Ye Xiaogang is a member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, vice chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, chairman of the Chinese Musicians Association, dean of the School of Music of the University of Chinese of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, vice chairman of the International Music Society, academician of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and chairman of the International Composition Of the Royal Northern Conservatory of Music.
General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly stressed the need to "tell the Chinese story well, spread the Chinese voice, and show the world a true, three-dimensional and comprehensive China." Telling Chinese stories and disseminating Chinese voices well is an effective way to promote the international expression of Chinese culture and the capacity building of international communication, and is an important strategic task to establish a good image of contemporary China and enhance the soft power of national culture and the influence of Chinese culture. As an important part of the treasure house of Chinese culture, music, together with other art forms, carries the profound cultural heritage of the Chinese nation and undertakes the heavy responsibility of making Chinese culture "go global". Chinese musicians have the responsibility and obligation to promote Chinese music works representing Chinese culture to the world.
Ye Xiaogang, member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, vice chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and chairman of the Chinese Musicians Association, is such a musician who is good at and persistent in telling Chinese stories with Chinese music. In his musical works that continue to appear, he reveals his humanistic thinking and highlights his feelings of home and country. Starting from the splendid Chinese culture, the common emotions of mankind and the theme of world harmony and equality, he uses a new creative method to promote his interpretation of Chinese civilization to the world, showing the world a lovely and respectable China from all directions and angles, and telling wonderful Chinese stories. "China does not lack vivid stories, but lacks the ability to tell stories." As for how to use music to tell Chinese stories well, Ye Xiaogang said: "Music creation should pay attention to the mutual promotion of grounding and tall, and the works should be both high-end and grounded, not only to create high-end works of art with international standards, but also to always bear in mind the original intention of creating for the people." ”
Ye Xiaogang came from a family of scholars and musicians, and his father, Ye Chunzhi, was one of the music pioneers in the early days of New China, working for the underground organization of the Communist Party of China in Hong Kong before the founding of New China. In the 1940s, Ye Chunzhi worked as a composer for many film companies such as Shaw Phoenix in Hong Kong, creating nearly 100 film music such as "Cuicui" and "Chang'e", and although he could not engage in music creation for more than 20 years after returning to China, his works in the last 10 years of his life spewed out and designed original music for many films such as "Hanging Curtains and Listening to the Government" and "Burning the Yuanmingyuan". Under the influence of his father, music and reading became the two most important things in Ye Xiaogang's life. He grew up reading poetry and books, especially in the classic works of Chinese history.
For Ye Xiaogang, Chinese culture is a treasure that gives him a steady stream of creative inspiration. At the age of 32, Ye Xiaogang studied at the Eastman Conservatory of Music in the United States, and with his outstanding musical achievements, he soon emerged in the Western professional music industry, but he did not linger on everything he had in the United States and resolutely chose to return to China. "I am Chinese, China's cultural background cannot be lost, and the spirit of Chinese is indispensable." Ye Xiaogang said: Only by stepping on the land of the motherland can we be steadfast in our hearts.
After returning to China, Ye Xiaogang devoted himself to integrating the creative skills of Western classical music and contemporary music with Chinese musical elements and aesthetic interests, especially in his works, adding folk instruments such as bamboo flutes and guzheng and traditional cultural elements such as poetry, Peking Opera and Sichuan opera, and creating a series of musical masterpieces with unique Chinese cultural characteristics. "These traditional cultural elements carry The chinese culture and humanistic spirit, and I want to express them in the literature and art of today's people, so that these treasures of Chinese culture can be carried forward again." Perhaps the most difficult of these is the grasp of scale and the expression of art. However, no matter what era and what art form of expression, if you want to become a classic that has been passed down for a long time, you can first of all be inseparable from the nourishment of the feelings of home and country, which is always the most important spark to stimulate the creation of art workers. "His "Will Enter the Wine" is a work composed for the recitation of the famous poems of the Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai, forming a musical expression that combines recitation, accompaniment and singing; "Seven Parts of Lin'an" is a large-scale vocal symphony composed with the words of Bai Juyi, Su Shi, Ouyang Xiu, Lu You, Wang Changling, Yang Wanli and other poems reciting poems from Hangzhou and West Lake, and the melodic materials of the works are all derived from folk songs and folk music in the Hangjiahu Plain of Zhejiang Province, so that it not only has a lofty literary artistic conception, but also has a profound Wuyue cultural heritage; "Song of Sorrow and Joy" Composed of poems by Li Shutong, the song for the first time adopts the combination of traditional Chinese rhyme and Western music, so that the audience can understand the feelings of home and country in modern China...
