My “Lilac”
When I raised my head out of the swimming pool, Rachmaninoff’s “Lilacs” (Lilacs) was being played on the shore, and it happened to be that cadenza, a few “vibrato” condensed on the branches, in the breeze The gently blowing flower branches swayed, and finally a string of crystal dewdrops fell. I couldn’t help shaking my hair subconsciously. In the hot summer vacation, if you can hear such cool music early in the morning, you will feel refreshed throughout the day.
If I remember correctly, the first time I was touched by Rachmaninoff’s music was when I was watching the movie “White Night”.
This poignant story has its metaphors, but my attention was drawn to the soundtrack, which is Rachmaninoff’s romance “Mélodie” from beginning to end. At that time, I was only a student at the High School Affiliated to Shanghai Conservatory of Music, and I was not able to analyze the advantages of this work to others as I did later. Only relying on the simple motivation of two progressive levels, the composer wrote all the warmth and melancholy in his heart, showing a kind of leisurely expectation, which developed into a call of the soul… In short, it is not like Chai Ke at all. Fowski, a triplet as soon as the climax is reached, and a big cymbal at the end.
Coincidentally, I sang a lot of opera arias and art songs in the solfeggio class at that time. We like Mozart’s innocence, Verdi’s emotion, Schumann’s poetry, Liszt’s sadness… but Rachmaninoff fascinates me the most.
The heroine in the illustration of the novel “White Nights”
Listen to that “Spring Waters”! The shocking waves on the piano! Then a series of chromatic scales with pleated lace slowly ascended, injecting the composer’s delicate emotions into the operation, allowing you to see the spring water soaking in the woodland along the river slowly rising, and allowing you to hear the sound of the ice breaking. The sound, the cold wind whizzed away gradually… Finally, the horn of life resounded throughout the world: spring is here! A series of slow unisons followed, eliciting the soft phrase “Wait for the season when the spring is warm and the flowers are blooming”. It always makes me feel that I am walking in a lush orchard, and from time to time I push away the dense flower branches in front of me, and the slightly fragrant breeze blows into my nostrils… The reason why this work of
Rachmaninoff is so shocking is that I read it a few years later The words in the book are completely understandable, because it expresses the beauty of life in detail: you must know that this world belongs to life. Whether it is everything in nature or all works of art, as long as it conforms to the characteristics of life, as long as it shows its endless growth power, even non-biological objects such as the movement of the stars, the cycle of the four seasons, the waves of the sea, and the spring tide The hustle and bustle is all beautiful.
Our sight-singing teacher, Mr. Kindness, is an authentic “Lach” fan. He let us sing a lot of his romantic songs, and brought us into “Lach” fans. Mr. Kind Heart also likes to discuss with us some issues beyond the content of the course. “Do you know the flower language of lilac?” At that time, everyone heard the word “flower language” for the first time, and they couldn’t help but looked at each other for a while. “It hides memories of first love,” she explains. And the pentatonic scale in Western music often has a kind of emotionless detachment. Many years later, I watched a feature film about Rachmaninoff’s early life, also titled Lilac. So what does the superimposition of lilac flowers and pentatonic tones mean? We don’t know.
Afterwards, the kind teacher took us to sing the song “Do Not Sing, My Beauty” (Do Not Sing, My Beauty) written based on Pushkin’s short poem, and then asked: “Why does this song suddenly end with a strong voice after the diminution?” What about the end of playing the chords?” I blurted out: “That’s ‘Careful to draw at the end of the song, the four strings sound like a cracking silk’!” She thought for a while, and said softly to herself: “That’s true.” Then he said that it would be very interesting to explore all the beauty that touches our hearts.
This sentence has kept me in my memory for a lifetime, but it took me a long time to realize some truths: since life is dynamic, the aesthetic feeling that comes with life must also be dynamic. Although that kind of feeling makes the spirit happy, when you realize that this is beauty, this moment has become a thing of the past. So it is impossible for Faust to suspend this moment. Thinking of this truth, I also understand why Rachmaninoff said: “I am in love with my depression.”
Simply put, sentimentality, melancholy, and loss seem to be negative energy. In essence, this is all nostalgia for “beauty”, which is probably the old saying “although you can’t reach it, you yearn for it”. Therefore, although Rachmaninoff’s “Voice Practice” makes people feel a little pain when listening to it, it is incomparably beautiful.
Of course, Rachmaninoff’s melancholy also contains uneasiness about fate, anxiety and fear of death, always reminding people to be vigilant against the evil of fate.
In any case, how could it be easier to listen to a work then than it is now, be it beautiful, melancholy or apprehensive? Out of my love for his works, I insisted on browsing his “Prelude” and “A Collection of Music and Paintings” one by one. These classic works have provided me with many kinds of emotional models, let me know what is “sorrowful” and what is “glamorous”, let me appreciate the “worldly carnival” that is empty for thousands of people, feel the “clear dawn with tears” in Shakespeare’s poems, and experience the The “heart surge” that Byron said made the chest burst…
During the time in the United States, I would dream of going back to Shanghai at night, crossing Fuxing Road to buy something in the small shop opposite. Suddenly the major key changed to a minor key: “Ah, that’s a dream.” Standing behind me, Rachmaninoff said dejectedly.
I know, my life is over. My life has been locked up by his music, and I can’t get out. Just like a dreamer, although he has kindness and fantasy, what great things can he accomplish? But thinking about it the other way around, if abstract sounds must be used to express the world’s scenery and human emotions, isn’t it just the various orders composed of these high and low speeds, weights and thicknesses? The various models formed from this are the emotional concepts that Susan Langer said. No wonder Bach’s “Twelve Well-Tempered Piano Music Collection” can be hailed as the “Encyclopedia of Baroque Life”. .
In the traditional aesthetic art world, no one can do without such a model. It should not only be a symbol of one’s own emotions, but also a bond of interpersonal relationships. As Marx said, with the singing of “The Internationale”, workers can find their comrades in arms all over the world. And I have found many bosom friends with Rachmaninoff’s music.
When I was living in Los Angeles, one day I went to a piano shop owned by a Taiwanese compatriot to choose a piano. When I opened the piano cover in the shop, I played Rachmaninoff’s “Second Piano Concerto”. Unexpectedly, the manager Mike happened to be a “Lah” fan. He said that he used to hear the sound of the piano test in the office, which was “Little Star Variations”. I accompany. At that time, I hadn’t seen anything like this that could play string long notes as a harmonic fill in the orchestra. Meko and I played very well, and because of this, we got to know each other and became close friends.
On a rare cloudy day in Los Angeles, Mike drove me to Beverly Hills for a ride, and waited until the rain lightly hit the roof of the car before finding a quiet place to stop and listen to the rain.
”I know, it’s the word ‘nostalgia’ for the first time,” he said, “listen to some music, I have any Rachmaninoff works you want to hear in the car.” “Then
play A “Lilac”.”
McCoy smiled, “Missing your youth favorite!” he said.
”Yes, the first love of my youth was music, Rachmaninoff.”
