The Sinicized Expression of Serial Music: A Study on the Generation Mechanism of Chinese Artistic Conception in Gao Weijie’s "Thoughts of the Sun"
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Abstract
“Thoughts of the Sun” is an orchestral work composed by Gao Weijie in 1986 during the rise of New Wave Music in China after the Reform and Opening-up. In this period, Chinese composers actively explored the localization of Western modernist techniques and sought international expressions for Chinese music. As a representative academic composer, Gao Weijie neither fully followed avant-garde experimentation nor rigidly adhered to traditional tonality, but instead pursued a balance between rational control and emotional expression. This paper analyzes the generation mechanism of Chinese artistic conception in “Thoughts of the Sun” from the perspectives of musical morphology and Chinese aesthetics. It discusses the linear beauty of Chinese music within an atonal context, the interaction between substantial and insubstantial sound spaces, and the structural pattern of “introduction-elaboration-twist-conclusion.” Through the analysis of serial technique, pentatonic organization, timbral counterpoint, and structural expression, the study reveals how Chinese aesthetic conception is generated within a modern compositional framework.
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