Vietnamese Music Over-View

Modern and contemporary music

Today’s Vietnamese popular music finds its roots in the so-called 'pre-war music' (nhạc tiền chiến), which developed during the colonial period. Harmonious, sentimental and often melancholy, many popular romantic songs from both before and after 1945 have since become regarded as national treasures and are still performed widely.

Close links with the Soviet Bloc during the 1950s enabled many northern Vietnamese to train to a high level at leading Russian and East European conservatories and Russian assistance was also instrumental in helping to set up the prestigious Hà Nội Conservatory of Music in 1956. Over the past half century numerous Vietnamese composers have worked within the medium of western classical music, seeking to develop a distinctly Vietnamese aesthetic inspired by indigenous music traditions and themes of resistance and revolutionary heroism. Consequently there now exists a substantial body of Vietnamese chamber and orchestral music, including many symphonic works of high artistic quality.

Origins

Western music was introduced into Việt Nam during the French colonial period. Military bands, church choirs and amateur orchestras were established in Hà Nội and Sài Gòn and after 1900 concert tours by visiting orchestras, chamber ensembles and soloists became increasingly commonplace. However, during this early period western music was appreciated only by a select group of Vietnamese intellectuals.

Whilst a small group of Vietnamese musicians received rudimentary on-the-job training in light music and jazz at city dance halls, clubs and 'tea rooms' (quán trà), the French government paid scant attention to the development of music education for their colonial subjects. A Conservatoire Français d'extrème-orient, established in Hà Nội in 1927, was closed just three years later due to worldwide economic recession. A smaller Conservatoire de musique, set up in Sài Gòn in 1933, suffered a similarly swift demise.

Popular music

By the early 1930s many popular French songs had been given Vietnamese words, giving rise to a hybrid genre known as hát bài ta theo điệu Tây ('Our words following western melodies'). Soon after this there appeared the first Vietnamese popular songs in the western style. The earliest examples were composed and performed by one Nguyễn Văn Tuyên, a native of Huế whose performances in Hà Nội in 1938 inspired the establishment of two important groups - Myosotis (French for 'forget-me-not'), led by Thẩm Oánh (1916-1996) and Dương Thiệu Tước (1915-1995) and Tricéa, comprising Văn Chung (Mai Văn Chung, 1914-1984), Lê Yên (Lê Đình Yên, 1917-1998) and Doãn Mẫn (b 1919). Heavily inspired by the ideals of the New Poetry Movement (Phong trào Thơ mới, see Literature below), these groups wrote, published and performed numerous new works in the years prior to 1945. They were soon joined by numerous other composers, including Văn Cao (Nguyễn Văn Cao, 1923-1995) and Lê Thương (b 1914-1996) from Hải Phòng and Đặng Thế Phong (1919-1942) from Nam Định.

The romantic music of this period is commonly known as nhạc tiền chiến ('pre-war music') although it continued to be composed throughout the final war with the French. Harmonious, sentimental and often melancholy, many popular romantic songs from both before and after 1945 have since become regarded as national treasures and are still performed widely. Amongst the best-known ones are Thu trên đảo Kinh Châu ('Autumn on Kinh Châu Island') by Lê Thương; Biệt ly ('Separation') by Doãn Mẫn; Bên hồ liễu ('At Willow Lake') by Văn Chung; Trên Sông Hương ('On the Perfume River') and Đêm đông ('Winter Night') by Nguyễn Văn Thương (b 1919); Tạ từ ('Saying Goodbye') and Em đến thăm anh một chiều mưa ('I Come to See You One Rainy Afternoon') by Tô Vũ (Hoàng Phú, b 1923); Gửi gió cho mây ngàn ('Send the Wind to Blow Away the Clouds'), Lá thư ('The Letter'), Thu quyến rũ ('Seductive Autumn') and Lá đổ muôn chiều ('Leaves Falling in the Afternoon') by Đoàn Chuẩn (1924-2001); Dư âm ('Resonance') by Nguyễn Văn Tý (b 1925); Giọt mưa thu ('Drop of Autumn Rain') and Con thuyền không bến ('The Boat isn't Docking') by Đặng Thế Phong; Cô lái đò ('The Ferrywoman') by Nguyễn Đình Phúc (b 1919); Cô láng giềng ('The Girl Next Door') by Hoàng Quý (1919-1946); and Thuyền và biển ('Boat and Sea') by Phan Huỳnh Điểu (b 1924).

