The Piano Compositions of Chinese Composer Li Yinghai

This article contains an overview of the legacy of piano works by Chinese composer Li Yinghai. The peculiarities of the style and the characteristic features of the musical language of the piano compositions are examined. Special attention is given to the principal specificity of Li Yinghai’s piano music, which consists in the fact that the composer blends in his music the characteristics of the musical traditions of the East and the West. Li Yinghai adopts compositional techniques of traditional folk melodicism of his country, combining it with the Western modal-scalar structure and with the instrumental features of the piano. It is important that the compositions written by him do not lose the specific features of the national style of the Chinese music. As a result, Li Yinghai’s compositions have received broad recognition in his native country. In addition, application of modern techniques of Eastern music made the composer’s works understood and recognized in Europe as well. Thereby, the composer’s piano works have become popular both in the China and in other countries. In view of this, this article gives a argumentative analysis of Li Yinghai’s musical compositions, which demonstrate a successful blend of two musical cultures. Keywords: the musical culture of China, the piano music of China, Chinese traditional music, the modes of Chinese music, Li Yinghai.