"If the two loves are long, they will be in the twilight of the dynasty."
In the studio, 85-year-old composer Chen Gang sang these two sentences. The famous sentence of Qin Guan's "Queqiao Immortal" was once written by his father Chen Gexin in tin opera. After the death of my father, my mother often sang.
Last year, Chen Gang's symphonic poem "Love Death - Neon Li Song Yang Guifei" premiered in the "Shanghai Spring", the prelude and epilogue, both these two words, sung by Kunqu opera actor Shen Yunli. "Yang Guifei's story is not a 'long hate song', but a 'long love song'. Don't cry and cry, I want to show that love does not die. Chen Gang said.
Many people did not expect that on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the birth of the violin concerto "Liang Zhu" jointly composed by Chen Gang and He Zhanhao, this elderly man could also come up with a new work to surprise the audience. This year coincides with the 60th anniversary of Chen Gang's teaching, and Chen Gang's symphonic concert "Dedication" will be performed at the Shangyin Opera House on the evening of October 18, and "Liang Zhu" and "Love Death" will be performed on the same stage.
Chen Gang said: "The spirit of Liang Zhu is to break through the cocoon and become a butterfly, and after 60 years, we must respond with new works. I am glad that "Love Death" does not repeat "Liang Zhu", and "Love Death" is worthy of "Liang Zhu". ”
Xue Yingjia performed the piano concerto "Liang Zhu" courtesy of the interviewee
Kunqu cross-border symphony, writing a different Yang Guifei
Chen Gang's studio is hidden on the campus of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Skirt around a few humble low houses and climb the narrow wooden staircase, looking up at the vines and looking down at the two goldfish in the water tank. Pushing the door in, Chen Gang was communicating with the students. The rooms are small and decorated according to the composer's ideas: high ceilings, quaint fireplaces, walls full of books and records.
The most eye-catching thing is the bold color scheme of the room: the walls are yellow, the stitching tiles are pink, and the curtains are colored stripes. "I like contrast." Chen Gang said, "When you collide, there is a spark, which is attractive." Chen Gang sat in a chair, wearing a red plaid shirt and a meticulous hairstyle.
A corner of Chen Gang's studio, photographed by Wu Tong
Two years ago, at his "Years of Glory" concert, he wore a "Hermès orange" on stage. "Whoever says that a composer should be sloppy and make himself look like he has been weathered, I just like to be young and fashionable."
The general score of "Love Death" has just been published, and the design has been "shot" by Chen Gang for several drafts. The cumbersome patterns were removed, and only gold characters on a green background were used, and simple color collisions were used. "Gold is very suitable for Yang Guifei. As for this green, it symbolizes the evergreen of love. ”
Musically, "Love" is also a kind of collision - Kunqu meets symphony. Ten years ago, Chen Gang thought of writing a oratorio with Yang Guifei as the theme. Inspired by italian composer Menotti's Telephone, the heroine looks back on the stage in the form of a phone call. "It turns out that a person can also perform opera. I thought of the scene of Yang Guifei recalling her life in Ma Songpo before she died. ”
The idea has been for several years, and it has not been written, until she and the Kunqu opera actor Shen Yunli have cooperated with the "Opera Style Trio", "Sister Lin Fell from the Sky", "Frightening Dream", "Miss on the Tricycle", and the eyebrows of "Love" have gradually become clear. Kunqu opera is exquisite and tasteful, the symphony is grand and expressive, and he wants to let the Kunqu cross-border symphony compose a Yang Guifei who combines Chinese and Western and blends ancient and modern.
Last year, Chen Gang's symphonic poem "Love Death - Neon Dress Li Song Yang Guifei" was premiered by Jiang Diwen
Looking back, as early as the cattle shed years, Chen Gang planted the seeds of Kunqu opera in his heart. At that time, he secretly went to visit the Kunqu performance artist Yu Zhenfei and played the only Kunqu opera brand he was familiar with on a piano in his dark room. "I said, Uncle Yu, Kunqu is so beautiful, one day I will combine Kunqu and symphony."
