Publisher's Synopsis
Even though the book is focused on the study of Taiwan's music composition style after 1960, the author concisely summarized the trajectory of Taiwan's modern music development in a way similar to a General History review. The book not only provides the platform for the history background of the development of Taiwan's modern music, but also provides the convenience for the reader's quick navigation. Due to the shortage of published information and literature, the author mostly relied on precious first-hand materials collected from field interviews. The author not only introduced 9 important composers and 25 representative works with in-depth and comprehensive analysis, but also outlined a clear developing trail about the composition style of Taiwan new music, especially the classification based on artistic characteristics, which is particularly valuable, for instance: (1) 60's as the infancy of modern music (2) 70's as the period of ?traditional? and ?innovative? reflections. (3) 80's as the period of diverse avant-garde. (4) 90's as the period of coexistence tendency of ?innovation? and ?return to tradition?. The book also consists of the observation and analysis under the process of thematic organization from several aspects viewed in different angles, particularly the concept and structure of traditional Western compositions, traditional Chinese music and thoughts on culture, the influence of Western musical techniques to the compositions of Taiwanese new music, and the difference of the individual style of compositions. This is a more comprehensive way of thinking and discussion angle with a certain degree of difficulty, and concise, accurate, clear and persuasive influence. Some of the formulations are very creative, such as ?The sound imagery of Chinese poetry?, ?The connotation of Zhu Gong Diao?, ?The borrowed thought of chaining together with tunes?, and so on. Regarding to the commentary of Taiwanese composers, the author separated the musical styles into the music of National School, the late romantic, the limited breakthrough of traditional techniques, timbre music and mathematical logic, all full of deep arguments and viewpoints. The book's architecture is based on the combination of history and argumentation. History is followed by argumentation, and argumentation is demonstrated by history. The writer's work is not only historically fulfilling and coherent, but also concise and engaging as valuable references for the enthusiasts whom are greatly concerned about the versatile composition styles and the development of Taiwanese music history.
