December 9, 200520 yr Doubtlessly, he is an important contemprorary composer. But how can a Chinese composer wrote a passion after Bach's St. Matthew? It was really a incredible thing that HE was chosen to write the piece in momery to J.S.Bach on his 250th anniversery. I don't think he knows a lot about Christ. But his Water Passion WAS somewhat a success. Have you listened to it, or any other work (Ghost opera, symphony 1997, etc.) by Tan Dun? And how do you think of them? It seems that some western composers are interested in Eastern Buddha, such as Cardew, who wrote 'Grand Learning'. But can they understand the foreign culture well? Have they expressed what they thought? Does the mixture of the East and the West produce good art?
December 9, 200520 yr The last time I checked, there were plenty of Chinese Christians. Nationality does not preclude one from having any particular faith.
December 9, 200520 yr Debussy's music uses the augmented second, as well as pentatonic scales, which he was exposed to at the Exposition Universale in Paris, where he heard a Javanese Gamelan. East and West mixes very well. There are plenty of Chinese Christians - around 70,000,000, in fact. And there are plenty of American Buddhists - 1.5 million or so.
December 16, 200520 yr Doubtlessly, he is an important contemprorary composer. But how can a Chinese composer wrote a passion after Bach's St. Matthew? It was really a incredible thing that HE was chosen to write the piece in momery to J.S.Bach on his 250th anniversery. I don't think he knows a lot about Christ. But his Water Passion WAS somewhat a success. Have you listened to it, or any other work (Ghost opera, symphony 1997, etc.) by Tan Dun? And how do you think of them? It seems that some western composers are interested in Eastern Buddha, such as Cardew, who wrote 'Grand Learning'. But can they understand the foreign culture well? Have they expressed what they thought? Does the mixture of the East and the West produce good art? Personally, I think it's not a bad thing - many of these hybridized pieces do have a somewhat unique flavor to them. However, many of them are also clearly derivative at a surface level, though it may still sound alright. Some people seem to dislike it a lot (seemingly, you, and Steve Reich, who goes as far as to coin such a process "musical rape"), but personally, though personally, as long as the piece doesn't sound horrible to me, I don't mind too much. Complete culture almagation seems inevitable anyways.
December 16, 200520 yr In fact, when considering whether a Chinese composer would know enough about Christ to write a Christian sacred work, consider raw numbers. About 70% of Germans profess to be practicing Christians. Germany's population is estimated at 82 million as of July 2005, which means there are more Christians in China than in Bach's homeland! (China also has more Muslims within its borders than does Saudi Arabia.) Meanwhile, while there are fewer followers of Eastern religions in the West, clearly there are still substantial numbers. Keep in mind that one of Italy's national icons, recently retired soccer player Roberto Baggio, has been Buddhist for most of his life - and this is in the land where the Pope resides. Again, nationality doesn't mean someone can or cannot understand a certain culture. Culture is becoming globalized nowadays.
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