Wang Chao's "Journey": towards the problem of the "Ecological" trend in the contemporary choral work of Chinese composers

The subject of this study is the "ecological direction" as one of the most relevant in modern choral music by Chinese composers. The object of the study is to consider the stylistic features of the work "Journey" by Wang Chao. The purpose of this article is to study current trends in the development of choral creativity of Chinese composers. The author examines in detail such aspects of the topic as the "ecological" trend in the music of Chinese composers and the stylistic features of Wang Chao's choral writing. Special attention is paid to the a cappella choir as the most natural "ecological" instrument. The author states that the stylist Wang Chao is distinguished by philosophical and aesthetic depth, semantic concentration. The appeal to all means of artistic expression in Wang Chao's a cappella choral compositions is characterized by an individual approach to solving the ideas of "ecological" music. The methodology consists in the synthesis of research methods, including philosophy, aesthetics and musicology. The parameters of the musical composition were revealed: the analyzed genre specifics and features of choral writing. Special attention is paid to the analysis of sonorous compositional technique and elements of scenography. The research experience is aimed at establishing the interrelationships between musical environmental aesthetics and the development of modern Chinese choral art. The main conclusion of the research is the paradigm of a deep stylistic synthesis of secular and spiritual, national and pan-European in the choral music of modern Chinese composers. In particular, this position has become a determining factor in Wang Chao's musical thinking. The author's special contribution to the topic is the study of the composition "Journey" (途) for mixed a cappella choir, which has not previously been the object of special research. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that for the first time the "ecological" trend in Wang Chao's work is analyzed from the standpoint of philosophy, aesthetics, musicology and choral studies. Attention is focused on the need to study the "ecological" trend in the choral art of Chinese composers, associated with a new turn to the understanding of the role of sound in the universe and in regulating the relationship between man and the environment through sound and music, characteristic of ancient thinkers. In this regard, it is the sound of human voices in the a cappella choir that is becoming a landmark phenomenon.