On April 21st, two days before the 29th World Book Day, international piano artist Wu Muye walked into the main store of Beijing Sanlian Taofen Bookstore Art Museum and brought a unique piano solo "Music and Reading" session to readers. At the event, Wu Muye successively played six melodic works suitable for accompanying reading, such as "Rose", "Dedication", "Girl's Prayer", "Moonlight", "Canon" and "Yuan". In particular, at the request of the artist, there will be no stage for this recital, so that the music can enter the readers, blend with the fragrance of the book, and permeate this sacred space.
Wu Muye plays live at the bookstore Joint Publishing Courtesy of Joint Books
Looking back, the main store of Sanlian Taofen Bookstore and Art Museum opened in 1996. Ten years ago, on the 19th World Book Day, it became the first "24-hour bookstore" officially listed in Beijing and even in China. As a sea of books and an elegant gathering place for literati in Beijing, Sanlian Taofen Bookstore attracts countless book lovers with its simple and pure style. When night falls, it becomes a beacon of the city, illuminating the heart of every person who loves to read.
As one of the leading figures of classical music in China, Wu Muye has shown extraordinary musical talent since he was a child. He began to learn piano at the age of 4, performed on stage at the age of 5, and was admitted to the National Conservatoire Supérieure de Musique in Paris at the age of 15. He has won the title of "Perfect Piano", the highest honor in the piano world in Paris, France, and is currently the only young Chinese performer to receive this honor.
Directly above the piano at the performance site is the sign "Listen, the sound of books, smell the breath of books" hanging in the bookstore, which coincides with the theme of the "Music and Reading" meeting and complements the atmosphere of the performance site. At 16 o'clock in the afternoon of the 21st, Wu Muye kicked off the prelude to the "Music and Reading" meeting with a song "Rose", and the notes and words were gradually intertwined into a beautiful picture scroll, which slowly spread out. The sound of the piano is sometimes passionate and high-pitched, sometimes soft and delicate, as if telling a moving story. And those books are like being awakened by the sound of the piano, telling ancient stories, reciting magnificent poems, expounding the philosophy of life, revealing mysterious science, and depicting the distant future.
Readers sat down to listen to Wu Muye's performance Photo by The Paper reporter Wang Chen
Here, the piano and the book meet beautifully, complementing and merging with each other to create a poetic and imaginative space. Readers are immersed in this sea of music and books, enjoying the fragrance of books and the sound of the piano, and experiencing a different cultural atmosphere. With the fall of Wu Muye's last note, this "music reading" meeting also ended successfully. Wu Muye, who was born in Beijing, told The Paper, "I am a loyal reader of Sanlian. My family lived in Changchun Street at the time, and when I was a child, I used to ride my bicycle and came here. I bought a book in the bookstore and took it to Tiananmen Square, and I left a lot of good memories while reading the book and watching the kites in the sky. ”
Talking about his fate with the book, Wu Muye recalled that when he went to Paris to study, he carried a copy of "Dream of Red Mansions" in his suitcase, which was later turned over. "In fact, many of my personal collections were bought at Joint Bookstore, such as classic classics such as "The Count of Monte Cristo" and "Red and Black" in Western literature. Western philosophy books, I like to read Nietzsche's books, which is very helpful for me to play Western music works and understand the meaning. In classical Chinese literature, I like Xin Qiji's poems, and I often use his poems as screensavers for my phone. In fact, I have many facets, and I am currently reading some books about war, and books have also opened a window for me to know and understand the world. ”
"Many of my seniors have been working on piano promotion, and I thought it was a great opportunity to put the concert in a bookstore, and it was the first time in my life that I played in a bookstore. Especially on the eve of this year's World Book Day, the texture of the paper is similar to the feeling of listening to music live. Wu Muye said that the last piece of this concert, "Yuan", was his original work last year. "When I was creating it, I had a scroll in my mind, which was written with the song of birds and flowers, and it was a book in itself. ”
Beijing Sanlian Taofen Bookstore Art Museum Main Store at night
Hao Dachao, general manager of Sanlian Taofen Bookstore, expressed the original intention of holding this event to reporters, "In the hustle and bustle of the city, people always yearn for a calm and comfortable corner, so that the soul can be relaxed and rested. We hope that through the live performance of international music artists, readers can listen to the beautiful melodies up close, wander in the sea of books, forget their troubles, enjoy a moment of indulgence in the happiness of the soul, and experience an unforgettable bookstore trip. ”