Living in the United States for a long time, the performance career is highly international, and every time the Shanghai Quartet returns to China to perform, it is like a son and son-in-law who come home for the New Year's Festival. Today, the Shanghai Quartet has chosen to return to China to take root, completely shifting the focus of its work to China, and chinese audiences have more and more opportunities to get close to them.
On the evening of December 22, the Shanghai Quartet returned to its hometown of Shanghai to show the charm of the string quartet at the Shanghai Symphony Concert Hall. This is also the debut of the Shanghai Quartet after Na xin, the 1200-person concert hall is full of people, and it is difficult to find a ticket.
As the artist-in-residence of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra for the 2021-2022 season, on the evening of December 31, the two sides will also test the waters of a collaboration full of unknowns, performing the New Year's Concert on the same stage without a conductor.
Shanghai Quartet
His hometown debut after Na Xin
The opening song for the Shanghai Quartet's homecoming debut is Smetana's "First String Quartet "My Life", when the composer is experiencing various physical and mental tortures, including a gradual loss of hearing, and the song is full of autobiographical memories and introspection in the struggle of adversity.
Immediately after that, Zhou Long's "Qin Qu" composed for the string quartet quoted material from the guqin song "Fishing Song", which is said to be written according to the Famous "Fisherman" of the Tang Dynasty poet Liu Zongyuan, and Liu Zongyuan was suffering from the trough of his life when he wrote "Fisherman", like Smetana.
The blockbuster piece of the second half is Schubert's "Fourteenth String Quartet "Death and the Maiden", in which the composer is terminally ill when he writes, and the shadow of death hangs over his mind from time to time. This is one of the greatest chamber music works in history and one of the most frequently performed preserved pieces by the Shanghai Quartet.
"The quartet has always been the ultimate ideal of string players, four completely different living souls, after experiencing various twists and turns and running-ins, in order to become a beautiful and resonant whole." The addition of a new member (Yu Xiang) will bring a harmonious and extraordinary sound to this established group. In the view of violinist Song Yang, this performance has a rare practical significance for music lovers who are suffering from the epidemic, as well as for the shanghai quartet that has returned home and upgraded.
Coincidentally, the first time Yu Xiang listened to the Shanghai Quartet on the spot, it was "Death and the Girl". It was 20 years ago, he was still a middle school student, looking at the Shanghai Quartet on the stage, there was a feeling of seeing a superstar.
"All four of them were handsome! At that time, chamber music was not very popular, and everyone wanted to be a soloist, but I liked chamber music very much, and I was very confident after listening to their performances, and I was more determined to take the road I wanted to take in the future. Later, Yu Xiang listened to the Shanghai Quartet at the Shanghai Concert Hall again, because there was only one ticket, and after listening to the halftime, he stuffed the ticket to his father from the crack in the door, and the two took turns listening.
Because of his brilliant solo performance, Yu Xiang, who was in the United States, soon began to play solos, and was away from home for 180-200 days a year, although the spotlight hit him, but he often felt lonely. So he joined the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Association, "rehearsing for each concert for four days, separating at the end of the performance, still strangers, without forming a tacit understanding." "The dream of joining a professional chamber music group is that Xiang has taken root in his heart, and joining the Shanghai Quartet has become the best and most natural choice.
Yu Xiang's joining blew a new wind and vitality into this veteran quartet, and everyone began to re-spend the "honeymoon period".
Cellist Nicholas Sawaras likens the quartet to a marriage, as they spend more and more time together, there will be more and more quarrels with each other, and now "remarried", with a new spouse, everyone is fresh and excited, it is the best time, "the three of us argue a lot, Yu Xiang is a very good 'barometer', he is not too angry, if really angry, we know that we are too much." ”
"We fight a lot, and four people have four different opinions, sometimes three to one, sometimes two to two, two to two is the most troublesome." Yu Xiang laughed and said that all quartets will have quarrels, the purpose is to pull the music well, not to disappoint the audience, "because I care about the noise, noisy, in fact, is the right thing is not right." ”
New Year's concert without conductor
Few musicians like Li Honggang and Li Weigang have such a deep relationship with Shangjiao.
Their maternal grandfather, uncle, and mother were all former musicians. In particular, her mother, Chen Hui'er, has been handing in her work from 1957 to 1992, and has also performed more than 60 performances of "Liang Zhu" with Shangjiao as the deputy principal of the band, and the prime ministers, kings and queens of many countries are her guests.
Therefore, when they were still in their mother's belly, the two of them turned in the listening as "prenatal education", and from the age of one or two, they would be carried by the elders almost every week to watch the rehearsal, "Auntie, uncle, uncle called a round, we are familiar with everyone's name." Li Weigang still remembers that after the rehearsal, the young people in the group liked to go to the playground to play football, they were too young to play, they shouted next to them, and watched happily.
In 2009, at the invitation of music director Long Yu, the Shanghai Quartet, who had been living in the United States for a long time, became the guest principal of shangjiao. Twelve years later, the cooperation between the two sides has escalated again, and the Shanghai Quartet has been invited to serve as the orchestra's artist-in-residence for the 2021-2022 season – inviting a quartet group to reside in the troupe, which is extremely rare at home and abroad.
At the New Year's Concert on December 31, the two sides will test the waters with an unknown collaboration - without a conductor, they will perform a number of round dances by Johann Strauss Jr., Lehar Jr. and others, and the four will also present works by Beethoven, Dvořák, Bruch, Shahankun and others as soloists.
"It's hard for us to imagine what the scene will be like, and everyone can come and see it fresh." Li Honggang said with a smile.
"Everything is unknown, but we want to take on the challenge, why not?" This is the best opportunity to showcase the charm of chamber music. Yu Xiang said excitedly.
"There is no conductor, there is a little worry, but there is more element of expectation." In Li Weigang's eyes, the best orchestras in Asia can be counted in one hand, and Shangjiao is one of them, and he is very confident in the professionalization of the orchestra.
In May this year, without a conductor, Li Weigang and the String Vocal Department of the National Centre for the Performing Arts Orchestra collaborated on Tchaikovsky's Serenade – 26 string musicians stood in several columns like a well-trained army, and Li Weigang, who stood in the position of chief, was the leading military division, pushing the young people forward. Without the conductor to watch, the initiative of the musicians is stronger, and the tacit understanding is stronger.
This time the difficulty and challenge is obviously greater, with about sixty or seventy musicians, like a larger chamber orchestra.
"Two hundred years ago, the orchestra was not conducted, it was a violinist who led everyone to play." Li Weigang said, "The function of the conductor is mainly to explain the work, and then give hints when it is critical, and we will also play this role - in the key time, such as when changing the rhythm, when changing the speed, giving prompts, every musician's brain is very clear, know how to act." This time, the Shanghai Quartet is equivalent to "half conductor."
"There is no concept of conducting in chamber music, it is completely dependent on listening, everyone has to be forced to become a person with strong initiative, if you want to go to 'talk' to people, it will be too late, you must breathe together." 」 In Li Weigang's view, if you want to really improve the quality of an orchestra, you must let them perform more chamber music, because they can polish and enhance the eyesight and ear of each musician.
If the test is successful, Li Weigang also wants to promote this cooperation model and try it elsewhere.