Undoubtedly the most influential northern composer of popular music to emerge during this period was Văn Cao, who developed a unique style combining elements of Vietnamese folk music and folk legend with stylistic elements of the French chanson. Văn Cao's best-known works include Thiên thai ('Paradise'), Trương Chi, Suối mơ ('Dreaming Spring'), Thu cô liêu ('Lonely Autumn') and Ngày mùa ('Cropping Season').

Patriotic and revolutionary songs also developed during the 1930s and 1940s. Many were commissioned by the 'Resound' (Đồng Vọng) movement of Hoàng Quý and the General Association of Students (Tổng Hội Sinh Viên) movement set up by Lưu Hữu Phước (1921-1989). Amongst the best known were Lên đàng ('Setting Off'), Hội nghị Diên Hồng ('Diên Hồng Conference') and Tiếng gọi thanh nhiên ('Call to Youth') by Lưu Hữu Phước; Chiến sĩ Sông Lô ('Martyr of the Lô River') by Nguyễn Đình Phúc; Cờ Việt Minh ('Việt Minh Flag') by Vương Gia Khương (1921-1985); Hát mừng bộ đội chiến thắng ('Song to Welcome the Victorious Troops') by Nguyễn Xuân Khoát (1910-1993); Du kích ca ('Guerilla Song') by Đỗ Nhuận (1922-1991); and Văn Cao's Tiến quân ca ('Onward Soldiers'), the call to arms which subsequently became Việt Nam's National Anthem.

During the final war against the French the basic framework of Việt Nam's music sector began to take shape with the establishment in the Việt Bắc resistance zone of a Musicians' League (Đoàn Nhạc sĩ Việt Nam, fore-runner of the Việt Nam Musicians' Association). During this period the concept of the mobile multi-purpose 'cultural and artistic troupe' (đoàn văn công) came into being with a view to presenting various types of performing arts to soldiers at the front line. Many more patriotic and revolutionary songs and choral pieces were now penned for these troupes, both by composers of the earlier period and by younger faces such as Nguyễn Hữu Trí (1918-1997), Đắc Nhẫn (Phạm Đắc Nhẫn, b 1923), Lương Ngọc Trác (Nguyễn Quế Trác, b 1928), Tạ Thanh Sơn (1921-1998), Nhật Lai (Nguyễn Tuân, b 1931), Nguyễn Thành (Nguyễn Văn Thành, b 1931), Ngô Huỳnh (Huỳnh Tấn Chử, b 1931), Hoàng Việt (Lê Chí Trực, 1928-1967), Hoàng Văn (Lê Văn Ngọ, b 1930) and Trần Kiết Tường (b 1924). This period also saw the composition of children's songs, incidental music for stage plays and documentary films and even a number of full-blown revolutionary musical plays such as Lưu Hữu Phước's Reo vang Bình Minh ('Cry Out Bình Minh').

The establishment of the Việt Nam School of Music (Trường Âm nhạc Việt Nam, now the Hà Nội Conservatory of Music) in 1956 and the Việt Nam Musicians' Association (Hội Nhạc sĩ Việt Nam) in 1957 gave an important boost to national musical development and the years which followed were marked by a full flowering of patriotic, revolutionary and marching songs and rousing choral pieces. Typical of the 1950s were songs such as Đỗ Nhuận's Việt Nam quê hương tôi ('Việt Nam My Native Land'), Tô Vũ's Nhớ ơn Hồ Chí Minh ('Be Thankful to Hồ Chí Minh'), Bài ca nữ anh hùng miền Nam ('Song of the Heroic Southern Woman') by Lê Lôi (b 1920), Tiếng nói Hà Nội ('Voice of Hà Nội') by Văn An (Nguyễn Văn An, b 1929) and Sài Gòn quật khởi ('Sài Gòn Rise Up') by Hồ Bắc (b 1930).

During the American War revolutionary songs were grouped into various categories, perhaps the best-known of which were composed especially for the popular movements Tiếng hát át tiếng bom ('The Sound of Singing Drowns the Noise of Bombs'), comprising songs to be sung at the home front; Xẻ dọc Trường Sơn đi cứu nước ('Carve Out the Hồ Chí Minh Trail to Save the Country'), comprising songs sung to rally the troops into action; and Hát cho đồng bào tôi nghê ('Sing for our Compatriots to Hear'), comprising songs aimed at developing patriotic and anti-American fervour in the south.