In addition to music creation based on traditional Chinese culture, red culture is also an important source and direction for Ye Xiaogang's creation. "My Distant Nanjing" and "Peace Sacrifice" were created by Ye Xiaogang to commemorate the compatriots who died in the Nanjing Massacre. These two works are not a hoarse indictment of that experience, nor are they the catharsis of anger, but show the contemporary sons and daughters of China's remembrance of history, remembrance and cherishing of world peace. When it comes to why these two works were created, Ye Xiaogang said: "It was sent out of complete feeling, and no one asked for tasks or requirements. Through my works, I would like to express my condolences to the compatriots killed in the Nanjing Massacre, and pray that mankind will live far away from war and peace. "Memories of Jinggang" tells the glorious history of Jinggangshan with deep feelings, praises the unswerving ideals and beliefs of revolutionary martyrs, and realizes the perfect combination of red theme and artistic expression. In the process of creation, Ye Xiaogang once went deep into Jinggang Mountain for many days, standing on the Huangyang Boundary and looking up at the distance, meditating for a long time. He pondered, "Ask the vast earth, who is the lord of the ups and downs", what kind of mood, mind and courage is it? It also reminded him of himself, a sense of national responsibility. He said to himself, "As an artist, don't I have a responsibility to show these things?" I should and must do more for our country. ”
"Teacher Ye, who has several jobs, is very busy with official duties, but he can always find time to create music, which stems from his strong sense of responsibility and mission," Yin Feng, director of the Beijing Modern Music Festival Office who has followed Ye Xiaogang for many years, told reporters, "Teacher Ye often works until two or three o'clock in the morning, and the next morning he is still energetic and devoted to a new day's work." ”
On April 29 this year, Ye Xiaogang had a new identity - the first dean of the Conservatory of Music of the University of Chinese in Hong Kong, Shenzhen. "Chinese characteristics are our biggest trump card, whether it is works, teaching achievements, academic music, Chinese characteristics must be very distinct, otherwise it cannot stand and has no roots." Ye Xiaogang looked forward, "Shenzhen is a pioneering demonstration zone of socialism with Chinese characteristics, the school to serve the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, to serve the country, we must be based in Shenzhen, facing the whole country, looking at the world, in the future to explore a different way to cultivate artistic talents, that is, to cultivate practical talents, useful to the country and society." We're just getting started and anything is possible. ”
"At the concert site, when the sound of guzheng music broke through the space, I really felt as if I looked up to the himalayan sea of clouds revealing a skylight, and in the skylight, Everest was shining on the golden mountain! This song should only be heard in heaven, and how many times on earth will it be heard. This is a listener's comment on Ye Xiaogang's work "The Light of the Himalayas", and his comments are objective and pertinent and full of literary feelings. Ye Xiaogang's musical works can always take the listener to a certain place, a certain person or a certain emotion displayed by the music, touching the depths of the soul. This stems from his years of "walking" practice. "Before the Himalayan Light was finalized, I went to Tibetan areas seven times." Ye Xiaogang said, "Artistic creation must not be made behind closed doors, and 'walking' brings me not only the source and inspiration of creation, but also ideological consciousness, vision, and even three views." ”
When creating "Peace Festival", Ye Xiaogang went deep into Nanjing and other cities in Jiangsu to collect historical materials, interview holocaust survivors, talk with them about the past years of suffering, talk about the current peaceful life, "they lifted their clothes and let me see the scars on my body." The days with his witnesses and with the people gave him a more real sense of war and peace, which made his works better resonate with his audience. In order to create "Lu Xun", Ye Xiaogang has visited Lu Xun's footprints many times, from the former residence of Lu Xun in Shaoxing to the woodcut workshop in Hongkou, Shanghai, and then to the Lu Xun Memorial Hall in Beijing. Over the years, from the northwest desert to the Lingnan mountains, from the Jiangnan water town to the snowy plateau, Ye Xiaogang has traveled all over the motherland to investigate, investigate, or collect wind and perform. It was in the process of in-depth practice that he began to think about what authentic art was. The so-called ben is to have roots. He believes that the roots of art lie on the land of the motherland and among the masses of the people. If an artist wants to grasp the fundamentals of art, he must love the land under his feet and continue to learn from the people.
