Zhao Jiping’s Symphonic Suite “Qiao’s Grand Courtyard”: A National Interpretation of the Symphony Genre in the 21st Century
Zhao Jiping is an iconic fi gure in the Chinese culture of the 20th - 21st centuries. The world-wide fame for the composer was brought about by creative collaboration with the fi lm director Chen Kaihe within the rebellious “Fifth Generation Movement”, which replaced the ideological products of the “Cultural Revolution”. The works of the duo Chen Kaige - Zhao Jiping revealed not only a new layer of artistic, philosophical, social problems, but also cultural values of the formerly closed country. Problems of traditional theatrical art, the sound of national instruments, the phenomenon of creativity by the outstanding actor of the Beijing opera Mei Lanfang - all this has gained fullness of musical life in fi lms thanks to the brilliant composer work of Zhao Jiping. As a mature artist, he sets about creating symphonic works, and most of them are based on the material of his fi lm music. The article considers the symphonic suite “Qiao’s Grand Courtyard”, in which the striking musical material of the fi lm, free from the video sequence, in the score of the suite gains perfection of the form, depth of internal connections and a symphonic scale of generalizations.