Literally hundreds of patriotic ballads were penned in the north during this period. Amongst the most popular ones written before 1975 were Tay súng sẵn sàng ('Handgun at the Ready') and Theo lời Bác ('Following Uncle Hồ's Path') by Nguyễn Xuân Khoát; Quảng Binh quê ta ('Quảng Binh Our Homeland'), Chào anh Giải phóng quân - chào mùa xuân người thủy thủ ('Salute the Armed Forces of the Uprising - Salute the Sailors' Spring') and Hà Nội - Huế - Sài Gòn by Hoàng Vân; Thề quyết bảo vệ Tổ quốc ('Resolve to Guard the Fatherland') and Tiếng hát pháo binh ('The Sound of Artillery') by Huy Du (Nguyễn Huy Du, b 1926); Câu hò trên bến Hiền Lương ('Call from Hiền Lương Wharf'), Ngọn đèn đứng gác ('Lantern at the Watchtower'), Trường Sơn Đông-Trường Sơn Tây ('East Trường Sơn-West Trường Sơn') and Lá đỏ ('Red Leaf') by Hoàng Hiệp (Lưu Trần Nghiệp, b 1931); Hà Nội - Niềm tin và Hy vọng, 'Hà Nội - Confidence and Expectation') by Phan Nhân (Nguyễn Phan Nhân, b 1930); Chiếc gậy Trường Sơn ('Trường Sơn Walking Cane') and Như có Bác trong ngày vui đại thắng ('It's as if Uncle Hồ is Present for the Happy Victory Day') by Phạm Tuyên (b 1930); Lời ca dâng Bác ('Song Dedicated to Uncle Hồ') and Nhớ Bác Hồ ('Remember Uncle Hồ') by Trọng Loan (Nguyễn Trọng Loan, b 1923); Bài ca Hà Nội ('Hà Nội Song') and Lời anh vọng mãi ngàn năm ('His Words Will Reverberate Forever') by Vũ Thanh (b 1933); Mỗi bước đi thêm yêu Tổ quốc ('With Every Step I Love the Fatherland More') and Câu hò trên đất Nghệ An ('Call Across the Land of Nghệ An') by Tân Huyền (Phan Văn Tần, b 1931); Những cô gái quan họ ('Quan họ Girls') by Phó Đức Phương (b 1944); Ba-lô ta buộc cho chất ('Fasten Our Backpacks Tighter') and Mỗi bước ta đi ('Every Step we Take') by Thuận Yến (Đoàn Hữu Công, b 1935); Xuân chiến khu ('Spring in the War Zone') and Tiếng chày trên sóc Bom Bo ('The Sound of the Pestle in Bom Bo Village') by Xuân Hồng (Nguyễn Xuân Hồng, 1928-1996); Bài ca đất nước anh hùng ('Song of the Heroic Land') and Miền Nam nhớ mãi ơn Người ('The South Will Forever Remember Him') by Lưu Cầu (Nguyễn Hoàn Cầu, b 1930); Chào Sông Mã anh hùng ('Salute the Heroic Mã River') and Đi tới chân trời ('Onward to the Horizon') by Xuân Giao (Trương Xuân Giao, b 1932); Bác đang cùng chúng cháu hành quân ('Uncle Hồ is Marching With Us') by Huy Thục (Lê Huy Thục, b 1935); Năm anh em trên một chiếc xe tăng ('Five Brothers in a Tank') by Doãn Nho (b 1933); Tiếng hát hậu phương ('The Sound of Singing at the Home Front') and Khi thành phố lên đèn ('When the Lights Go On in the City') by Thái Cơ (Đậu Vũ Như, b 1934); and Bão nỗi lên rồi ('The Storm Has Started') by Trọng Bằng (Nguyễn Trọng Bằng, b 1931).

