◎Wang Jiyan
Recently, the chamber music group Amber Quartet released the album "Mendelssohn String Quartet Works", which became the first Mendelssohn String Quartet recorded by a Chinese string quartet in the Naxos Music Library library. Portfolio. The three works included in this album not only have extraordinary significance to the musicians of the Amber Quartet, but also lead the listener to explore a little-known side of the composer Mendelssohn.
Beiqing Art Review specially invited Wang Jiyan, a scholar from the China Academy of Arts, to talk to the five performers of the Amber Quartet and the National Center for the Performing Arts sound engineer Sun Lichi to discuss multiple aspects related to the album. Their understanding and expression of music, as well as their attitude and concepts in communicating with the audience, represent the style of China's younger generation of musicians.
Interlocutor:
Ning Fangliang, teacher at the Central Conservatory of Music, first violinist of the Amber Quartet
Assistant principal of Ma Weijia National Center for the Performing Arts Orchestra, invited second violinist of the Amber Quartet
Qi Wang, associate professor at the Central Conservatory of Music, viola of the Amber Quartet
Yang Yichen Associate Professor at the Central Conservatory of Music, Amber Quartet Cello
Associate Professor at the Central Conservatory of Music, Su Yajing, Second Violin at the Amber Quartet
Sun Lichi, Recording Engineer at the National Center for the Performing Arts, Current Audio Director
A Different Mendelssohn who was ahead of his time
Beiqing Art Review: Amber Quartet Why did you choose two quartets by Mendelssohn for your first album with Naxos Records?
Ma Weijia: Mendelssohn’s name is widely known. When mentioning him, many people will think of his violin concerto and the song "On the Wings of Singing". Mendelssohn's music is noble, the melodies are beautiful and easy to listen to, and it is also very touching. But in Mendelssohn's string quartets, we may find a musician who is very different from the one we remember. There are more struggles against fate and life in music, as well as more inward expressions and philosophical thinking. For example, Opus 13 String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, whether it is the first movement, the sub-part of the second movement, or the very dramatic recitative-like beginning of the fourth movement, everyone can hear Mendel. The other side of pine. We hope that everyone will hear a different Mendelssohn, and a growing Mendelssohn. I think this is very interesting and meaningful.
Beiqing Art Review: The article "Mendelssohn, an Unsolved Mystery" in the record book is written by one of the performers, cellist Yang Yichen. It contains a refreshing view: "The Mendelssohn family are all extremely talented. A person with strong opinions. Mendelssohn's mother objected to his involvement in religious music with historical themes, and his father disapproved of admiring Beethoven. In his view, Beethoven's later works were worse. However, Mendelssohn did not Following his parents' advice, he deeply drew on the style of Beethoven's late works, such as the String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 13." In addition to the novelty of the performance, he refreshed the listener's understanding and expectations from the perspective of words, Is it also important for a new recorded version?
Yang Yichen: For me, every recording is to convey my artistic views. As a second-time creator, the performer has a dual view of art: he must not only follow his own path, but also respect the composer's original creative intention. Only when the two are in harmony can a good recording version be produced. When I first heard Mendelssohn's String Quartet in F minor, I was deeply touched by its strong tragic color, which was completely different from the Mendelssohn I had in mind. I'm curious about what the composer went through at this time? I will first understand the composer's life experience and the era he lived in, and try to analyze his psychology through his letters and some detailed records. Then you will find that music is the most honest language, and almost all the composer's experiences and emotions are written in his music.
Mendelssohn did not agree with his father's views on Beethoven's late works. In fact, at that time, Beethoven's late works, especially his six late string quartets, were too advanced products, and the public was almost a hundred years old. It was only later that these works were gradually accepted.It can be seen from this that Mendelssohn's artistic concepts were very advanced and he was not a stickler for rules. This example is enough to explain why he was so full of ideas when composing the A minor string quartet, because his thinking was not rigid imitation, but eclectic and free expression. There are many such examples, and little by little they accumulate to form a complete portrait of Mendelssohn’s character, which also forms the basis of our performance.
Slowly moved from thinking about how to play those "music" to "music"
Beiqing Art Review: Although Mendelssohn's two string quartets are not very "popular" works, there are still many recording versions . When we listen to this album, we must hope to hear a new interpretation that is different from other performances.
Ning Fangliang: In the more than 30 years since I played the piano in primary school until now, I feel like I have spent most of my time thinking about how to play those "notes" and carve out the perfect pitch, timbre, rhythm, playing method, etc. as possible. Finally, in about the 20th year of my piano studies, I slowly walked into "music" and tried to understand the composer behind the score through the music.
