The Musical Style of Composer Chu Wanghua: the Role of Traditional Compositional Components of Chinese Folk Music in ‘Yellow River’ Piano Concerto

Abstract

The paper addresses the characteristic features of the musical style of Chu Wanghua, the Chinese composer, using his ‘Yellow River’ piano concerto as an example.  The comparison revealed that the focus on the scope of Western European music, the imitation of the structure of ethnic musical instruments through piano playing, the combination of ancient folk music and contemporary compositional techniques, the use of traditional transcriptions, symbolism are typical elements of the ‘Yellow River’ performance.  Further research might address comparative analysis between traditional Chinese elements and Western European elements, which are peculiar to the composition under study.