During this same period in the south the most talented and influential songwriter was Trịnh Công Sơn (1939-2001), who had 11 collections published between 1959 and 1975, including numerous anti-war anthems. Sơn's Nối vòng tay lớn ('Joining Hands for Solidarity') was played repeatedly by Radio Sài Gòn in the days following the liberation of South Việt Nam in April 1975. Many of Sơn's works, including Sài Gòn mùa xuân ('Sài Gòn in Spring'), Hà trắng ('White Summer'), Mùa thu Hà Nội ('Hà Nội Autumn'), Mưa hồng ('Red Rain') and Cát bụi ('Dust') are known and loved by Vietnamese throughout the world. In 2004 Sơn - whom Joan Baez once called 'The Bob Dylan of Việt Nam' - was posthumously awarded a World Peace Music Award.

Throughout the 1960s music by leading American and European singers was played extensively on the radio in Sài Gòn, spawning numerous local imitators. One of the most successful popular composers was Phạm Duy (b 1921), who wrote many songs under the dual influence of western pop and traditional folk music. Duy was one of several well-known musicians from the south who subsequently left the country for the USA, where a thriving Việt kiều (overseas Vietnamese) popular music industry soon developed.

For more than a decade after Reunification popular songwriting in Việt Nam focused mainly on the task of mobilising the masses and strengthening the revolution. Typical songs of the late 1970s and 1980s include Việt Nam ơi, mùa xuân đến rồi! ('Oh Việt Nam, Spring is Here!') by Huy Du; Lớn lên dưới cờ Đảng ('Grow under the Flag of the Party') by Phạm Đình Sáu (b 1926); Mẹ Việt Nam an hùng ('Heroic Vietnamese Mother') and Hành quân lên Tây Bắc ('Marching to the North West') by An Thuyên (Nguyễn An Thuyên, b 1949); Tiếng hát giữa rừng Pắc Bó ('The Sound of Singing in Pắc Bó Forest') by Nguyễn Tài Tuệ (b 1936); and Bài ca không quen ('Unforgettable Song') and Đất nước tôi ('My Country') by Phạm Minh Tuấn (Phạm Văn Thành, b 1942).

Since the advent of đổi mới in the mid 1980s, light music (ca khúc nhạc nhẹ) has become increasingly popular, and whilst patriotic anthems continue to feature in the output of many contemporary composers, romantic and sentimental songs have become the mainstay of Vietnamese popular music.

Over the past decade composers such as Trần Tiến (b 1947, Ngẫu hứng sông Hồng, 'Red River Impromptu', Cô bé vô tư, 'Selfless Child', Mùa xuân gọi, 'Spring Summons', Mặt trời bé thơ, 'Little Child of the Sun' and Sắc màu, 'Colour'), Dương Thụ (b 1943, Tiếng sóng biển, 'The Sound of the Waves'), Phú Quang (Nguyễn Phú Quang, b 1949, Em ơi Hà Nội phố, 'Oh Hà Nội Girl' and Điều giản dị, 'A Simple Thing') and Nguyễn Ngọc Thiện (b 1951, Ơi cuộc sống mến thương, 'Beloved Life', Ngọn lửa trái tim, 'Flame of the Heart' and Người yêu nhỏ xinh, 'Tiny Beautiful Love') have brought a distinctly Vietnamese dimension to pop songs written for leading contemporary artists such as Hồng Nhung, Trần Thu Hà, Phương Thanh, Mỹ Linh and Thanh Lam. At the same time a new generation of Việt kiều artists from the USA, such as Jimmi Nguyễn, Trizzie Phương Trinh and Thanh Hà, have become regular visitors to Việt Nam and are increasingly regarded as an important part of the Vietnamese popular music heritage.

Trần Tiến is one of a small group of contemporary songwriters who have sought inspiration from ethnic minority music, as evidenced by his compositions Ngọn lửa cao nguyên ('Flame of the High Plateau') and Tiếng trống baranưng ('Sound of the Baranưng Drum'). Other important figures working in this field include the afore-mentioned Hoàng Văn (Tình ca Tây Nguyên, 'Tây Nguyên Ballad') and the prolific Nguyễn Cường (Nguyễn Mạnh Cường, b 1943, Đến với Tây Nguyên, 'Come to Tây Nguyên' and Ơi M'Đrak, 'Hey, M'Đrak'). Over the past two years two musicians from Tây Nguyên (the Central Highlands) – Y Moan and Kpa Y Lăng – have also made a name for themselves as a popular singer-songwriter duo.

