The Paper's reporter Li Sijie
"Can murals be turned into sounds so that the public can hear a Silk Road everywhere?" When Tan Dun went to Dunhuang for the first time, Fan Jinshi, honorary president of the Dunhuang Research Institute, asked so. Inspired by the poetic inspiration of President Fan, tan dun since 2012, on the basis of dozens of trips to Dunhuang to collect styles, draws on the ancient music and dance music of Dunhuang and the court music of the Tang Dynasty, highlights the timbre charm and rhythm characteristics of ancient Chinese music, and polishes a silk road that is different from the original symphonic version of the Chinese music "Dunhuang Ode to Mercy".
On the evening of December 31, at the 2022 New Year Concert of the Shanghai Grand Theatre, Tan Dun's Chinese music "Ode to Dunhuang Mercy" will have its world premiere at the Shanghai Grand Theatre.
The performance lineup is strong, with baritone singer Shen Yang, mezzo-soprano singer Wu Hongni, soprano singer Guo Sen, tenor singer Han Peng, original ecological Humai bass singer Hasbagen, original ecological soprano Singer Ze Renyang Jin and Lanzhou Concert Hall Dunhuang Choir, together with pipa player Li Shengnan, erhu player Lu Lu, Zhen zhen player Liu Xuanyi, And Na player Xu Hongbing, presenting a national voice that integrates Dunhuang art, oriental philosophy and contemporary poetry. Start a beautiful chapter with the audience.
Compose the oldest Dunhuang murals into a song
Tan Dun
"I especially hope that Dunhuang will wear new clothes and become a new and ancient Dunhuang." How to make Dunhuang "wear new clothes"? In Tan Dun's view, it is necessary to turn the Dunhuang murals into stories, and then adapt the stories in the murals into music. The Audible Silk Road of the Chinese Music "Dunhuang Ode to Mercy" was commissioned by the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra to be created by Tan Dun and took two years to "recreate". In his creation, Tan Dun also joined his own thinking on the education of contemporary Chinese music and its future inheritance: "The timbre of Chinese musical instruments is too charming, and the Dunhuang murals have begun to paint timbre, volume and sound flow more than a thousand years ago. There are more than 500 bands painted in the Dunhuang murals, of which the super large bands shown in the murals in cave 148 make the history of the formation of the band go back a thousand years, how magical and incredible. Those Dunhuang murals that 'do not drum and sound themselves' paint the universe with their thoughts, and continue to talk about how the Chinese ancestors taught us with art: to be a human being, to dedicate compassion, and to create human kindness and peace. ”
Luo Xiaoci, director of the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra, spoke with Tan Dun
Based on the Dunhuang murals and folklore, the Chinese music "Ode to Dunhuang Mercy" is divided into six acts: "Bodhi Tree", "Nine Colored Deer", "Thousand Hands and Thousand Eyes", "Zen Garden", "Xuanzang Donggui", "The Other Shore", in the form of epic poems, the dramatic plot of the murals is told, through the wonderful resonance of national music and millennium murals, showing the philosophical ideas, humanistic values and moral norms of Dunhuang culture on the ancient Silk Road, revealing the cultural spirit and cultural mind of the Chinese nation, and activating the vitality of Dunhuang culture.
Let the ancient musical instruments sealed in the murals "come alive"
The Chinese music "Dunhuang Ode to Mercy" presents a musical dialogue spanning thousands of years. In the performance of the 2022 New Year's Concert Chinese Music "Dunhuang Ode to Mercy", there are also three special instruments - Dunhuang rebound pipa, fengshou basket and Dunhuang Xiqin. They are all Dunhuang ancient musical instruments that Tan Dun personally developed and restored, so that the instruments in the ancient murals have entered reality from history and restored to the stage. When the traditional Chinese national instruments are played together, the ancient music of Dunhuang a thousand years ago seems to truly "come alive", revealing the prosperity and beauty of the dust for a thousand years, and reproducing the glory and splendor of the Silk Road.
From left to right, fengshou 箜篌, Dunhuang Xiqin, rebound pipa and Dunhuang 筚篥 (bì lì)
For the players of the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra, playing Dunhuang ancient instruments is also a new challenge and breakthrough.
