The pleasure of reading "Murakami Private Collection: Nostalgic and Beautiful Classical Music Records"

Haruki Murakami and his new book, The Murakami Private Collection: Nostalgic and Beautiful Classical Music Records. (CFP Graph/Figure)

Japanese writer Haruki Murakami likes to collect, and one of the things he collects is classical music records, especially vinyl records, and the earlier publication "Murakami Private Collection: Nostalgic and Beautiful Classical Music Records" is a selection of his collection. In this little book, which makes the opening of the book like a record sleeve, he said that he has visited record stores around the world in the past 60 years and bought back 10,000 old records, and he specially selected some of his favorites and wrote down the reasons for liking.

Murakami said that the book "is at best a book of personal preferences and interests, with no systematic, practical purpose, and no 'This is the must-hear of this piece!'" ' and so on." This book is like a continuation of the earlier "Murakami T", the reader loves Murakami Haruki, wants to know what clothes he wears, and wants to know what records he listened to, and so on.

Of course, there are countless recorded versions of each piece of classical music, different conductors, orchestras, playing times, and even the same piece but different recording and suppression techniques, all of which make each record version unique. In today's vast streaming music platform, there is only the tip of the iceberg of different recording versions. When reading Murakami's book, there will always be: Ah! It turns out that there is still this version of this song, and I really want to find the urge to listen to it. However, it is not easy to find the records introduced in the book according to Tu Suoji, after all, many of the records introduced by Murakami in the book are products of the fifties and sixties of the last century, either to try their luck in the old record store, or to the famous record trading website discogs treasure hunting.

Murakami said that his selection of records is a personal preference, so many classical music fans have opinions on his choice, but when it comes to personal preferences, naturally everyone sees and likes differently. It's like Murakami himself said he didn't like the pianist Alfred Brendel very much, but Blundell already liked a lot of people. Which version and which conductor he likes is often related to his own experience, and Murakami is good friends with the famous conductor Seiji Ozawa, so he naturally prefers Seiji Ozawa's version.

In addition to personal experience, another reason is the preference for the interpretation of the music, and sometimes the musicians are very characteristic of the interpretation of the music (even to the point of grandstanding), and the reasons why the fans don't pay for it (or vice versa) are relatively easy to say. For example, Mahler's Seventh Symphony, if you listen to Otto Klemperer's version (which is almost 20 minutes longer than most), the extremely slow style feels like watching a distant train pull into the platform, the train gradually approaching but never arrives, some say it's a tension, but I don't like it myself.

In any case, Murakami always has his unique method when writing these music reviews, so that readers can enjoy reading Murakami's texts even if they are only reading Murakami's classical record short reviews. For example, he said that Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 25, recorded by pianist Friedrich Gulda and the Vienna Philharmonic (conducted by Abbado), sounds "as incredible as eating clear soup udon noodles at an udon shop in Osaka"; Or Sir Thomas Beecham, who conducts Haydn's Symphony No. 94, always has the impression of a "personable old English gentleman, and even the 'surprise' part of the second movement is struck in a steady and elegant way, a level of fright that even a woman with a teacup does not scare the black tea overflowing." These metaphors are very unique, very Murakami Haruki. Mozart, Gulda, how could you have thought that your work would turn into a bowl of Osaka's clear soup udon?

Of course, back to an important question: why listen to vinyl when listening to classical music now? Or the bigger question: How did vinyl come back to life? The return of vinyl is one of the most inspirational stories in the history of human development. It is clear that the era has been eliminated, it is bulky and fragile, and the carrying capacity is pitiful, but it has been proved that as long as it is valuable, even if it is full of shortcomings, it still has the meaning of existence.

In "Murakami's Private Collection: Nostalgic and Beautiful Classical Music Records," Murakami says that listening to vinyl records is "the kind of thing that responds if you treat it carefully." In the era when everything is digital, giving and responding have long become a very formulaic exchange, everything is a button in exchange for a response, and the satisfaction of paying hard has been lost. Just like if you carefully and gently touch the streaming music platform on your phone, play music, and broadcast music, there will be absolutely no difference (so in fact, we will not touch the phone so gently). The "responsive" trait has become rare in today's cold world, which is why vinyl records are revived today.

Listening to vinyl records, from buying records to playing, every step pays attention to "careful treatment". One of them is sound playback, whether listening to vinyl records or listening to streaming platforms, is a learning as deep as the sea. Like the most basic turntable, pre-stage and post-amplifier (audio amplifier), speakers, or the cartridge and stylus used in the turntable, the cables and connectors connecting the equipment, and even the record pad on the turntable, all pay attention to it. Murakami also said that sound is a "hobby that can only be cultivated if you have spare effort, and there is no way to do it, you can only have this awareness." Having said that, as long as it is not the kind of integrated playing disc that buys a few hundred dollars in color and only has appearance, a simple set of decent entry-level audio equipment, the price is actually close to the people, and it can already reflect the preciousness of vinyl records.

Not only audio equipment, buying (and finding) vinyl discs is also a pay-for-giving activity. For example, in Europe and the United States, there are second-hand stores selling second-hand goods such as the Salvation Army and the Rock Club in different communities, and in these used goods stores, there will always be a corner full of boxes of old records, and if there is a responsible clerk (or a neat owner), the records will be sorted and put away. At this time, slowly squat down, turn the records one by one, take a look, each one is unknown, meet your favorite at any time. These old records, many times, are only ten yuan and eight yuan, which is extremely cheap. Unlike ordinary old record stores, these thrift stores are non-profit-making, and the person in charge has no time to set prices slowly, and usually does not know the market and understand the value of the goods like an insider. So, it's easy to find treasure in these thrift stores.

However, records bought in thrift stores, the state of the records varies, usually takes more time to clean well, and sometimes you buy damaged records, these can not be avoided, so you have to check them carefully when you buy them. But as Murakami said, even if the old record is cleaned carefully (cleaning the record is also learned), there is still a significant difference in the sound quality before and after cleaning, at least the stylus will not accumulate a pile of dirt after the record is played.

In contrast, stores that specialize in old records often do basic cleaning of records, and clearly indicate the status and appearance of the records, and accordingly, the pricing will be correspondingly expensive. Comparing different record stores around the world, record stores in Japan tend to be the neatest and cleanest. No wonder his good friend Jiao Yuanpu said that when he went to a vintage record store in Japan, every time he went in, it was 7 hours, and every time he walked until dark. Listening to his sharing, whether it is spiritual or financial resources, it is a very big effort, of course, every time is also in exchange for a bumper harvest.

Yaran

Responsible editor: Liu Xiaolei