Yang Yong’s Octet for mixed composition: impressionist features and innovative techniques

The purpose of the article is to identify stylistic trends in chamber instrumental Chinese music of the late twentieth century on the example of Yang Yong’s Octet for flute, oboe, clarinet in B, trumpet in C, trombone, percussion, viola, and double bass. The work also notes the linguistic and stylistic changes that took place in the country’s musical art between the proclamation of the Republic of China and the Chinese Revolution. The musical language began a gradual transition from the dominance of Western European trends to the predominance of individualization of the musical language.The main milestones of the artist’s life, events and figures that influenced his formation as an innovative composer are outlined. Yang Yong follows one of the trends in the development of the chamber-instrumental genre in this period, namely the use of mixed compositions: classical European and Chinese national instruments. The sense of oriental flavor in the composition is achieved by the introduction of oriental percussion instruments: three timpani, vibraphone, carillon, brass, triangle, five tom-toms, tam-tams (large and small), five tempo blocks, and marimba, performed by one person.A comprehensive analysis of the work’s expressive means reveals impressionistic tendencies intertwined with innovative techniques. The work consists of four movements with a cross-cutting development. The composer chose the poems of the classical Chinese medieval poet Du Fu as an extended program of the work, which involves the depiction of visual pictures of night nature, various shades of the hero’s emotional experiences by musical means.