Jazz

Jazz was introduced into Việt Nam as early as the French colonial period and became quite popular in Hồ Chí Minh City prior to 1975. The genre has recently made a comeback, not only in the bars and nightclubs of the southern capital but also in Hà Nội, where virtuoso saxophonist Quyền Văn Minh opened the country's first serious Jazz Club. A teacher of saxophone and jazz technique at the Hà Nội Conservatory of Music, Minh has initiated various developmental activities aimed at popularising the art of jazz amongst all sectors of the Vietnamese community. As a result, jazz has grown in popularity over the past few years, bringing numerous internationally-respected jazz musicians to Hà Nội and Hồ Chí Minh City, where they have collaborated on stage with gifted students from the two conservatories of music.

As exposure to jazz has increased, so too has the quality of Việt Nam's jazz musicians - several have now studied in the US, most notably at Berkeley College. The first ever jazz CD made by Vietnamese musicians living in Việt Nam was released in 2000 by Quyền Văn Minh's band - this blends traditional Vietnamese folk and ethnic music with contemporary jazz stylings, to unusual and innovative effect.

2001 saw the launch of the European Union Jazz Festival which involves performances by jazz ensembles from both Europe and Việt Nam.

Orchestral and chamber music

During the latter days of the French colonial period several leading restaurant and 'tea shop' bands and orchestras in Hà Nội, Hải Phòng and Sài Gòn served as important training grounds for talented Vietnamese piano, string, woodwind and brass players. Before the August Revolution of 1945 a very small number of indigenous chamber works for western instruments were composed by Nguyễn Xuân Khoát (1910-1994) and Tạ Phước (Tạ Văn Phước, b 1919). Thái Thị Lang (b 1915), one of several Vietnamese musicians who went to study in France during the twilight of French rule, had several piano pieces published following her graduation from the Paris Conservatoire in 1935.

Close links with the Soviet Bloc during the 1950s enabled many northern Vietnamese to train to a high level at leading Russian and East European conservatories. Russian assistance was also instrumental in helping to set up the new Việt Nam School of Music (Trường Âm nhạc Việt Nam, now the Hà Nội Conservatory of Music), which opened its doors in 1956. In that same year the National School of Music and Drama (Trường Quốc gia Âm nhạc và Kịch, now the Hồ Chí Minh City Conservatory of Music), was established by the Sài Gòn regime. The opening of the Huế National School of Music and Dramatic Arts (Trường Quốc gia Âm nhạc-kịch nghệ Huế, now part of the Huế University of Arts) followed in 1962. Between them these three institutions were to turn out successive generations of talented Vietnamese musicians and composers.

From 1957 onwards, with the encouragement and sponsorship of the newly-established Việt Nam Musicians’ Association (Hội Nhạc sĩ Việt Nam), numerous Vietnamese composers worked within the medium of western classical music, seeking to develop a distinctly Vietnamese aesthetic inspired by indigenous music traditions and themes of resistance and revolutionary heroism. Consequently there now exists a substantial body of Vietnamese chamber and orchestral music, including many works of high artistic quality. Regrettably due to lack of resources there remain all too few opportunities to hear these works performed, neither has it yet been possible to secure sufficient funding to begin the task of recording this important national musical heritage.

Chamber pieces for solo or ensemble piano, strings or woodwind were created during the late 1950s by composers such as Đỗ Nhuận (1922-1991), Huy Du (Nguyễn Huy Du, b 1926) and Văn Ký (Vũ Văn Ký, b 1928). Thereafter chamber music began to attract the interest of many other composers, including Nguyễn Văn Thương (b 1919), Lưu Cầu (Nguyễn Hoàn Cầu, b 1930), Trọng Bằng (NSND Nguyễn Trọng Bằng, b 1931), Đàm Linh (1932-2000), Hoàng Dương (Ngô Hoàng Dương, b 1933), Nguyễn Thị Nhung (b 1936), Chu Minh (Triệu Đạt Hiền, b 1931), Thụy Loan (Nguyễn Thụy Loan, b 1945), Ca Lê Thuần (b 1938), Trần Ngọc Xương (b 1930), Đinh Quang Hợp (b 1935), Nguyễn Đình Tấn (b 1930), Vĩnh Cát (Nguyễn Vĩnh Cát, b 1936) and Thuận Yến (Đoàn Hữu Công, b 1935).