"Composers need to 'bubble' in life, in a sense, good works should be 'written' with their feet." Leaving the fiery social practice, standing and muttering outside the grand theme of the times, it can only be eliminated by the times. Ye Xiaogang firmly said that the artistic life of outstanding literary and artistic workers all originates from the people, and excellent literary and artistic creations are for the people. There are technical things in music composition on the one hand, and there are also feeling things on the other hand. This feeling, that is, creative inspiration, can only be found in many cases by going deep into the local area and making friends with ordinary people.
A few years ago, on a trip to the mountains to investigate, he saw local school-age children walking for hours from the mountains to get down the mountain, and had to travel back and forth to and from school every day. Out of the professional reaction of the composer, Ye Xiaogang immediately thought of composing a school song for this school. This incident also inspired him as a music educator to seriously understand and think about aesthetic education in poor areas, and put forward a bill on cultural precision poverty alleviation at the two sessions of the National People's Congress in 2018. He suggested that aesthetic education in music and art in the Central and Western regions should be strengthened, so that more children can open the wings of imagination. At present, China's poverty alleviation battle has achieved a comprehensive victory, but he still runs for the promotion of music popularization and improves the level of aesthetic education nationwide. "Aesthetic education is an indispensable part of education for all in contemporary China, and if it is difficult for children to have access to books, music, and art, where does their cultural self-confidence come from?" He said: "Music education also has a unique function, it is a kind of values and outlook on life cultivation, if a person receives music training from a young age, he will know what things can be done and what things cannot be done, and he will understand in a subtle way that there are rules for learning music, and there are rules for being a person." Understand the rules of being a person, but also understand the way to do things, that is, diligent training, proficient in business, otherwise it is inevitable to waste schoolwork, and may even do things out of the ordinary. Even if you don't study professionally, a person who listens to music more and leaves a little space for his soul can become a better version of himself. ”
When talking about the development of Contemporary Chinese music, Ye Xiaogang said that as the chairman of the Chinese Musicians Association, he must not only practice what he preaches, go deep into life and take root in the people, but also further give play to the unity and leading role of the association, encourage and support more musicians to create more musical works that are suitable for the people to appreciate and easy to be accepted by the people by constantly going down to the grass-roots level, create excellent works worthy of the times, express songs for the people, and push the excellent literature and art of the Chinese nation to the international stage.
In order to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, Ye Xiaogang composed the symphony "Ode to Heroes", which shows the scene of the performance
As a musician with a good reputation in the world, Ye Xiaogang believes that it is his unshirkable responsibility and mission to publicize China to the world. Over the years, he has composed a large number of musical works with "Chinese characteristics", expressing and transmitting the Chinese spirit, Chinese values and Chinese strength to audiences at home and abroad. In particular, since the prelude to the "China Story" concert series tour kicked off in New York, USA in September 2013, Chinese cultural self-confidence has achieved more effective musical expression.
