How eastern and western music blends and dialogues, and how to resolve conflicts and opposites, is a problem that Eastern composers generally face and even solve for a lifetime.
Takemanche is a banner of Japanese music, the master of oriental music in the twentieth century, and Zhou Tian is a young composer who went out from China to shine in Europe and the United States, and the encounter of Eastern and Western music is also a subject they cannot get around.
On the evening of January 8, under the leadership of conductor Long Yu, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra will perform Wu Manche's "Ladder of November" and Sunday's "Orchestra Concerto". Two eastern composers cross time and space and meet on the same stage, and will have a colorful dialogue in the music of the East and the West. This is also the first time that "The Ladder of November" has been performed in China half a century after its publication.
Zhou Tian (first from right), two Japanese performers (with instruments in hand), and Takemitsu's daughter (second from left) participate in the pre-performance talk
Takemitsu: I can't escape the influence of Japanese culture for a lifetime
Wu Manche was not an academy member.
In 1944, at the age of 14, Wu Manche was drafted into the army and was first exposed to Western music in the army, an old record of a French song. After the war, Takemanche worked at the U.S. military base and heard a lot of Western music through the U.S. military's broadcasting network. At the age of 16, Takemanche, whose musical training was blank, made up his mind to work as a composer.
Takeman's early works were largely influenced by Western avant-garde techniques and were alienated from traditional Japanese music. During World War II, Japan banned the spread of almost all foreign music, and after the war, "I was passionate, and at that time I was not focusing on Japan, but the West." For a long time, Takemanche "just stared at Western music and art."
In 1957, Takemanche wrote "String Requiem", which was not optimistic. When composer Stravinsky was visiting Japan, the NHK radio staff made a mistake and broadcast the "String Requiem" that was not planned, "I really can't imagine that such a short man can create such a strong work." Stravinsky exclaimed, and people began to pay attention to Wu Manche and his music.
In 1967, Mummatcher received a creative commission from the New York Philharmonic Orchestra to celebrate its 125th anniversary. At the time, he was just beginning to study the Japanese musical tradition, especially the differences between Japanese and Western music. So he decided to write a piece of orchestra in collaboration with two Japanese instruments, shakuhachi and the Japanese pipa. A year ago, he had just composed Eclipse for these two instruments, which was widely performed in the West, greatly improving the status of modern Japanese music in the West.
"The task of combining Japanese instruments with Western bands was really difficult, and I retreated many times during the creative process. Merging two very different forms of music seemed completely impossible, and I deeply doubted that I could get the job done. In the end, Wu Manche completed the creation with the enthusiastic encouragement of Bernstein.
The premiere of "The Ladder of November" was scheduled to be conducted by Seiji Ozawa, but during the first rehearsal, the band members burst out laughing. Seiji Ozawa comforted Takemitsu and asked the musicians to listen to the solo voices of the two Japanese musicians first, "The band is getting quieter and quieter, paying more and more attention to the performances of the two Japanese musicians. Finally, the band was completely quiet, and no one laughed anymore, but burst into applause from everyone. That's when I realized how hard the musicians listened to music. Takemanche recalled.
The premiere of "The Ladder of November" has attracted the attention of the world, including major composers such as Penderitzki and Copeland. Takemitsu explains the work this way, "In Japanese music, the danshu corresponds to the Western variations, which refer to the ladder, and the Ladder of November is the eleven variations. ”
Considered a classic example of "east meets East and West", Takemitsu tried to show the differences between Eastern and Western traditions as much as possible, rather than merging them. He arranged a long solo passage for two Japanese instruments, but he also designed similar parts for Eastern and Western traditions, such as string instruments imitating the sound of pipa plucks with percussion-like effects, and responding to shakuhachi's breathing with portamento. In this work, harmony and conflict maintain a delicate balance, while maintaining the unique timbre of Japanese and Western instruments.
Takemitsu was deeply influenced by the West, but it wasn't until he was far away from Japan and settled in Europe that he realized that his music could not escape the influence of Japanese culture for a lifetime.
With Seiji Ozawa's strong recommendation of Takemanche around the world, Chinese music fans became familiar with the Japanese composer. The Shanghai Symphony Orchestra has performed many of Takeman's works, and this time the Chinese premiere of "The Ladder of November" was specially invited to join the shakuhachi player Kaki Sakai and the Japanese pipa player Akiko Kubota.
Kaki Sakai and major orchestras around the world have performed many of Takemitsu's works, with "The Ladder of November" performing the most frequently. Akiko Kubota is one of the representatives of the new generation of soloists interpreting Takemanche's works.
According to the two performers, the shakuhachi has been improved after it was transmitted from China to Japan, and it has similarities with the Chinese folk instrument lute; the Chinese pipa is plucked with fingernails, with more strings, and the Japanese pipa is larger and has fewer strings, it is plucked with wooden boards, and the performers also have to sing while playing... The two instruments are widely used in Japanese Buddhist music, and there is a small number of young people in Japan who do not learn much, but the United States, Australia, and especially Chinese have a high enthusiasm for shakuhachi.
