It has been 10 years since the famous erhu player Min Huifen left us. Her life is said to be "endless life, more than playing", and after her death, she is "still alive with sound and piano sound".
Min Huifen was born in a small village in Yixing County, Jiangsu Province, and her father was Min Jiqian, a well-known local ethnic instrumentalist and educator. His father later became a professor at the School of Music of Nanjing Normal University and the president of the "Nanjing Music Society". In 1947, he studied at the National Conservatory of Music, and in 1949, he transferred to the Department of Folk Music of the Central Conservatory of Music to study, and successively studied under a number of famous musicians, including musicologist Yang Yinliu, erhu player Chu Shizhu, pipa player Cao Anhe and Cheng Wujia, Zheng player Cao Zheng, etc., it can be said that he is Liu Tianhua's second disciple, and he can afford all kinds of national musical instruments. And Min Huifen has been in such a strong national music family atmosphere since she was a child, and the music has been touched and infiltrated in her heart. Not only did she arouse great curiosity, especially the erhu, but she also showed a special understanding of music at an early age.
In 1956, when she was only 11 years old, she participated in the "Children's Home" Red Scarf Art Troupe in Gulou District, Nanjing, and in 1958, she was admitted to the Ethnic Music Department of the High School Affiliated to the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, where she studied under the famous erhu player and educator Wang Yixi. The most eye-catching thing is that the little girl who was still in the middle school of Nian Fu at that time won the first place in the 1963 "Shanghai Spring" National Erhu Competition, and then became famous, fully demonstrating her artistic potential and talent. The following year, he was promoted to the Department of Ethnic Music of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music for a bachelor's degree, where he studied under the famous erhu player Lu Xiutang, and graduated in 1969. Since then, he has worked as an erhu soloist in the Shanghai Orchestra, China Art Troupe, and Shanghai Art Troupe, and was transferred to the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra ten years later. As a result, on the domestic and international stages, she frequently showed her beautiful posture and exquisite skills.
In 1988, he won the Shanghai Literary and Art Award, in 1989, he won the first Golden Record Award of China Record Society, and in the same year, he was awarded the title of National Outstanding Cultural and Art Worker. In 1991, he won the "Shanghai Spring" Outstanding Performance Award, the Baosteel Elegant Art Award, in 1998, he won the honorary title of "Artist of Virtue and Art", and in 2001, he won the first prize of the "Top Ten Best" in the World 10,000-Record Competition. He used to be the vice chairman of the Chinese Musicians Association.
Min's performance is quite passionate, and although she is a female performer, she has the momentum of a wide open and closed female husband. It was really "women don't let their eyebrows be shaved", which was especially prominent among the few female erhu players at that time. However, just as she was entering middle age and was full of spirit and hard work, she was seriously ill in 1981, which was a bolt from the blue for her. But for her, who never admits defeat, the spirit of self-improvement is more and more presented on the colorful stage, which is awe-inspiring.
Her performance of Liu Wenjin's "Caprice on the Great Wall" is a very vivid example. The original intention of writing this piece was that at the end of the 70s of the 20th century, the famous composer Liu Wenjin and Min visited the United States with the Chinese art troupe. They stared and pondered for a long time, a strong sense of national pride and creative impulse were intertwined, the extreme shock of the heart, the floating imagination of the thoughts, the melody had become a natural chapter in Liu's chest, and then with sincere and profound patriotism and the demeanor and temperament of the poet and singer, to express the deep feelings of the ancient Great Wall, and eulogize the great spirit and glorious history of the Chinese nation. As a result, such an extraordinary erhu concerto was created.
However, just as she was about to put this brilliant work on the stage through Min, who was also deeply impressed, she was already seriously ill, and it was God's injustice! However, the tall and majestic image of the Great Wall symbolized the rise of the Chinese nation and inspired Min to complete such a task, although it was already a rather difficult task for her at this time. Out of lofty feelings for the long history of the Chinese nation and a high sense of mission for Chinese folk music, she resolutely began to ponder how to interpret this piece with the strictest and most accurate requirements in the ward. In 1982, with a slight recovery of her body, she premiered this piece under the concerto of the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra, and the performance was a complete success, which also created a miracle in the history of erhu creation and performance, a peak, which can be described as "Tianxingjian, a gentleman and self-improvement" (from "Zhou Yi Qian").
