At 14:25 on April 11, Liu Dehai, a famous pipa player, educator and composer in China, died in Beijing at the age of 82. He is known as the "Pipa Master", and his representative works include "Ten Faces Ambush", "Little Sister of the Prairie", "Swan", "Old Boy" and so on.
Born in Shanghai on August 13, 1937, Liu Dehai was born in Hebei and studied folk music from an early age. In 1954, Liu Dehai studied under the Shanghai pipa master Lin Shicheng, and in 1957, he was admitted to the Central Conservatory of Music and devoted himself to the development of pipa playing technology. In 1960, Liu Dehai played "Five Heroes of Wolf Tooth Mountain" created by Lu Shaoen for the first time, which made a great breakthrough in traditional music in terms of content and technical skills, greatly improved and enriched the playing skills of pipa, and played a great role in promoting modern pipa playing art.
Liu Dehai is not limited to traditional folk music, he has also received systematic Western music education, adapted many songs, combined them with pipa, and injected new vitality into traditional instruments. In 1973, Liu Dehai's concerto "Little Sisters of the Grassland" with composers Wu Zuqiang and Wang Yanqiao became a historic breakthrough in the improvement of folk music, integrating national instruments with Western symphonies, and quickly succeeding with strong national characteristics and appropriate orchestral instruments.
After the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976, Seiji Ozawa learned of the situation of the Beijing Central Orchestra from composer Wu Manchu and had a strong desire to return to China. At the invitation of the Chinese Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, he arrived in Beijing on the evening of December 14. In addition to searching for childhood memories, he also visited the Central Orchestra and heard Li Delun conduct the orchestra's "Little Sisters of the Prairie".
Seiji Ozawa and Dehai Liu
Composer Wu Zuqiang recalled: "I met Seiji Ozawa because during the visit I invited him to listen to the Central Orchestra rehearsing my string ensemble "Erquan Yingyue" and "Little Sisters of the Grassland", he was very excited after listening to it, and then proposed that he hope to come to China again to conduct the Central Orchestra to perform these two works. This idea came to fruition during his second visit to Beijing in 1978, and surprisingly reflected his deep understanding and agility of the style and connotation of Chinese music. ”
Han Zhongjie, Seiji Ozawa and Wu Zuqiang
In June 1978, he visited Beijing again with the Central Orchestra and Liu Dehai to perform "Little Sisters in the Prairie", and then in March 1979, Seiji Ozawa led the Boston Symphony Orchestra to visit China and performed the work twice in Beijing. March 17 at the Red Tower Theatre and March 19 at the Capital Gymnasium. In April of the same year, the same line-up was recorded at the Boston Symphony Hall and released worldwide, including Sousa's "The Star-Spangled Banner Never Falls" and Liu Shikun's Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1.
However, Liu Dehai's most famous performance repertoire is "Ten Faces Ambush". "Ten Faces Ambush" is originally a classic piece of pipa performance, but Liu Dehai believes that the first version is not enough to express the tension of the battle of Xiaxia, so he made a drastic adaptation on the basis of the original song to make this piece look new. In 1975, Liu Dehai performed his first adaptation of "Ten Faces Ambush", which was a great success. Since then, many fans have unconsciously associated "Ten Faces Ambush" with Liu Dehai's name.
Video screenshot: Liu Dehai playing "Ten Faces Ambush"
Since 1983, Liu Dehai has served as a professor and vice dean of the China Conservatory of Music, and has trained a large number of outstanding young pipa players. In recent years, he has continuously explored the innovation of pipa fingering, actively explored new ways of pipa music creation, and achieved fruitful results.
He adapted many songs such as "Liuyang River", "Distant Guests Please Stay", "Guerrilla Song", "Ma Lan Blossom" and other songs into pipa solo songs, so that they can be appreciated by both elegant and customary, and also sorted out and adapted traditional pipa ancient songs such as "Overlord Unloading Armor", "Chen Sui", "Xunyang Moon Night" and so on. Liu Dehai also composed a large number of philosophical and rational pipa music such as "life chapter", "pastoral chapter" and "religion chapter".
Liu Dehai once said to a friend: "I am a climber on the road of national music development, knowing that it has no end, I will continue to climb like this, until my end, even if it is more bitter and lonely." ”
Synthesized from Music Weekly, Tianfang Music Tan
Image source: North Evening New Vision, Tianfang Letan, Weibo
Editor: Zhang Zhenxi