An important milestone in the development of Vietnamese chamber and orchestral music was the establishment in 1959 of the Việt Nam Symphony Orchestra (Dàn nhạc Giao hưởng Việt Nam, VNSO) with the assistance of specialists from North Korea. The orchestra gave its first public performance in Hà Nội during the Third Party Congress of 1960. Thereafter, despite ongoing difficulties such as the shortage of musicians, instruments and scores and lack of training and performance facilities, the orchestra developed rapidly under the baton of leading music directors such as Trọng Bằng, Trần Quý, Quang Hải and Đỗ Dũng, performing both in Hà Nội and in other cities and provinces of the north. Between 1964 and 1978 the orchestra became part of the combined Việt Nam Orchestra, Choir and Ballet Theatre (Nhà hát Giao hưởng, Hợp xướng, Nhạc Vũ kịch Việt Nam), contributing significantly to the growth and development of Vietnamese opera and ballet (see below). During this second, crucially important phase of its development, the orchestra worked with many leading East European conductors and soloists, developing its symphonic repertoire. A highlight of the period was its celebrated visit of May-June 1975 to newly-liberated Sài Gòn, where it gave numerous performances under the baton of Trọng Bằng.

Amongst the pioneers in the composition of Vietnamese orchestral music were Nguyễn Vĩnh Cát, whose symphonic suite for the ballet Hái hoa dâng Bác ('Offering Flowers to Uncle Hồ') was the first local work performed by the Việt Nam Symphony Orchestra in 1960, and war martyr Hoàng Việt (Lê Chí Trực, 1928-1967), who at around about the same period composed the four-movement Bản Giao hưởng số 1, Quê hương (Symphony No 1, 'Homeland'). Other important orchestral works created before 1975 included Đồng khởi ('Uprising') by Nguyễn Văn Thương, the three-movement symphony Cây đuốc sống ('Living Torch') by Nguyễn Đình Tấn, the symphonic poems Lửa cách mạng ('Flame of Revolution') by Trần Ngọc Xương and Nữ anh hùng miền Nam ('Heroic Southern Woman') by Nguyễn Thị Nhung, and the symphonic suites Điện Biên by Đỗ Nhuận, Miền Nam tuyến đầu ('Southern Front Line') by Chu Minh and Nước mẹ ('Mother Country') by Nguyễn Đức Toàn (b 1929).

The years since 1975 have proven to be a very productive period for both chamber and orchestral music in Việt Nam, a period which has witnessed the rapid professionalisation of the Vietnamese serious music sector.

Many noteworthy chamber music pieces were written during the decade after Reunification. In addition to the aforementioned Nguyễn Thị Nhung, Ca Lê Thuần, Trọng Bằng, Đàm Linh, Nguyễn Vĩnh Cát, Hoàng Dương, Trần Ngọc Xương, Nguyễn Đình Tấn, Nguyễn Văn Thương and Chu Minh, leading chamber music composers of this period included Nguyễn Đức Toàn and Hoàng Văn (Lê Văn Ngọ, b 1930), together with Xuân Tứ (Nguyễn Xuân Tứ, b 1933), Quang Hải (Huỳnh Tấn Sỹ, b 1935), Phạm Minh Tuấn (b 1942), Nguyễn Cường (Nguyễn Mạnh Cường, b 1943), Trần Trọng Hùng (b 1943), Hoàng Cương (b 1944) and Minh Khang (Phạm Minh Khang, b 1944). Since đổi mới this group has been joined by a gifted younger generation, foremost amongst whom are Đặng Hữu Phúc (b 1953), Lê Dũng (b 1955), Đỗ Hồng Quân (b 1956) and Nguyễn Trọng Đài (b 1958).

