Suzhou Symphony Orchestra "Infinite Shostakovich" concert
◎ Deng Jia
Invited by the "Meet in Beijing" Olympic Cultural Festival and the 22nd "Meet in Beijing" International Arts Festival, the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra performed two of Shostakovich's works at the Beijing Concert Hall on the evening of January 9, Symphony No. 10 in E minor (1953) and the film "Oxfly" Suite (1955). As a veteran music fan of Su Jiao, who was stationed in Suzhou, when the opening song of the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra's special concert "Infinite Shostakovich" was played low by the cello, I instantly sensed that the familiar and warm voice had returned, and Su Jiao brought not Wu Nong soft language this time, but Shostakovich's Huang Zhong Da lu. On this quiet winter night in the north, Mr. Chen Xieyang and more than 70 outstanding musicians from 20 countries and regions composed of "symphonic dark horses" explore the depth and infinity of Shostakovich's music.
The Berliner Philharmonic orchestra has been highly acclaimed for its performances of Shaw's works, and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra is also famous for premiering six of Shaw's 15 symphonies, including The Tenth Symphony. Kalayaan and Timirkanov, creative conductors, have personally interpreted Shaw's works again and again. The Tenth Symphony was performed by Mr. Chen Xieyang on March 10, 1985, after his Chinese premiere on March 10, 1985, and after collaborating with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra in the Beijing Concert Hall in 1999, performing the same repertoire in a familiar venue, praising peace and enthusiasm, which can be described as autumn and spring, while the other set of film soundtracks "Oxfly" suite is Su Jiao's first performance in Beijing.
Su Jiao fully demonstrates Shaw's dual expertise in the selection of repertoire: symphonies and film scores, and the number and quality of these two major musical genres are enough to prove the diversity of Shaw's style: sarcasm, sweetness, roar, passion, and his almost zero-blood sense of vigor and galloping style, always contemplative in quiet moments, and passionate moments like flash floods. Many commentators have argued that the Tenth Symphony was a shaw style that gradually moved towards self-introspection, using music to express the joy of punishment, revenge, and compulsion after a long period of repression. But he himself said: "What I want to show is the peace-loving and anti-war attitude of modern human beings, because the mission of mankind in the world is to create, not destroy... Expresses universal human emotions and enthusiasm. ”
Despite Shaw's longing, all sectors of Soviet society were still confused about the significance of the Tenth Symphony, and had interpreted it from different perspectives. Mr. Chen Xieyang sharply cuts into the depths of people's hearts with a strong personal style, as if he wants to make the audience feel the fervent desire for love and enthusiasm of human beings under the brutal war, rather than the joy of revenge or compulsion. Like The Maestro Kirill Konderrazin, who has been in charge of the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra for 16 years, Mr. Chen Xieyang's personal journey can also give his interpretation of Russian works more convincing and authoritative.
The Tenth Symphony is Shaw's work after eight years of writing the Pen Symphony. Symphony No. 9 in E flat major (1945) was suppressed for not meeting the government's preference for titled vocal tonal works, and Shore was discouraged and suspended. Mr. Chen Xieyang opened with his smooth and restrained conducting style, and he solemnly flicked his wrist to signal the cellist to imitate the bell to perform a tense six chords from light to heavy. "Thirteen Bells Strike", a creepy plot that appears not only at the beginning of Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, but also in the second movement of the Tenth Symphony, is also the theme of the song.
In Testimony: Shostakovich's Memoirs, Vorkov mentions that Shaw once said that the second movement of the Tenth Symphony was tenacious and ruthless, like a sinister whirlwind, and was a musical portrait depicting a "loving father". Perhaps in Mr. Chen Xieyang's interpretation, the audience hears more about the fury and coldness of war expressed through Xiao's typical rolling tone, and it seems that everything can be swept away in a few minutes. After a cycle of strings and winds, the DSCH pattern of the theme of pinyin abbreviation writing with his name is played using a timpani drum, and the whole song is brilliantly concluded. The warriors fell, peace came, Shostakovich signed his name, and it was a moment of victory. As Chen Xieyang himself said, "The Tenth Symphony is the 'Triumph of Human Nature in the World', and it is my beloved. This is the same as Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and its concept of "bitterness before sweetness", and for this reason, some people call Shostakovich "The Beethoven of the 20th Century".
Previously, conductors have interpreted the musical speed of this chapter differently, compared to Zorg Salty's overly gloomy slow speed and Michael Sandrin's rapid speed, Mr. Chen Xieyang's speed processing here can be said to be full but not overflowing, just right. The temperament of chamber music is highlighted in the third movement, especially the fluency of the rotation of the woodwinds and strings and the contrast of colors between the sounds.
In the second half of the film "Cowfly" suite, Shaw shows a melodic talent like Tchaikovsky, and the musicians of Su Jiao will write inspirational, celebratory, cute, dance, romantic and war themes throughout the book. Mr. Chen Xieyang quickly tapped with his fingers, and the brisk movements were in harmony with the performance of the band, and the saxophone, trombone, cello, and violin were all played solo, with distinct layers.
The second round dance of Shaw's popular Jazz Suite No. 2, although short, uses saxophone to introduce the theme, does not split the tone, and has very few discordant chords, which is full of melody. In addition, the whole song is very distinctive in the orchestration, adding four saxophones as the main performance, echoing the saxophone elements in "Bullfly", and the warm metallic sound quality it shows can be described as stunning.
Pure instrumental music itself is the most abstract artistic expression, and its meaning is interpreted by people. Xiao's works are also more meaningless because of their deep musical language, special chronological background and his own undisciplined personality, making the meaning of music more ambiguous, like an endless abyss. If you want to try to find the semantics to which the mind belongs, perhaps it can only be: listening. The grasp and high level of interpretation of the pluralistic connotations of Xiao's works by Mr. Chen Xieyang and Su Jiao also gave many ways to find answers. Photo courtesy of China International Culture Group