Du Mingxin’s solo piano works: genre-style and performance aspects

Statement of the problem. The article examines the piano works of the famous Chinese composer, pianist, violinist and conductor with international prestige Du Mingxing. The composer is known primarily as the author of large-scale symphonic works, ballets, choral, vocal and instrumental works, numerous arrangements of folk songs. Solo piano works of the composer are analyzed – the suites “Red Women’s Battalion”, “Mermaid”, “New Century”, the piece “Etude”, and the arrangement of folk tune "Lotus Dance". The genre component of the composer’s piano works is studied and their stylistic features are determined. The issues related to the characteristics of figurative content and its performance implementation, and the pianistic techniques used by the author in each specific work are considered. Objectives, methods, and novelty of the research. The purpose of the study is to assess Du Mingxing’s creative contribution to national art in terms of innovation in piano style, genre specificity, and performance implementation of his works. The concept of the work is based on a methodology that combines the principles of music-theoretical, music-historical and performance analysis. The relevance of the topic and the scientific novelty of the results of this investigation are determined by the fact that Du Mingxing’s piano music has not yet become the subject of special study.Research results. Du Minxing’s piano work has gone through a significant path of development, the essence of which is determined by the evolution in the system of his ideological and artistic thinking, which reveals all his life experience. His first piano works arose on the ground prepared by Chinese piano music of the early 20th century. They developed in the vein of pan-European traditions, which gave impetus to the flowering of the national composer school. Du Minxing’s piano music is a vivid example of the embodiment of the classical-romantic style in Chinese art due to the organic synthesis of the achievements of European piano classicism and romanticism with Chinese folklore. Among the genres, program suites, concert pieces and miniatures, and arrangements of folklore prevail. The program pieces reflect historical events, portrait sketches, nature scenes, rituals, relationships between heroes, fairy-tale images, puppet themes, etc. This component is complemented by a relentless interest in the world of childhood, both in figurative and substantive terms, and in didactic and educational terms. It is also necessary to note the important role of Du Minxin’s piano work in creating an educational and pedagogical repertoire that will contribute to the development of performing individuality at different stages of learning. Conclusion. The composer significantly enriched the national domestic piano literature, raised it to the level of professional concert performance of the repertoire. Deeply aware of the need to create a national performing repertoire, Du Mingxing “moved” in his work through the synthesis of folklore traditions and professional European skill, expanding the range of genres and forms of piano literature.