On the evening of January 11, the famous tenor Singer Shi Yijie and the famous pianist Chen Sa staged a special concert of Chinese art songs at the Xinghai Concert Hall with the "top match" group, leading the audience through the time and space journey of a century of Chinese art songs. The concert sold out within a day of sale.
"We are all people with feelings, so we have this cooperation." On the evening of January 10, Shi Yijie and Chen Sa were guests at the Xinghai Conference, sharing the original intention of holding a Chinese art song concert, the interesting things about the cooperation between the two in front of and behind the stage, and their views on the works and the way they handled them. "Singing Chinese art songs, I have an ink painting in front of my eyes, and I'm thinking about how to unfold it." Shi Yijie said.
Coming from no small place, Shi Yijie Chen Sa joined hands to present the "ancient meaning" in the hearts of contemporary people.
This Shi Yijie × Chen Sa Chinese Classical Art Song Concert will showcase the excellent works of Chinese composers in the early stage of art song creation, integrating Western techniques and Chinese musical elements, and the joint interpretation of Shi Yijie and Chen Sa will convey a gentle and delicate oriental musical temperament.
In addition, there are new contemporary art songs, such as Li Yinghai's "Fengqiao Night Berth", Zhao Jiping's "Quiet Night Thoughts" and "Guan Ju". These works have more modern elements in terms of technique, and the harmony vocabulary is also richer, but they are all committed to shaping the "ancient meaning" in the hearts of contemporary people.
Shi Yijie is one of the representative singers of the light lyrical tenor on the opera stage in the world today, not only can ignite the audience with the opera "What a Happy Day" 19 High Cs, but also capture people's hearts with the affection of "I Live in the Head of the Yangtze River", not only interpreting the glory of Western opera, but also exploring the profundity of Oriental poetry.
As one of today's most charismatic pianists, Chan Sa is the only Chinese to have won awards at three international piano competitions: Leeds, Chopin and Van Claiborne, and her performance has been praised by the music industry as "making you feel the beauty while showing a passion like an underground volcano".
This time, Shi Yijie joined hands with Chen Sa to integrate the musical language that they are best at, presenting a unique and exciting one.
Chen Sa: It is very happy to cooperate with Teacher Shi, we are all people with feelings
At the sharing session, Shi Yijie revealed that the concert originated from the epidemic last year, "although I couldn't perform on stage but wanted to do something, so I wrote three sets of tracks I wanted to record, one of which was a Chinese art song." When I checked the information, I felt that there was a lot of information on the art songs of foreign composers, and they were widely sung, but there was very little information on Chinese art songs, especially the tenor version of the CD, so I decided to do Chinese art songs first. ”
For Shi Yijie, one of the best Chinese tenors active in the world's opera stage in the world today, the importance of Chinese art songs is also self-evident, "Although Western classic opera is my own housekeeping skill, as a professional vocal actor from China, it is my own wish that audiences at home and abroad can listen to excellent Chinese vocal works."
When choosing collaborators, Shi Yijie is very "nervous", "because the piano and vocal music in Theo-Austrian art songs are not the relationship between accompaniment and singing, but the relationship of ensemble, and I hope that Chinese art songs can also be presented in this form." Shi Yijie said, "I wanted to come and go, and I thought that Teacher Chen Sa was the best and most appropriate, but I didn't dare to ask her directly." I'm afraid she'll say, play the accompaniment, no..."
At this time, Chen Sa took over the topic, "A mutual friend of mine told me about this matter and pushed Teacher Shi's WeChat to me, and I feel that he is a person full of feelings and wants to do such a set of songs." And I, too, am a person with feelings, so I am very impressed. ”
Whether to play accompaniment, Chen Sa also considered, "I will wonder whether the piano has enough content and space to carry and unfold in this cooperation." After cooperation, this concern is completely gone. Of course, the proportions of each song, the interaction and fusion between the piano and the vocal music are not the same, but they are also very interesting. Chen Sa said, "Teacher Shi is a musician I have admired very much for many years, so I am very happy to have this opportunity to cooperate." ”
This time, "Shi Yijie × Chen Sa Chinese Art Song Concert", Shi Yijie said, "Working with outstanding pianists like Chen Sa is to hope that the piano parts in art songs can also be regarded as an important part of artistic quality, not just as an accompaniment." ”
"Less is more. Sketching richer content with very few things is more valuable. For example, when the piano appears less, I use very meaningful notes and timbres to inspire everyone, such as "Listen to the Rain", using the sound of rain, with the lyrics, the piano has lines on the undulations. Chinese art songs are light and transparent, and they are very delicate and emotional, which is a particularly beautiful temperament belonging to the East. Chen Sa said, "In the second half of the repertoire, there are many ways to simulate other instruments, for example, in "Fengqiao Night Berth", the use of the wide range of the piano, simulating the sound of the guzheng and the zhenzheng, giving people a more symphonic imagination." ”
Shi Yijie: Chinese art songs have a lot of connotations, like poetry and painting
There are few concerts of Chinese art songs in the whole, and this concert is also quite thoughtful in terms of repertoire arrangement, the first half is a modern Chinese art song, and the second half is an art song composed by contemporary composers for ancient poems.
Shi Yijie hopes that through performance, people can change people's impression and understanding of Chinese art songs on a larger scale, gradually establish clearer and more accurate aesthetic standards for Chinese art songs in the minds of Chinese artists and audiences, and further enrich the repertoire library of art academies and vocal competitions, which is also the most basic and important premise for Chinese art songs to go global.
Although Chinese art songs are short but concise, the subtle, introverted, and desired mood of the lyrics tests the singer's understanding of the work, as well as the control and expression of sound and emotion.
"The story of the opera, when the feelings reach a certain point of need to be cathartic, sing an aria, whether it is happy or uncomfortable, is decided at the beginning. Art songs are different, they are rich in content and more colorful. Shi Yijie recalled his study experience, "I sang a lot of German poetry in college, and I couldn't sing well because my understanding of Goethe and Heine's poetry was limited. Later, when I went to Austria, my teacher also said to me: You sing opera first, and then try to sing art songs after you have reached a certain stage of life experience, which may have a richer connotation. ”
In Shi Yijie's view, ancient Chinese poetry is a cultural treasure, and there is a deep connotation behind the poetry, "for example, in the second half of the concert, "Quiet Night Thinking" has only four sentences - the bright moonlight in front of the bed, which is suspected to be the frost on the ground. Look up at the bright moon and look down at your hometown. But if you know Li Bai's life experience, you can feel why he wrote this way. The song originally had three segments, and I added another one myself. Whether Li Bai's life can be expressed in this song is what I want to think about. ”
A lot of Chinese art songs, a song is telling a rich story, "like a poem." When I am in class, I often tell students that singing should have a sense of picture, like an ink painting in front of me, how do I unfold it. For example, "Maple Bridge Night Berth", how to use sound to express, we must use a richer timbre, rather than a single strength and weakness. ”
At the sharing meeting, many parents came with their children who were learning vocal music. Shi Yijie suggested, "It is not good for little girls and little boys to sing very high, and children should be allowed to sing some songs that match their vocal range." The main thing is to tell children what is beautiful and build a good aesthetic. He also suggested based on his own experience, "Boys learn vocal music after changing their voices, and it is better to learn an instrument when they are young." ”
Text/Guangzhou Daily, New Flower City Reporter: Zhang Suqin
Video/Guangzhou Daily New Flower City Reporter: Zhang Suqin
Photo/ Courtesy of Xinghai Concert Hall
Guangzhou Daily New Flower City Editor: Liu Liqin