............................................................. 24 Pentatonic Scales .................................................................................................. 24 Six-Tone Scales .................................................................................................... 29 vi Seven-Tone Scales ................................................................................................ 31 Using The Interval of a Fourth.............................................................................. 34 Texture ...................................................................................................................... 36 Traditional Chinese Texture ................................................................................. 36 Western Rhythmic and Textural Compositional Techniques ............................... 40 CHAPTER IV – TRADITIONAL CHINESE MUSICAL ELEMENTS ......................... 47 Folksongs .................................................................................................................. 47 Folksong Elements ................................................................................................ 47 Quotation of Chinese Folksongs and Traditional Chinese Instruments................ 49 Chinese Operas ......................................................................................................... 52 Folk Dance Influence ................................................................................................ 54 Northeast Yangko ................................................................................................. 54 Guzi Yangko Influence ......................................................................................... 61 Er-Ren Zhuan Influence ........................................................................................ 63 Instruments ................................................................................................................ 66 Influence of Chinese Wind Instruments ............................................................... 66 Influence of Chinese Plucked String Instruments ................................................. 66 Influence of Chinese Bowed String Instruments .................................................. 70 Influence of Chinese Percussion Instruments ....................................................... 71 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................