The last quarter of the 20th century also witnessed a flowering of symphonic composition. Works of note by first-generation orchestral composers include Trọng Bằng's Chào mừng ('Greetings') Overture and Symphonic Poem Người về đem tới ngày vui ('A Happy Day Brought by His Return'); Đàm Linh's A Phủ; Trần Trọng Hùng's Trở về Điện Biên ('Return to Điện Biên'); Bản Giao hưởng số 1, số 2 (Symphonies 1 and 2) and the symphony Việt Nam đang nở hoa ('Việt Nam is Blossoming') by Nguyễn Đình Phúc (1919-2001); Bản giao hưởng số 1 (Symphony No 1) by Nhật Lai (Nguyễn Tuân, b 1931); Tháng Tám lịch sử ('Historic August') by Doãn Nho (b 1933); Nam Bộ kháng chiến ('Southern Resistance') and Nam Kỳ khởi nghĩa ('Southern Uprising') by Lê Khiêm (b 1935); Một thời để nhớ ('A Time to Remember') by Phan Ngọc (b 1936); Bản Giao hưởng số 1, Cuộc đối đầu lịch sử ('Symphony No 1, Historic Confrontation') by Nguyễn Vĩnh Cát; Bản Giao hưởng Việt Nam ('The Việt Nam Symphony') by Đỗ Dũng (Đỗ Hiếu Dũng, b 1939); and Bản Giao hưởng Thái Bình Dương ('Pacific Symphony') by Ngô Quốc Tính (b 1943). In 2005 Hoàng Văn premiered the four-movement Bản Giao hưởng Điện Biên Phủ (‘Điện Biên Phủ Symphony’), which had taken him more than 10 years to complete.

Important symphonic works created by younger musicians in the 1990s include Bản Giao hưởng số 1, số 2 (Symphonies 1 and 2) by Nguyễn Trọng Đài and no less than seven symphonies by the prolific Nguyễn Văn Nam (b 1936), the latest of which is a large-scale six-movement programmatic work based on Nguyễn Du's Truyện Kiều ('The Story of Kiều').

Other significant orchestral compositions of the last two decades include Concertos for Piano and Orchestra by Quang Hải, Ca Lê Thuần, Lê Dũng, Nguyễn Đình Lượng, Đỗ Dũng, Trương Châu Mỹ (b 1938) and Thanh Hà (Bùi Đức Hạnh, b 1937); Concertos for Violin and Orchestra by Đỗ Hồng Quân, Trần Hữu Bích, Nguyễn Cường, Hoàng Văn and Đàm Linh; a Concerto for 'Cello and Orchestra by Hoàng Dương; and a Concerto for Flute and Orchestra by An Thuyên (Nguyễn An Thuyên, b 1949).

There have also been some interesting and noteworthy experiments combining solo Vietnamese traditional instruments with the western symphony orchestra. These include a Concerto for Đàn bầu and Orchestra by Hoàng Đạm (Phạm Hoàng Đạm, b 1931), a Concerto for Đàn t'rưng and Orchestra by Xuân Tứ, Concertos for Đàn tranh and Orchestra by Quang Hải and Xuân Tứ, and a Concerto for Đàn nguyệt and Orchestra by Quang Hải.

It should also be noted that many Vietnamese composers, including Đỗ Nhuận, Quang Hải, Văn Cao, Trọng Bằng, Văn Ký, Trần Ngọc Xương, Hoàng Văn, Nguyễn Đức Toàn, Trần Trọng Hùng, Phạm Minh Tuấn, Đàm Linh, Đặng Hữu Phúc, Đỗ Hồng Quân, Trần Quý, Nguyễn Trọng Đài, Vĩnh Cát, Thuận Yến, Nguyễn Đình Phúc, Hồ Bắc (b 1930), Hồng Đăng (Phan Hồng Đăng, b 1936), Đặng An Nguyên (b 1938), Cát Vận (Cát Văn Vận, b 1940), Phó Đức Phương (b 1944) and Hoàng Hiệp (Lưu Trần Nghiệp, b 1945), have made a significant contribution to the development of the Vietnamese cinema industry, composing incidental music for many important feature and documentary films.

Within the past few years there has been increased interest in contemporary musical forms. In 2000 the Việt Nam Musicians' Association (Hội Nhạc sĩ Việt Nam) commissioned the creation and performance of contemporary pieces for chamber and symphony orchestra by composers Đàm Linh, Đỗ Hồng Quân and Trần Trọng Hùng. Meanwhile a decisive break from the past has been signalled by the work of leading younger generation composers Vũ Nhật Tân (b 1970) and Trần Thị Kim Ngọc (b 1975), both of whom have attracted critical acclaim overseas.

