On the evening of October 24th, at the Poly Theater, the famous composer and conductor Tan Dun conducted a wonderful dialogue between Tan Dun and Stravinsky, together with Erhu player Lu Yiwen, pipa player Han Yan, and guzheng player Su Chang. At this point, the 24th Beijing International Music Festival, which lasted for half a month, was successfully concluded. Interestingly, the concert opened with stravinsky's student work "Fireworks" to create a wonderful moment for the brilliant musical night sky of this year's music festival. Tan Dun's "Fire Sacrifice", which was "transformed" by the folk music version, paid tribute to the innocent lives lost in the anti-epidemic war and the heroes who were heroically martyred with a shocking momentum and a sense of compassion.
This is a concert with a strong sense of ceremony and even picture. Let's start with the opening song "Fireworks", which stravinsky studied as a student, when the hormone-filled young man created the work for his teacher's daughter's wedding. After Tan Dun found this treasure, he found that no one had ever performed it in China, so he put this work that could create a festive atmosphere on the closing ceremony of the music festival. The reason why I chose it, in addition to letting the fans "taste the early", the most important thing is to use this work to bloom a beautiful musical firework for the end of this Beijing International Music Festival. At the concert that night, Tan Dun swung the Chinese Philharmonic to complete the Chinese premiere of the work. Music needs to be imagined, and that beautiful firework certainly won't bloom in the Poly Theater. In the percussion part of the back row of the orchestra, the big drum beats the heart-pounding drum with the mood and atmosphere of the music, which is the sound of fireworks exploding in the air. People sitting in the theater can be fascinated by the music and imagine the night sky outside the theater, the beautiful fireworks that bloom to the fullest, singing a joyful ode to this year's music festival.
When it comes to the sense of ceremony and the sense of picture, Tan Dun's "Fire Sacrifice" has achieved the ultimate. After the end of "Fireworks", Tan Dun, who held a microphone, shared the creative experience of this work with the audience, and in his eloquent narration, 9 musicians of the wind music department withdrew from the stage unconsciously, quietly went to the second and third floors of the theater and stood in the audience. Tan Dun said he set up the theater as an ancient music palace, and the nine musicians in the audience became the experiencers of this solemn ceremony along with the audience. Tan Dun's work was originally written for the Chinese Orchestra, and the Beijing International Music Festival commissioned him a bit of a tight time, saying that his creative cycle is generally two to three years, so he "transformed" the completed "folk music version" into the "Erhu Symphony Version". At the scene, the young erhu player Lu Yiwen appeared in a yellow dress, and one of the two huqins in her hand was the Xiqin, an ancient instrument that Tan Dun restored from the Dunhuang murals for the creation of this work, which was also the first time most Beijing audiences saw this instrument. Sitting on the piano bench, Lu Yiwen waved his arm calmly and leisurely, and the three-stringed Xiqin emitted a long, low and vicissitudes of music, and the sound came slowly from the ancient Dunhua murals, from the ancient Chang'an City of the Tang Dynasty, and the sound of the piano crossed thousands of years and people today gathered together in a common emotion. Tan Dun's "Fire Sacrifice" was originally made for the innocent people and heroes who died in the war, and in the process of this adaptation, he experienced the new crown epidemic, saw countless tragic moments that were killed by the epidemic, and also saw the anti-epidemic heroes who died gloriously to fight the epidemic, and it was also he who used this work to pay tribute to the people and heroes who lost their lives in the epidemic. A piece of Lu Yiwen's solo is unusually heartfelt, the Erhu who is good at playing sad songs is interpreted by Lu Yiwen from the sadness, for more than a minute, the scene is extremely quiet, the band and the audience have always remained silent, only the erhu in the hands of the performer quietly and shallowly chanted. At the end of the song, the high drum music is tragically played, as if watching the heroic souls of the heroes go away. At this moment, the humming of the band players, the heavy tapping of the big drum timpani drum, and the erhu sound gradually weakened until it slowly disappeared. In this process, people's hearts have been shaking with pain. The reason why we are touched and shocked is because each of us has experienced and is experiencing this anti-epidemic war, and we feel it.