Two Japanese performers and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra rehearsed
Sunday: Chinese culture flows in the blood without deliberate excavation
Graduated from Shanghai Conservatory of Music, majoring in composition, studying at curtiss School of Music (bachelor's degree), Julia School of Music (master's degree), University of Southern California (Ph.D.), Zhou Tian is a post-80s composer who went out from China to shine in Europe and the United States. In January 2018, he was nominated for "Best Contemporary Classical Music Composition" at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards for Concertos for Orchestra.
In the 2019-20 music season, Zhou Tian was invited to serve as the resident artist of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, with a total of 8 works such as "Water Sleeve", "Gift", "Pattern", "Orchestra Concerto", "Jiucheng Palace", "Song Ci, Yin Poem", "Yue" and so on, many of which were premiered for the world or premiered in China.
"Orchestra Concerto" integrates Zhou Tian's personal understanding of "the intersection of Eastern and Western cultures", showing the infinite tension of the orchestra - from epic magnificence to extreme elegance, from the application of Chinese national tones to modern harmony and jazz beats to the combination, showing both the strong impact of modern works and the romantic atmosphere, "It is a musical 'love letter' I dedicate to the orchestra." Sunday said.
Zhou Tian's father is also a composer, but specializes in film and television music and evening music, Zhou Le has played in the recording studio since he was a child, film music, jazz music, pop music, Chinese folk songs... His ears are not limited, and he grew up listening to all kinds of music.
At that time, Zhou Tian did not know what was harmony and what was alignment, and completely relied on the ear to listen to the sound, and this experience had a great influence on him later, "Now I also want to return to that state, not to let too much technology and theory guide the direction of music, hearing is very important, music is the art of hearing." ”
After entering the track of professional composition in the upper music annex, Zhou Tian found that the photographer could see the result immediately when he took a photo, but the composition of classical music was very particular about "completion", if a work was thirty or forty minutes long, the composer could not write a small section and rush to find the orchestra to audition, but to think back and forth in his mind, this creative process is extremely long, and the composer needs to have a very strong "inner hearing".
In 2001, Zhou Tian was admitted to the Curtis Conservatory of Music in the United States, becoming the first Chinese composition student in the school.
"On the first day I was shocked, I saw Lang Lang jumping down the stairs to go to Graffman's piano lesson, such a strong environment, very motivating." Sunday reveled in the good atmosphere of the school, the composition teachers came from generation to generation, george Gershwin, Samuel Barber and other American composers influenced generation after generation, "You live around these music people, but you don't see them as big stars." 」 Curtis turned out to be a building, very small, crowded, all of whom knew each other, and you were easily infected. ”
Modern and contemporary music works often give people a sense of difficulty and profundity, and Zhou Tian's works often take into account the melody and composition techniques, how to balance? He said he often envisioned himself going to a concert, the first of which was a beethoven overture, the second of which was Lao Chai's violin concerto, and what would he most like to hear in the second half if it was an unknown symphony? "Whatever I want to listen to, I write it down, so the music I write is what I like." That is to say, Zhou Tian will think differently, not from the composer, but from the perspective of the listener, because he is also the listener.
Another feature of Zhou Tian's works is that you can hear Chinese elements, Chinese emotions, and Chinese flavors, but you rarely see Chinese national instruments.
Sunday explained that music comes first, form comes second, and culture should be hidden behind music, "For example, people like to listen to Brahms's music, not because they are German music, like Rachmaninoff, nor because they are Russian music, and the audience ends up listening to personal things." Chinese culture is flowing in my blood, there is no need to dig for the sake of digging, most of my orchestral works have obvious Chinese elements, but I will not deliberately put cultural identity first. ”
"Western paintings are all about portraits, faces, and expressions, while Chinese paintings are all about nature, very vast, and people are only a little bit. The aesthetics of the East and the West feel completely different. Zhou Tian hopes to write this kind of Chinese-style artistic beauty in the orchestra, and then slowly fill in the colors, rather than the big melody and big rhythm of the Western way from the beginning.
Recently, Zhou Tian has a "Goddess" for flute and strings, which is written by him on a trip to Spain and is influenced by the local unrestrained dance rhythm, "Foreign countries will not see you as a Chinese composer, you must write Chinese works, you have Spanish elements can also succeed - this is the future of classical music lovely place, more and more people realize that music is a universal language, not necessarily related to your origin, your background, you can be very free to use all the inspiration and language to create." 」 ”
"Just like Ang Lee, both Eastern and Western movies are made, and Eastern and Western cultures are very interesting. Chinese composers can write foreign things, foreign composers can also write Chinese things, this is interesting, don't frame yourself. Sunday said.