Today Việt Nam has five major orchestras, although in practice they draw from the same basic resources of musicians in Hà Nội and Hồ Chí Minh City respectively. Foremost amongst them is the afore-mentioned Việt Nam Symphony Orchestra (VNSO) (Dàn nhạc Giao hưởng Việt Nam), which regained its separate identity in 1978 and is one of the few Asian national orchestras whose membership remains 100 per cent local. In recent years longterm partnerships with distinguished overseas music directors from both the United Kingdom (Professor Colin Metters of London's Royal Academy of Music), Switzerland (Marc Kissoczy) and Japan (Fukumura Yoshikazu) have brought the orchestra acclaim throughout the region for its high standard of playing. Other important orchestras currently operating in Việt Nam include the Việt Nam Opera-Ballet Theatre Orchestra (Dàn nhạc Giao hưởng Nhà hát Nhạc Vũ kịch Việt Nam), the Hà Nội Philharmonic Orchestra (Dàn nhạc Giao hưởng Hà Nội) of the Hà Nội Conservatory of Music, the Hồ Chí Minh City Symphony Orchestra (Nhà hát Giao hưởng Thành Phố Hồ Chí Minh) of the Hồ Chí Minh City Conservatory of Music and the Hồ Chí Minh City Ballet and Symphony Orchestra (HBSO) Orchestra (Nhà hát Giao hưởng và Vũ kịch Thành Phố Hồ Chí Minh- Dàn nhạc Giao hưởng).

Việt Nam has produced numerous distinguished orchestral conductors. Foremost amongst these is People's Artist Trọng Bằng, the first Vietnamese to graduate from the Tchaikovsky Conservatory of Music in Moscow (1963), who has since played a crucial role in the development of the Việt Nam Symphony, Việt Nam Opera Ballet and Hà Nội Conservatory Orchestras. Other leading Vietnamese orchestral conductors who graduated from Soviet music conservatories include Quang Hải, Đỗ Dũng, Trần Quý (b 1933) and Minh Cầm (Nguyễn Minh Cầm, b 1949). In recent years younger talents such as Nguyễn Thiếu Hoa (b 1952) and Lê Phi Phi (b 1968) have stepped onto the Vietnamese conductor's rostrum.

One of the earliest Vietnamese musicians to achieve success on the international concert platform was Thái Thị Liên (b 1918), a star graduate of Prague Conservatory who founded the Department of Keyboard at the Việt Nam School of Music (Trường Âm nhạc Việt Nam, now the Hà Nội Conservatory of Music) in 1956. More recently one of Liên's students, Montréal-based pianist Đặng Thái Sơn, has enjoyed a highly successful career on the international concert circuit since winning First Prize at the 1980 Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. Other outstanding Vietnamese instrumentalists who have attracted international acclaim in recent years include violinists Tạ Bồn (b 1942), Nguyễn Bích Ngọc (1940-2000) and Ngô Văn Thành (b 1951); 'cellists Bùi Gia Tường (b 1937) and Trần Thị Mơ (b 1959); pianists Tôn Nữ Nguyệt Minh (b 1956) and Hoàng My (Nguyễn Hoàng My, b 1941); and bassoonist Nguyễn Phúc Linh (b 1947).

In recent years a number of younger Vietnamese musicians have achieved success at international competitions. These include Nguyễn Hoàng Phương, First Prize Winner at the 1999 International Young Pianists' Competition held in Japan, and Nguyễn Trinh Hương, winner of the 11th Per Giovanni Competition held in 2000 in Italy. Sibling violinists Nguyễn Hữu Khôi Nguyên (b 1973) and Nguyễn Hữu Khôi Nam (1975) are currently working as full time violinists with the Orchestre National de France following their graduation from the Paris Conservatoire, whilst violinist Nguyễn Trọng Bình (b 1968) has also performed widely on the international concert stage.

Three distinguished Vietnamese composers associated with the avant garde school of music are resident overseas. Two of them - Nguyễn Thiên Đạo (b 1940) and Tôn Thất Tiết (b 1933) - are currently resident in Paris. The third is Nguyễn Lân Tuất (b 1934), Head of Composition at the National Conservatory of Novosibirsk in Russia. All three have won acclaim for their various chamber, orchestral and operatic works. In commemoration of the 990th birthday of the capital city of Hà Nội in 2000, Nguyễn Thiên Đạo composed 'The Nation's Soul' (Hồn Non Nước) and Nguyễn Lân Tuất the 'Symphony for 990 Years of Thăng Long-Hà Nội' (Bản Giao hưởng 990 năm Thăng Long-Hà Nội).