The Borderless Ends of the East and the West

Abstract

Since the Japanese Occupation of Korea (1910-1945) and the Korean War (1950-1953), Western Classical music has been prevailing South Korea due to the promotion of Western influence by both Japanese and Korean political leaders. Two significant South Korean contemporary composers Isang Yun (1917-1995) and Unsuk Chin (1961- ) have been arisen from this. Best known for blending Eastern and Western elements in his music, Yun was a composer who took an active role in the attempt of the reunification of the Korean Peninsula. On the other hand, Chin is considered as one of the most accomplished composers today. Following her studies with György Ligeti, she has expanded her musical language also in the more modern genre of electronic music, and producing music that bypasses categorisation of any nation’s ethnomusical characteristics. The project aims to explore and demonstrate the mergence of Korean traditional influences in their music. The recognition of both of the composers’ bi-cultural memoirs is included in the analytic investigation of their piano works, Yun’s Fünf Klavierstücke and Chin’s Piano Etude No. 4 “Scalen”. The thesis is accompanied by the artistic practices and the project includes a lectire-recital as a result of the method of “research-analysis-practice”.