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Chou Wen-Chung: The Life and Work of a Contemporary Chinese-Born American Composer.

Article Excerpt
Chou Wen-Chung: The Life and Work of a Contemporary Chinese-Born American Composer. By Peter M. Chang. (Composers of North America, No. 25.) Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2006. [241 p. ISBN 0-8108-5296-9. $65.] Music examples, illustrations, index.

A monograph on the life and work of Chou Wen-Chung, a prominent Chinese American composer who has contributed much to the development of postwar contemporary music in North America and abroad, is long overdue. In this book, Peter M. Chang offers a detailed chronological survey and analysis of Chou's music spanning over five decades. The book is organized into eight chapters: an overview of Chou's compositional style (chap. 1), extensive biography (chap. 2), chronological survey and analysis of works (chaps. 3-5), reception of Chou's music (chap. 6), Chinese approaches to musical synthesis (chap. 7), and epilogue (chap. 8). The appendices contain a list of Chou's complete works, instrumentation, and the date of premiere for each composition as well as a complete discography to date. The book is aimed at a wide range of readers, specialists and non-specialists alike, who seek an accessible introduction to Chou's musical language. And for a reader not acquainted with traditional Chinese philosophy and aesthetics of art, this book provides a useful introduction to Chinese poetry, the system of I Ching (Yijing), and other aesthetic concepts that have shaped Chou's distinctive approach to musical composition.

Anyone who...