"Hero's Praise" was staged in a concert of Liu Chi's works

"Hero's Praise" was staged in a concert of Liu Chi's works

Listen to how a people's musician "gave music back to the people"

As soon as I heard "the smoke billowing and singing the hero", I remembered "Wang Cheng" holding a blaster and jumping deep into the flames of war; when I heard "a big river with wide waves", I thought of "hygienists", and the resting soldiers with scars and tired faces but smiling... Although it is a long time ago, as soon as the melody is played, the thoughts can't help but rush, and as soon as the song is sung, the whole audience is silently resonating, and some viewers say that this is a concert with pictures.

The "Hymn of Heroes" concert of Liu Chi's works, conducted by Zhang Yi, co-performed by the China Symphony Orchestra and the Voice of the Future Choir, was recently performed at the National Centre for the Performing Arts.

People's musician Liu Chi, formerly known as Liu Deyin, is a native of Xi'an, Shaanxi. Before and after the founding of New China, he served as a teacher in the Dance Class of the Anti-Japanese War Theater Troupe, the Luyi Music Department of Yan'an, the Northeast Luyi Music Troupe, the Opera Troupe of the Central Academy of Drama, the Central Experimental Opera House, the Liaoning Opera House, and the China Coal Mine Cultural and Labor Troupe. The concert spanned the 1930s and 1960s, with both white-haired and energetic teenagers, generations of people gathered together, familiar lyrics and melodies that made the elderly smile and nod, and the young people were very surprised - such a diverse style of work, but from the same composer?

At the concert, the musicians of the China Symphony Orchestra performed and sang the first symphonic chorus "Ode to the Motherland" created by Liu Chi for China's first color wide-screen documentary "Ode to the Motherland", the theme song "Hero Hymn" created for the movie "Heroes and Children", the interlude "My Motherland" composed for the movie "Shangganling", etc., and the magnificent music took the audience back to the years of blood and fire to jointly commemorate and praise the heroes.

Liu Chi has many excellent works in the symphonic creation of national folk tones and regional music. At the concert, the audience enjoyed Liu Chi's first musical work in his artistic career, "Northern Shaanxi Love Song", the song "Turning Over daoqing" style of local opera in Shanshan, the song "Victory Encouragement", which was sung throughout the country with the people's army's southern expedition to the north, especially the "Heaven in the Liberated Areas" adapted from the Jilu folk song. The national opera "Ashima" tells the legend of the Sani people of the Yi ethnic group in Yunnan, especially the arias with Chinese characteristics and multi-voice chorus created by Liu Chi are its artistic value, and in this concert, the audience enjoyed the female singing segment, the male vocal segment and the "Relying on Each Other in the Wind and Rain" sung by Ah Hei and Ashima. In addition, Liu Chi's "Xinjiang Good" and "Dianchi Round Dance" and other works were also performed at the concert, all of which made creative use of ethnic elements.

What makes young audiences feel cordial is that Liu Chi also created many works especially for young people, such as "Jingdang" during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, which expressed the voice of Yan'an children driving the invaders out of China by singing the clanging sound of military and civilian knives; "Let's Swing the Double Oars" was created for the children's film "Flowers of the Motherland", with a beautiful melody, singing a carefree, healthy and happy life, which was widely sung by generations of teenagers; Liu Chi also created the first children's symphonic chorus in New China, "Every Day Upward". The concert was performed by musicians from the China Symphony Orchestra, and the children of the Future Voice Choir also sang "Jingle Bell", "Let's Swing the Oars" and the first movement of "Every Day Upward", "Long and Long".

The concert performances of "Mudi Flute" and "Ode to the Lotus Flower" are the soundtracks composed by Liu Chi for the dance works, and the sports music work "The Third Set of Radio Gymnastics" composed by the musicians of the China Symphony Orchestra is arranged as an orchestral piece, evoking the good memories of many audiences.

When the repertoire was added, "My Motherland" was played again, and the audience applauded rhythmically to the melody, completing the concert with the musicians of the China Symphony Orchestra. According to Liu Xinxin, the son of Liu Chi, Liu Chi had two sentences in his later years that reflected his 60-year creative career - "The motherland, the people, the Chinese nation, this is my eternal theme" and "I returned the music to the people", and the performers and appreciators of this concert have re-experienced its far-reaching meaning through these excellent works.

Author: Yi Meng

Source: China Art News