In addition to the prelude and epilogue, "Love Death" is divided into three parts, namely dance feast, surprise change, and burial of jade. The dance banquet is yun wants to dress and flowers, and the two are happy with each other; the shock is that the storm is steep, Chen Gang uses many modern composition techniques to express the battlefield, showing the panic, helplessness, and pain in the heart of the noble concubine; burying the jade is the most heart-wrenching, Chen Gang uses the tune of the Kunqu opera song "Ji Xianbin", which is a sad bass and a monologue before death.
In "Love Death", Shen Yun Lishe went to a beautiful costume and a beautiful figure, transformed into an "instrument", and only used music to convey emotions. Yang Guifei said goodbye to Emperor Tang Ming, and the band went to a climax, and she pronounced "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, Sanlang" in pain. At the end, the percussionist punches the gong with all his strength, making the audience wake up like a dream.
Last year, Chen Gang's symphonic poem "Love Death - Neon Dress Li Song Yang Guifei" was premiered in the world by Jiang Diwen
There is no emotion in music, and it will eventually be replaced by artificial intelligence
Having written Zhu Yingtai, Wang Zhaojun, and Yang Guifei, someone asked Chen Gang: How do you always write about ancient women?
Chen Gang quoted the composer Wagner as saying: Women are the music in life. Women's integration of love and beauty is an eternal topic of art. "Liang Zhu is the pure love of youth, Wang Zhaojun is affectionate, and Yang Guifei is compassionate, and they show different levels of love and beauty."
He recalled that when he wrote "Liang Zhu", he was only 24 years old and had blank love experience. "Zhu Yingtai is my love, imaginary love."
Premiered in Shanghai in 1986 by Japanese violinist Takako Nishizaki, Wang Zhaojun is known as the sister piece to Liang Zhu, and will be performed by violinist Huang Mengla. Wang Zhaojun in Chen Gang's mind is more profound, conveying a great love that has gone through the ups and downs of life.
And "Love Death" is not only written about Yang Guifei's love and hatred, Chen Gang hopes that it can surpass Yang Guifei and convey compassion for human beings, a feeling of "thinking of heaven and earth slowly, alone but weeping".
Chen Gang took the general score of "Love Death" gu kai photographed
A "love" word runs through the whole of Chen Gang's creative career. "Creation is inseparable from love, ruthless is not happy, ruthless is unwritten." In the Early 1980s in the United States, he was invited to listen to a concert of contemporary works. He praised the concert for enriching the sound palette, but questioned the composer's inability to hear his inner voice when he was led by the nose by skill. "Marx made us wary of 'human alienation', for composers, not to be controlled by skill, to express true feelings, to accept feedback from the audience."
Nowadays, artificial intelligence is more and more developed, and it can write music of various genres in a very short period of time. "How can musicians not be robbed of their jobs by artificial intelligence? Probably in the end, it depends on Beethoven's so-called 'heart to heart'. Chen Gang said. He highly admired the words written by Fu Lei to his son Fu Cong: "The first person is to be a man, the second to be an artist, the third to be a musician, and finally to be a pianist." He said that a composer's life is nothing more than "knowing yourself, discovering yourself, and expressing yourself."
He recalls the great classics, the works that often shake him, and they are full of "inner voices". When he lost his dignity and personality during the Cultural Revolution, he closed the door to listen to Mahler's Fourth Symphony. Its slow movement was listened to over and over again, comforted in it, and lifted itself up from the quagmire of life. This is the relationship between music and life. ”
Huang Mengla performed the violin concerto "Wang Zhaojun" courtesy of the interviewee
Chen Gang, 85, is still writing. During the epidemic, he created a series of works for Huang Mengla and his string quartet, which he looked forward to being staged, tested by the audience, tested by time.
"The only criterion for judging works is time, and I hope that my works will live longer than me."
Column Editor-in-Chief: Shi Chenlu Text Editor: Shi Chenlu
Source: Author: Wu Tong