Time Factor And Fou Played Chopin "mazurka"

Fou Ts'ong is a global-famous Chinese pianist. Chopin Mazurkas are one kind of his best pieces which is also most influential and highly regarded. As Chinese, he is accomplished in the culture of his own nation. However, Mazurkas he plays, which is most Polish, are regarded as authentic. This is a problem that is worth to be deeply inquired. It may provide some reference for piano players and music lovers on the aspect of study and appreciation to analyse Fou's character of performance. It may also let us, in terms of Chinese, know more about our own culture to inquire Fou's expierence and cultural backgroud. The paper is devoted to the distinctiveness of Fou's performance. I collected huge amount of scores and records of Chopin Mazurkas and materials of Fou's performance, lecture and life, then made deep research and analyse of them. In the paper, I compared Fou's Mazurkas with another 5 versions by other authoritative pianists, and invented the way of comparison by making time/bar curve and time/beat curve. This method is simple and intuitive. It turns sounds into charts, which helps comparison. Through comparison, I concluded that one of the main characters of Fou's Mazurka is the way that he treats time, then made a detailed analyse of it. I devided the ways of timing by five species: about notes value, about rythem, about harmony, about phrasing and structure, about crescendo and diminuendo. In timing about notes value, I concluded the rule of"long longer, short shorter"and rules of treating rests and syncopation; In timing about rythems, I concluded the ways of treating different accent and the general rules; In timing about harmony, I concluded the ways of treating varied harmonic rythem and instable harmonies; In timing about phrasing and structure, I concluded that the rule of"olive"is related to timing; In timing about crescendo and diminuendo, I concluded that the hairpin notes of crescendo and diminuendo are closely related to timing. After the analyse, I deeply inquried of the reasons why Fou made such an accomplishment on Mazurkas, involving his expierence of performance and life, and his cultural background. At last, I concluded that it is necessary to gain a comprehensive accomplishment on different aspects. It has never been discussed in detail combining music elements and the way of Chinese culture that is showed in Fou's performance.