Another peak of Min's erhu art is her own adaptation of "Honghu Theme Caprice", also known as "Honghu People's Wish". This piece is an erhu solo song adapted from the opera "Honghu Red Guards" (composed by Zhang Jing'an and Ouyang Qianshu) "Look at the Liberation of the Toiling People in the World". The singing section tells the suffering of the Honghu people in the old society, shows the picture of the Red Guards' struggle against the enemy and their imagination for the future, and expresses the heroine Han Ying's awe-inspiring righteousness and determination to dedicate herself to the cause of people's liberation. Perhaps Min saw himself in the heroine Han Young, and devoted himself to the performance of every note of the melody. Therefore, it makes full use of the anthropomorphic timbre of the erhu and its diverse performance characteristics, highlights the rich connotation of the original song, and gives full play to the profound artistic conception of the original song. This soft and delicate technique of the erhu seems to be particularly suitable for expressing women's emotions, so it sounds very touching. The piece begins with a fast and passionate rhythm set against a strong dramatic rhythm, and then, suddenly, slows down, affectionately leading to the main theme:
This theme is a two-bar upper and lower phrase structure, plus a second phrase in the next measure. The whole melody is very touching. There is a lot of portamento used in the technique, which has a "click" effect, which is particularly good for stringed instruments. It is "the mother's tears are like water, sprinkled on the hearts of children", the pronunciation of the words of the erhu has entered the ears of the audience, making people feel as if they have experienced the scene. After that, the original song entered the narrative stage, and the erhu also played in style:
"I don't know where to say the words full of words", I want to say as if I want to say and stop, and finally it becomes an affectionate call to my mother, "Mother!" The erhu "calls" this affection through lingering bow movements, slow breathing, exaggerated kneading and glissando. Here, it should be particularly pointed out that Min's music is played in the key of A (4-1), which is rarely used in the erhu, that is, the inner hollow string, that is, the lowest note is 4 tones, which enhances the soulful and sighing component of the melody. Then, turning to the anger of the enemy, "Peng Batian, lose his conscience, and occupy the fields", Min played quite sonorously. In particular, she draws the bow forcefully and resolutely with her fingers, which expresses the connotation of the melody well.
It is worth pointing out that the anger against the landlord bullies is often reflected in the rhythm of large and small syncopated notes, and it is also expressed in the rhythm of dotted notes, which seems to have a kind of gnashing of teeth. For the use of rising and reducing numbers in the melody, it seems that it is particularly appropriate to use erhu to interpret it. Then, the following "Since the Communist Party came, the people of Honghu have seen the sun". Min Shi used an extremely cheerful mood, gushing out like a spring. At this point, the use of dense sixteenth notes began to appear, which is also the technique of erhu arrangement. As a result, it gave full play to its chic and free fast bow technique, and through the steady and well-proportioned breathing of the player, it became a highlight of this piece, pushing this firm belief and enthusiasm to the extreme.
The end of the piece is a cadenza section: "Children want to see the liberation of the toiling people of the world", the melody is passionate and the words are powerful, reflecting Han Ying's noble quality of preferring to exchange her life for the victory of the revolution, and vividly expressing the image of a great heroine who cares about the masses.
In addition to the above two representative pieces, the representative pieces played by Min also include "Sending Public Grain", "Horse Racing", "River Water", "Farewell to the Newlyweds" and so on. Here, it should be pointed out that in the later performances, Min paid special attention to some works that imitated vocal singing, for example, the Peking Opera singing "Li Lingbei", "Wolong Hanging Filial Piety", "Xiaoyaojin", "Bead Curtain Village", "Cutting the Emperor's Robe", etc., carefully pondered and deliberately imitated. In fact, this is not only a simple imitation, but a re-creation to strengthen the color of Chinese musical language. In the mid-70s of the last century, the Ministry of Culture convened some national instrumentalists to carry out this kind of experiment in the vocal cavity of instrumental performances, and Min was one of the main members. Moreover, the stringed instruments of the erhu are particularly competent for this job. In fact, as early as the 30s of the last century, the famous blind big bang player Wang Dianyu caused a sensation by imitating the singing of the famous Peking Opera veteran actor Ma Lianliang in Shanghai's "Great World Playground", and it became a big news that he couldn't stop performing for 15 days. Then, the imitation of erhu is more nuanced than that of Dazhu, and the level of art seems to be richer and higher. Later, Min persisted in this work and promoted it personally, which became another characteristic highlight of her performance.
Min believes: "If national music is folded in the hands of our generation, it is a sinner." This sense of historical mission and national consciousness is awe-inspiring. Nowadays, if the performers have such a spirit, the hope for the revival of national music is just around the corner.