Kammermusik

The zheng zither is one of the most popular instruments in contemporary China. It is commonly regarded as a solo instrument with a continuous tradition dating back to ancient times. But in fact, much of its contemporary solo repertory is derived from several different regional folk ensemble repertories of the mid-twentieth century. Since the setting up of China's modern conservatories, the zheng has been transformed within these new contexts of professional music-making. Over the course of the twentieth century, these regional folk repertories were brought into the performance traditions of modern regional zheng schools. From this basis, a large new zheng repertory was created by conservatory musicians, combining aspects of Western classical music with folk music materials. With the 'opening up' of China's economy since the 1980s, the zheng has been brought into the wider stage of international music-making which includes contemporary art music compositions by overseas based Chinese composers and commercial world music works by Western composers. Through a series of case studies, this book explores how the transformation of the Chinese zheng has constantly responded to its changing social context, critiquing the long-standing arguments concerning 'authenticity' in the development of tradition. This work arises out of, and reflects on, the research methodologies known as performance as research. As an insider to the tradition, brought up within China's zheng society, a trained and practising zheng performer, this study is largely drawn from the author's own experiences of practising and performing the music in question; her study also draws on fieldwork, as well as primary and secondary written sources in Chinese and English. This book is accompanied by downloadable resources which contain audio visual materials relating to the author's fieldwork and zheng performances by different zheng musicians.

Set against the vivid background of 1920s Sydney, A Distant Prospect is an intimate, hilarious and ultimately deeply moving coming-of-age adventure told with a touch of poetry by a quintessentially Irish narrator.

Zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts ist mit Schlüsselwerken wie Arnold Schönbergs "Pierrot Lunaire" oder Igor Strawinskys"Die Geschichte vom Soldaten" eine neue Form von Kompositionen für individuell zusammengesetzte Ensembles entstanden, die sich in der zweiten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts zu einer eigenständigen Gattung entwickelt hat. Neben dem 1980 entstandenen und heute weltweit renommierten "Ensemble Modern" wurden in den letzten Jahrzehnten allein in Deutschland über 150 weitere Ensembles für Neue Musik gegründet. Diese Ensembles haben einen Innovationsschub im Musikleben ausgelöst und stehen für eine neue Akzentuierung im Konzertbetrieb: Konzentration auf die Gegenwart, enger Kontakt mit lebenden Komponisten, exemplarische Aufführungen von selten gespielten Werken und Experimentieren mit neuen Formen des Konzerts.Das 1999 gegründete Institut für kulturelle Innovationsforschung an der Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg, das sich insbesondere mit den Fragen der aktuellen künstlerischen Produktivität aus kulturökonomischer Perspektive befasst, hat in dieser Studie die musikalische Entwicklung der Ensembles sowie ihre wirtschaftliche und organisatorische Bedingungen untersucht.