The Dunhuang Xiqin played by lu Lu, an erhu player in the orchestra, can be described as the ancestor of today's erhu, but whether it is from the feel of the instrument or the appearance of the shape, the two have a big difference, "The erhu is a single musical instrument, it only has two strings, generally speaking, it can only play a single tone, and the Dunhuang Xiqin has three strings, and the two strings of the bass can be used at the same time to cleverly play the effect of four degrees of double tone, which is very intentional." This time we chose the first generation of Dunhuang Xiqin, in the rhythm pitch it is not stable enough, need me to greatly control, this is extremely tested, but whenever I hear this sound that contains thousands of years of culture, it gives me a strong sense of substitution, hoping to show the Dunhuang music to the audience. ”
Orchestra pipa player Li Shengnan also presented the well-known rebound pipa in the Dunhuang mural in this performance, "The Dunhuang rebound pipa is very different from the pipa we usually play. Because of the difference in the fixed string, the position of the left hand takes a long time to adapt. In addition, in the practice, I also tried to get used to different playing postures, the lute was originally played vertically, and during the rebound process, I could not see the 'product' part of the left hand of the pipa, and through continuous practice, I achieved the effect of 'blind playing' today. At the same time, in this concert, I also performed music and dance on stage for the first time, recreating the dance posture in the Dunhuang murals, which was a bold attempt and breakthrough for me. ”
The Fengshou Zhenzheng is personally customized by Tan Dun in Shenzhen Musical Instrument Factory, and is carefully created by many post-90s musical instrument craftsmen. "They started by 3D printing ancient instruments and used a very scientific method to shape ancient instruments, which was my first attempt." Tan Dun said that on the basis of the one-to-one restoration of the Dunhuang mural phoenix head basket, the phoenix head basket in the concert added a row of strings, which is more in line with and convenient for modern performance. Liu Xuanyi, a performer at the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra, said: "After the restoration, the phoenix head is paired with a flying dance, and when you pluck the strings, you feel that you are the flying goddess who plays the basket." ”
When introducing the instruments, Tan Dun mentioned that one of the original features of this concert is the bì lì (bì) seven-fold. It was one of the main instruments in the court music of the Tang Dynasty, and once created the glory of Tang Dynasty music, but unfortunately fewer and fewer people used it. As a composer, Tan Dun hopes that Yan Yan can get more attention. "I used seven stalks, five tones of Gongshang Horn Zhengyu, and a Clear Horn Changing Palace." According to Tan Dun, each player has a different tune, but miraculously, when one of the tones is touched, seven people make exactly the same sound.
Baritone singer Shen Yang played the role of Buddha in this performance, and her voice was thick and delicate, solid and powerful; mezzo-soprano Wu Hongni, the youngest Chinese singer in the world to enter the Royal Opera House in the United Kingdom, with charming sound quality and dexterous flower cavity, which was very infectious; Shanghai Opera House solo tenor Han Peng played Liu ZuHuineng, telling the philosophy of life of "compassion is wisdom, wisdom is compassion"; Zurich Opera House signed solo soprano Singer Guo Sen to perform Guanyin in "A Thousand Hands and a Thousand Eyes". The silver bell-like tone leads the audience through ancient and modern times; Zeren Yangjin, a soloist of the Central National Song and Dance Troupe and a Tibetan pristine soprano singer, is known as the "Tibetan Song Lark", and the melodious and gentle tone touches the heart; the Mongolian primitive Humai bass Hasbagen shows the mysterious and low Hummai technique on the spot, as if the sound from ancient times is shocking.
Group photo of musicians at the press conference
Use music to build a Silk Road and tell Chinese stories with the most Chinese voice
Asked about the connotation of the "Audible Silk Road" in the name, Tan Dun said that the "Silk Road" as he understood it was a cultural road with the beauty of integration. "Actually, we are geographically isolated throughout the planet, but you find that culture connects us together. When you hear music, you will find that the southeast, southwest, and northwest will form a 1+1=1 energy. I think artistically, the energy of our Silk Road culture, its aesthetics, is that it can be 1+ 1 = 1. It is a fusion of beauty. ”
Luo Xiaoci, director of the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra, said: "Such a theme that reflects Dunhuang and reflects the excellent traditional culture of China, combined with folk music, its nationality will be stronger, and its nationality will be stronger, in fact, its cosmopolitan nature will be stronger." I think the development of Chinese art to this day must be closely related to this big era. The strength of the country will inevitably reflect the confidence in our own culture and our own music, but this confidence is not called out by ourselves, but it requires high-quality creation and high-quality performance. The subject matter and content of folk music may be traditional, but the way of expression must be contemporary. The city's inclusive and diverse innovations have brought endless vitality to The Art of Chinese Music. We should produce more first-class musical works that can truly go to the world, so that it can become a window to better show Chinese culture, so that more people can understand China's mind, China's aesthetics, China's ambitions, and China's compassion through this window. I think it makes a lot of sense. ”
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Editor-in-Charge: Liang Jia Photo Editor: Jin Jie
Proofreader: Liu Wei