Reading Mr. Ye Xiaogang's collection of literary essays, "Cooking Tea with Plain Hands", I found that so many rich historical figures have appeared in this elegantly bound work, so many heart-warming scenic spots are intertwined with ups and downs, and those dense collisions of thoughts and souls are scattered like spirits, showing readers a map with human spiritual civilization as the coordinates.
Mr. Ye Xiaogang is a well-known musician, and we often learn about him from his musical works. He has been reading poetry since childhood, loves Lu Xun, and is familiar with the writers and works that have left historical traces on the international literary scene.
"Vegetarian Hand Cooking Tea" is divided into seven parts, which may be analogous to the relationship between "red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple", each with its own style and each with its own aesthetic spirit. I always like to flip through the last paragraph of each chapter, sublimation, full of life, and see the author's consistent style of swinging intestines, where there is always "more weather". I also love to read every chapter at a glance, as if The Beethovenian spiritual ideal can find its foundation and empathy in the book.
The so-called "unwinding benefit" is that every time you can be hit by those words that jump out, you can always see confidence while feeling and thinking. This confidence is what the author is sure of about Bach's music: "It's lighthearted and confident, and it's exciting." ”
"Irish Tree", "Lu Xun Doesn't Chicken Soup", "What Wolf Doesn't Eat Sheep", "Wagner Will", "Repeated Metaphors", "Winter Journey" and "Life is Not as Good as Drama", these interesting chapter titles are proudly and wonderfully combined, some are narratives, some are written about people's memories, some are travel miscellaneous, some are music critics, some are about personal creative processes, and some are also analysis of history and humanities, everywhere contain wonderful stories, often visible luminous philosophies. This is an artist's text, and between the ups and downs, the pursuit of art and the cultivation of human feelings are warm and clear, fascinating.
The work has a sense of picture and random metaphors. The author is as creative as he is to the notes of the text, the bridge between the desire and reality of the imaginary world. Even at a certain moment, I suddenly saw that the author still continued some of the personal characteristics of the composition in the book, the simple melody in the complex texture, the simple words in the difficult harmony, and the high heart that shuttled through the beginning and end.
For example, in a passage describing the "death of the grassland" in Inner Mongolia, "The deep jewel-like night sky on the grassland is as vast as a rumor, and there is no rolling yellow, sparkling bitter alkali, or ten thousand horses galloping and smoking." The vast but silent grassland is full of long tones of low and long, the connotation of the secret and the mystery of the universe and the question of life. Gazing at the distant mountains, I felt the thrust on my back." Metaphor is reflection, beautiful and sincere.
Ye Xiaogang
The book also spreads out a series of historical books, which shows the author's all-round knowledge precipitation. In casual narration, the author can always naturally and interestingly add historical summaries, leading us to taste elegance while touching the solidity of culture. The author runs through the story the roads he has traveled, the books he has read, and the mountains and rivers in his chest, and he can often be seen to have a broad mind of compassion for the world and the world. I especially love the occasional heroism complex. "The autumn wind of nature is blowing, the sky is cloudless, the ancient civilization is open, and the universe is clarified." It's magnificently beautiful.
In my impression, Mr. Ye Xiaogang can always switch seamlessly among various roles, and perhaps the combination of artistic thinking and secular life seems to him to be the only way to freedom. The funny and humorous side is often his impactful personality traits, and the text in the book can better present the diversity of an artist, and I seem to see the artist's thoughts traveling calmly and deeply at night, and inhabiting it.
If it is summed up in terms of "kindness", it should be the most superficial and basic praise. But it is precisely because of kindness that we can expand tolerance and accept people and things frankly; it is also because of kindness that we can gaze at the beautiful and proud of life. "Thanksgiving indicates the health of the soul", this simple little sentence can be readily in your and my heart; "The last and highest endowment given by God is 'to stop at the right time'." Such a simple and powerful self-control made me reminisce for a long time; "Life is not a prisoner of desire, no matter what, everything encountered in the next life and this life will not meet again, and it should be proud of life." "This idyllic and elegant is respectable.
Of course, the author's artistic talent and talent can be seen everywhere in the book. "All things are gone, but art lives on." A good friend of mine sent me a touch after reading this book: "The mind is excited, the ambition is high, the search up and down, the will of life, the essence of art." "Constant reflection and questioning proves that there is curiosity and admiration for the beauty of all things, and it is precisely because many questions are not answered that we have the opportunity to stand with the sages and discuss them." That's the point of asking.
Professor Ye Xiaogang and the author of this article, Yuan Fangshuang, improvised the piano
Perhaps the taste of music can better reflect the author's inner personality. "With music, this life is enough." The author devotes considerable space to his belief in German-Austrian music: "The most moving thing about Mendelssohn's music is that his romantic passion is very delicately encapsulated in its proper form. So pure, so radiant, so healthy, without a trace of evil thoughts, it really embodies a wise civilization. The pride of the master cannot be learned by others. As for the master's melancholy, it is even more impossible to learn. Mendelssohn's occasional dimness is a virtue for the listener, a noble quality, and a kind of wisdom curling up. "The music of the German composer Mendelssohn has nourished generations and still accompanies me gently, but this unique description may only be a soul that is proud and pure enough to glimpse the great light of Mendelsssohn's work."
When it comes to German music, there is also a touch of german football that is linked to German football by describing the character of the music. At that time, the author talked about why Brahms and Wagner appeared in Germany, and the article described: Once woke up at dawn, turned on the TV and saw the last three minutes of Germany's defeat, "saw the German team such as the hero Tristan or Siegfried in Wagner's music, and the giants fell to the ground in the final fight, and the whole of Germany was tragic and silent." These four solid and powerful words remind me of Germany on the early summer night, of the silent but mournful people in the full subway cars, of the streets of Munich the next morning without bottles and drunks, and of the "tragic and silent" words that speak to the heavy collective restraint and reflection of this nation at the most enthusiastic and exciting moment.
Not long ago, Mr. Ye Xiaogang said in a personal interview that for him, life is worth it as long as it blooms like fireworks, as long as it is the most gorgeous seven seconds. "Can you continue to rush through the turbulent river of fate, better than dance, more exquisite than drama?" If life is not as good as a play, we will wait and see. ”
Closing the book, I took off the tea-green book coat, and then revealed a more textured cover, and the deeply recessed title and portrait of the character revealed a light blue pure in the woven fabric, which could not help but remind me of the "Tapestry" that the author dedicated to his mother, which never faded in the bustling. It is like this bowl of clear tea in your hand, narrating the civilization from ancient times, with timeless splendor, passing by you and me. Leave a mark and fly across the sky. Infinitely distant and clear.
(Author: Yuan Fang, Professor and Pianist, School of Music, Chinese University of Hong Kong [Shenzhen])
Welfare moments
What music have you listened to from Ye Xiaogang? What literature about music have you read? Please leave a comment below this article to share your feelings and thoughts. The top 10 readers who leave a message to like can get a copy of "Vegetarian Hand Cooking Tea" provided by the People's Music Publishing House, and the like time is until 12:00 noon on April 18.
Source: Guangming Daily (April 13, 2022, 14th edition)
Editor-in-charge: Zhang Yongqun
Editors: Xing Yanyan Zhang Xueyu