In this dialogue, Tan Dun took out two works to talk to Stravinsky, the "hero" he admired since his student days, and "Double Concerto of Guzheng and Pipa" is another work in addition to "Fire Sacrifice", which is a dialogue between two modern musicians of different eras at the level of national music. Interestingly, the concert was full of colors, and in addition to the rich kaleidoscopic musical colors, the three female performers also feasted their eyes and ears with the emotional colors of their interpretations of the music and the gorgeous and appropriate dress. In the first half, Lu Yiwen attacked a long yellow dress, while pipa player Han Yan and guzheng player Su Chang wore red and green skirts on both sides of the conductor Tan Dun, respectively, and the two performers, who were called "playing masters" by Tan Dun, showed their dazzling piano skills, especially the two pieces of folk music in their hands and the symphony orchestra. Tan Dun's creative thoughts are endless, born in Hunan, he has been immersed in national music since he was a child, in this work people find that many familiar and familiar musical elements are dotted in it, especially at the end of the music, the Hebei folk song "Little Cabbage" and Bach's music are intertwined and dialogued in the same time and space, and the audience also feels the history and future of Chinese national music in the music. At the end of the concert, the China Philharmonic Orchestra performed one of Stravinsky's most classic works, "Firebird", one of Stravinsky's three modern ballet works, and one that is often appreciated on the classical music stage in Beijing. In Tan Dun's words, from Stravinsky's student work "Fireworks" to his most mature classic "Firebird", the great composer drew a beautiful parabola for everyone.
"Masters and Remembrance" never ends
With the successful holding of the closing concert, the 24th Beijing International Music Festival came to a successful conclusion, and from October 9 to 24, 21 sets of 24 wonderful concerts were staged. On the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China, 100 party members from 21 orchestras and institutions across the country sang classics and sang praises for the great era. Around the theme of "Masters and Remembrance", the masters of Western music history such as Saint-Sang, Mahler and Stravinsky are staged together with the works of Chinese composers such as Guo Wenjing, Chen Qigang, Tan Dun and the previous composer Ding Shande, and the "Dialogue" allows the audience to feel the vitality of music and culture. The Chinese premiere of the opera "The Journey of the Prodigal Son" and the new release of the commissioned work "Fire Sacrifice", the Beijing International Music Festival allows the audience to feel the frontier scene of musical culture.
From the participation of eight party members in the opening concert, to the performance of the opera "The Journey of the Prodigal Son", to the art song concert commemorating the 110th anniversary of Mahler's death and the 110th anniversary of Ding Shande's birth, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra participated in the Beijing International Music Festival for the tenth time and won the honor of "Artist of the Year". At the Red Pavilion in Taikoo Li North District, Sanlitun, the new generation of musicians took turns on stage, and new works were staged in turn, with diverse styles and colors. The most commendable thing is that the serious atmosphere of the concert hall has been broken, the relaxed and casual environment has narrowed the distance between the audience and the musicians, and the chemical reaction between the trend gathering place and classical music has allowed more audiences to feel the charm of music. The "Post-00s" conductor Jin Yukuang and his friends jointly formed the new classical chamber orchestra won this year's "Nestlé Cup - Young Musician Award", and the unique repertoire of the three concerts highlights the respect of the young generation of musicians for the master, enthusiasm for music and expectations for the future. During the 24th Beijing International Music Festival, rich public welfare performances continue to blossom in Beijing, noon concerts continue to go to landmarks in various cities in Beijing, through the radio waves and the Internet, laying a "highway" for a wide range of groups such as urban white-collar workers and students to contact classical music, and two sets of children's concerts bring together masterpieces of masters to create a world of musical fairy tales, interpret the most beautiful melodies, and let children feel the beauty of music.
Written by Zhang Xuejun
Edited by Zhang Xuejun
Photography by Zhang Xuejun
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