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Alternative Approaches to Chinese Imagery: Audiovisual aesthetics in A Reflection in the Brook

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 January 2023

Zhao Xiaoyu*
Affiliation:
Beijing Normal University, China.
Sun Zhenwei*
Affiliation:
The Central Academy of Drama, China.

Abstract

The importance that Chinese composers attach to their nation’s cultural traditions in their electronic music compositions has become a dominant trend in Chinese electronic music. This has generally led to a ‘Chinese imagery’ in Chinese electronic music compositions. Among China-inspired electroacoustic music, the interactive multimedia work A Reflection in the Brook (小青, 2013) shows a unique expression. The author explores how the composer recreated a controversial female figure in Chinese history through a completely real-time audiovisual language: Feng Xiaoqing, thereby presenting Chinese imagery in electroacoustic music through an alternative approach. The audiovisual relationship in A Reflection in the Brook will be analysed through the lens of Michel Chion’s audiovisual theory and the perspective of musical composition techniques, further presenting the audiovisual aesthetics of multimedia electronic music.

Type
Article
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

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References

REFERENCES

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Xiaoyu and Zhenwei supplementary material

Xiaoyu and Zhenwei supplementary material

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