In 2008, Ye Xiaogang composed the piano concerto "Starlight" for the Beijing Olympic Games. At the opening ceremony, Lang Lang brilliantly interpreted the work to 3 billion viewers around the world, showing human fantasies about the starry sky and love for life, as well as the way of thinking of modern Chinese and the optimism and ambition for the future. Since then, the concerto has often appeared in international performances showcasing contemporary Chinese music to rave reviews. Ye Xiaogang said: "My music creation is often an innovative and unique form of music based on traditional Chinese music, integrated with German classical music and American contemporary music creation techniques, which cannot be found in any western musical composition." I am familiar with the musical traditions of dozens of ethnic groups in China, which form the basis of Chinese culture on the aesthetic level of my works. ”
In September 2013, the "China Story, Song of the Earth" concert was held at the Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in New York, USA. As a rule, Lincoln Center typically takes at least two years from booking to show, but the show only took seven months. This performance is also the first special concert held by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra of the United States, a mainstream symphony orchestra in the United States after the founding of new China, with three works of "Himalayan Light", "The Last Paradise" and "Song of the Earth".
This is the world premiere of Light of the Himalayas. In order to make the music more Chinese, the works add chinese national instruments such as guzheng, bamboo flute, Tibetan drum, etc., and skillfully use the standard brass instruments in Western orchestras to imitate the sound of brass trumpets, and use percussion instrument groups to create a grand symphony of music and drums, imitating the sound of chanting trumpets coming from the magnificent lama temples under the white clouds and beside the snowy mountains. "Telling the Story of China, the real Chinese elements are indispensable, Western listeners and even musicians are not very familiar with traditional Chinese instruments, but when the unique timbre is mixed into the Western orchestral performance, they immediately hear different moods, which is Chinese culture." Ye Xiaogang said.
"Song of the Earth" was created by Ye Xiaogang in 2005 based on seven Tang poems, which has the same name as the world-famous composer Gustav Mahler's "Song of the Earth", which is a musical innovation and a tribute to Mahler's creation more than a hundred years ago. As early as 1908, Mahler had composed "Song of the Earth" with the German version of seven Tang poems by Li Bai, Qian Qi, Meng Haoran and Wang Wei, which was the first time in the history of Western music creation. Limited to the level of translation at that time, the text and artistic conception of many verses in Mahler's works are far from the original poems, although to a certain extent reflect the characteristics of Chinese culture, but obviously can not be called "voice of China". When Ye Xiaogang's "Song of the Earth" was finished, the audience was first quiet for a few seconds, and then burst into warm and lasting applause. They indulged in these musical works of Chinese and Western fusion, and were deeply attracted by the "Chinese characteristics" music from the far east.
Since then, Ye Xiaogang has brought his "China Story" to audiences around the world in Saarbrücken and Munich, England, London, Edinburgh and Glasgow, France's Nantes, Poland's Bydgoszcz, Costa Rica's San Jose, Peru's Lima and other cities. In October 2017, Ye Xiaogang, together with the Deutsche Symphony Orchestra Berlin, and Chinese artists, presented the "China Story, Song of the Earth" at the Concert Hall in Berlin, Germany. "Berlin is the world's cultural powerhouse, and the Berlin Concert Hall has witnessed the performance of many historic works, and the ability to hold concerts in Berlin to tell the story of China shows that the creative ability and artistic appeal of Chinese contemporary music have been highly recognized by international counterparts." Now, after years of exploration and practice, Ye Xiaogang said that the time is ripe for Chinese music to "go global", and he will continue to follow the path of telling Chinese stories, displaying a good Chinese voice on the international stage, passing on a good Chinese image, and expressing good Chinese feelings. Near the end of the interview, he looked forward with great anticipation and affection: "I hope that through the efforts of generations of Chinese musicians, one day the most well-known artists in the world will be able to compete for performances in China." ”
(This article was published in China Discipline Inspection and Supervision Magazine, No. 21, 2021, by Cao Yali)