A well-known "Lullaby" let many people know Brahms and also approach classical music. However, most of the works of this big fat man and big beard are obscure, difficult, difficult to understand, and there is always some distance from people.
On the evening of December 15th, the Han Quartet of Shanghai Conservatory of Music joined hands with Lan Hancheng, a professor and violist at Shanghai Conservatory of Music, to "string 'dance' Brahms" at the Shanghai Concert Hall, showing the charm of Brahms with two string quintets, and also allowing Shanghai audiences to have a deeper understanding of this composer master.
Brahms was born in Hamburg, Germany, a sister city of Shanghai. With the theme of "Pride of Hamburg", the concert and Hamburg, Germany, launched a joint commemorative ticket holder to remember the promotion of Sino-German cultural exchanges by this performance, and also made a good start for looking forward to the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Germany and the 5th anniversary of the opening of the Elbphilharmonie Hall in 2022.
Do you like Brahms and do you know Brahms? Before the performance, Lan Hancheng and Wu Shuting, the second violin of the Han Quartet, also gathered with music critic Gu Chao to chat about these topics.
The scene of the performance
Democratic Brahms
The concert features two string quintets as the main tracks.
Born in the mature period of the composer, Brahms felt that his time was running out and left behind a "symphonic idea" after trying to compose a new symphony.
Another string quintet, which premiered in the concert in the world, was commissioned by the Han Quartet viola player and composer Var Gotilpovich, based on Brahms's Violin Sonata No. 1.
Both works point to the same source of inspiration, the inspiration of nature to the heart.
In The First Violin Sonata, Brahms incorporated his song Song of Raindrops into the third movement, the original poem by Grote with lyrics to the effect that" "The sound of the rain is pouring, reminiscent of my old songs." Whenever it rains outside the house, we sing this song together in front of the door, can we hear this song again, accompanied by the same rain sound. In my pure childhood, it had moistened my heart. ”
"The Second String Quintet" was considered by Brahms's biographer Carlbeck to depict "Brahms in Prater Park", referring to the place where Brahms often strolled in Vienna in his later years, and the composer himself also recognized this statement, and it seems that the greenery gave Brahms a lot of creative motivation in his twilight years.
The two works also have one thing in common, both written by Brahms after returning from a trip to Italy.
"Brahms was born in Hamburg, a port city, and the winters are cold and windy, so he longs for the bright climate of Italy. Both works are in G major, meaning spring is bright. Wu Shuting, who has studied in Hamburg for many years, introduced.
At the concert site, the five musicians are related to each other like five elements, forming an unbreakable formation, from the rhythmic pitch to the musical expression, they can all be "together". Chamber music emphasizes cooperation, synergy, and harmony, and the word "ensemble" refers to "be the one" (together).
"Brahms is so democratic, you listen to his Second String Quintet, and each instrument has wonderful passages." Wu Shuting's teacher, reiner Schmidt, the second violin of the Hagen Quartet, once said so.
Democracy is the impression that many people have of Brahms. Whether it is a quartet, quintet or a sextet, he gives each instrument a very average "role", and does not highlight a single part as the main theme.
"There is a problem with the adaptation or originality of the Chinese string quartet, the first violin is playing the main melody, and the other three instruments are playing alongside, but Brahms pays great attention to the balance of the voice and respects the individuality of each musician." Gu Chao said.
"During the Renaissance and Baroque periods, singers were always horns, instrumental performances were background and supporting roles, and the string quartet and the first violin were also simulating horns." Wu Shuting said that this law was later broken by Haydn, the "father of the string quartet", who initiated the "principle of dialogue", like crosstalk, two violins, you say one, I say, cello and viola continue, everyone has something to say. Later, Beethoven developed it to the peak, and Brahms inherited this.
