On The Aesthetics Of Fou Ts'ong's Performance And The Original Of Music Works

Fou Ts'ong, the first Chinese pianist who sways the international music world for more than half of a century, demonstrates an increase of love for music in his old age. His loyalty to his country and his intelligent insight into music bring him high reputation in the western classical music world. On the one hand, he makes an effort to make his performance faithful to the original; on the other hand, he melts rich spirit of Chinese culture into his demonstration of western music. The two seemingly contradictory features constitute the core of the aesthetics of Fou Ts'ong's performance. "Faith to the original" is an important issue in the study of music aesthetics. It not only helps us understand different forms of existence in music, but provides practical guidance for the performance of music. The contradictory unity of faith to the original and Chinese cultural spirit in Fou Ts'ong's performance undoubtedly sheds much light on the question of "Faith to the original". For the above reason, this paper tries to study the original-faith-principle employed in Fou Ts'ong's performance, Chinese cultural spirit involved, and the issue of music originals.