In Wu Shuting's view, Brahms's era was also the era with the best chamber music atmosphere, and compared with the previous court music, it was more elegant and more pursuit of inner communication, "Brahms was a real intellectual, and intellectuals were the center of chamber music at that time, and there was a small circle of elites. At that time, the premiere of chamber music was not like today, and once it was performed in the circle, it went down in history. For example, Brahms's "Piano Quintet", when it was premiered, was accompanied by several friends. ”
"Brahms didn't have a mandate to write chamber music, he just entertained himself." Lan Hancheng said that the chamber music atmosphere at that time was salon-style, several friends drank white wine together, the composer finished writing the song, the ink was not dry, everyone began to try the score, play music together, "so the chamber music is very intimate, there is no sense of distance." ”
But Brahms's chamber music is undoubtedly complicated, "You need to listen to a lot of his previous German and Austrian works, and after you have feelings, you can have a deeper understanding of Brahms." 」 Lan Hancheng said.
Obscure Brahms
When she was still in the upper tone, Wu Shuting talked to brahms with her friend who studied clarinet, and the other party bluntly said that Brahms could not listen to it, because his music had many levels, and it was difficult to have a melody to follow all the time, follow to a certain point, and other voice parts were inserted.
"It's hard to tell if the movement is melancholy, sad, or unhappy." Obscure, difficult, and difficult to understand, is another impression of Brahms by many people, and because of this, his music and people always have some distance.
Brahms's melody gives me the feeling of being entangled, not direct, with a subtle lust. His desire is actually very strong, but it will not be expressed directly, but he will go around in a circle and look at the scenery next to him first. Gu Chao described.
In this regard, the conductor Heydink also made a vivid analogy: Beethoven's music is like a mountain, very majestic, you can see the shape of the mountain, Brahms's music is like the sea, very soft, he will let you lie in his musical world, but you can not touch the specific shape.
Brahms's Clarinet Quintet is a classic example. "There is a motivation called 'calm on the surface, inner waves', and he will write the inner waves very complicated, such as the second violin playing the second half of the first violin, and the viola playing the second half of the second half of the beat... It's wonderful, it's like weaving. Wu Shuting thought of the windows in Europe, because of the cold, the windows are very thick, layer after layer, and there are colorful window paper, listening to Brahms's music is like opening a window, can not be seen.
When he was a teenager, Lan Hancheng also found Brahms difficult to understand. When he was 14 years old, an English pianist gave him a lesson and asked him to imagine that Brahms was about two hundred pounds and had a beard about half a meter long, and that he could make Brahms's voice.
Big fat man, big beard, Brahms's image in his later years is deeply rooted in people's hearts. However, when he was young, Brahms was not fat, but a muscular, tall man, and when he visited Schumann's home, he also did pull-ups, handstands, and flips in front of Schumann's house, which stunned the children.
The metaphor of Lan Hancheng's teacher may be a way for people to approach and understand Brahms, but it also creates a misunderstanding that the role of Brahms must be very thick. Sometimes, we deliberately understand him very heavily. ”
Gu Chao believes that Brahms in his later years is a big fat man, but the music is written very lightly, and in his early years, he was heroic and vigorous, but the music was written very heavily. For example, the "First Piano Concerto" written in the early years was sad at the beginning, the clouds were dense, and the momentum was overwhelming, but the "Second Piano Concerto" written in his later years was very free and very liberating, and a few soft scattered notes immediately let people enter a gentle world.
The same is true of the Second String Quintet, written in the late period, when the first movement is full of energy and sunshine. At that time, Brahms was old, and his willingness to create was not strong, but this work was very combative, very sunny, and very positive.
"A large part of brahms's heaviness comes from the fact that he regarded Beethoven as an example, hoping to pay tribute to his predecessors, but he was afraid that he would not be able to write about him, which caused great psychological pressure." Wu Shuting observed that Romantic composers generally have a problem, excessive use of musical instruments, want to put too many things into it, Brahms is difficult to escape this atmosphere, but he found that how to put beethoven, or in the structure can not break through...
Beethoven's great achievements in the symphony and string quartet put a heavy strain on Brahms, who considered himself his successor, and Brahms's cautious and strict creative attitude greatly delayed his creation of both genres.
In 1876, at the age of 43, Brahms completed his First Symphony, which took 21 years. His string quartet began in 1866, but it was not until 1873 that he completed and performed the First String Quartet, and before it came out, he tore up more than forty drafts in a row.
"So there's a legend in Austria that in search of inspiration, Brahms would go for a walk in the park at a fixed time, and people wouldn't have to look at their watches to see Brahms to know what time it was." Wu Shuting said.