If you try to guess the order of creation of Mendelssohn's quartets in A minor and F minor without looking at the work numbers, it is easy to get the wrong answer. The first sentence in A minor is just like the "once" in the mouth of an octogenarian. Looking back, I always feel desolate; and at the end of the fourth movement, I was torn apart by a sense of fragility and infinite warmth. Let’s look at the F minor quartet again, rushing forward like a torrent and a tsunami, with seemingly inexhaustible power emerging. The fact is that A minor was written by an 18-year-old boy, and F minor was written on his deathbed when he was ill. When I played these two pieces, I could always feel Mendelssohn watching me with a pair of penetrating eyes.
Beiqing Art Review: After the two string quartets, there is a very short work adapted by Yang Yichen - the first "Question" of Mendelssohn's "12 Art Songs" No. 19, although it is only It lasts 1 minute and 38 seconds, but it becomes a unique and beautiful ending to this new album. How did you think about placing such an art song arrangement here?
Yang Yichen: When I was playing the A minor string quartet, I read a note on the score, to the effect that the theme of Mendelssohn's work uses the same melody as the art song "Question". This is a very important clue.
Mendelssohn's full name is Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdi, and "Felix" means happiness. When he wrote "The Question", Mendelssohn was still in the happy youth of his life. Although this work is short, it is an extremely beautiful seed. At this time, he could not predict his future life. He did not know that one day the string quartet in A minor expanded from this work would become a masterpiece in the history of music. He did not know that he would become an important music master in the European music scene. Nor would he know that 20 years later, the String Quartet in F minor he wrote would become the finale of his life.
When we truly understand Mendelssohn's life, we lament that his life is like a mystery, as bright and short as a shooting star. We couldn't bear to let this album end at the end of Mendelssohn's life, and we didn't want it to end in tragedy. So I adapted the short art song "Question" into a string quartet and put it at the end of the album to recreate the boy surrounded by happiness.
Beiqing Art Review: We found another special feature of this album. The performers are also in the production team. The executive producer is Ma Weijia, and the assistant producer and recording consultant is Su Yajing.
Su Yajing: I am very honored to be the assistant producer and recording consultant of the team this time. The challenge brought by this new identity is that I need to objectively assist the team in detail and macro control during the recording process. We hope to present the highest standards and quality in this album through the pursuit of excellence. As a recording consultant, I can better understand and feel the performers' pursuit of perfection and the efforts and efforts they put into it.
Ma Weijia: I am especially grateful to my colleagues and record companies for their trust in me. From connecting with the record company, selecting songs, to later mixing, production, and editing, it is a new identity for me. I will look at this album from a higher perspective, not just to play the piano well.
Forcibly using technology to make the sound "good" is inferior and meaningless
Beiqing Art Review: The recording of this album shows a highly clear string texture and timbre beauty from the first chord of the first song. . There is a view on recording that it can beautify the performance. The German music critic Joachim Kaiser emphasized in his "Music and Recording": "We may have overemphasized the change of the truth by recording. I have never heard of a first-class, outstanding recording made by Recorded by second-rate, mediocre artists. The level in the record cannot be obtained in a secret way, and even the most superb technology cannot change the essence." How does the recording concept or aesthetics of this album balance truth and beauty? ? In what way can we realize the realm of "beauty is truth, truth is beauty" represented by the poet Keats's poem?
Sun Lichi: I also felt the feeling that the first chord of the first song brought to people in the recording studio, so the whole process after that entered the enjoyment mode. The highly clear texture and beautiful timbre are brought about by Amber's own playing qualities - specifically, the excellent balance between various instruments, and the highly integrated and full timbre after superimposition. As a recording engineer, after hearing such an overall sound, you need to use all techniques to completely retain this harmonious quality.
Chamber music has several major features from a recording perspective. First of all, the number of people is small, so it is difficult to achieve unified sound. As long as anyone's voice seems too loud or abrupt, it will cause great damage to the overall sound and dynamics, and even reduce the perception of volume and momentum.
Secondly, the performance flaws are obviously magnified. Since there are few small instruments in chamber music, each instrument plays a very important and unique role. The different timbres and rhythms of multiple instruments will also make it difficult to achieve good pitch, balance, and contrast between strengths and weaknesses. Finally,
is difficult to edit. As long as you edit, you need to find a suitable place, but there are very few places that can completely take into account all the performers. Maybe a certain editing point is suitable for three people, but the voice of the remaining person sounds unnatural after editing there, even more obvious than the bad editing of a fully assembled symphony orchestra - this is absolutely unacceptable. Accepted. If a large section of supplementary recording is done every time, the recording time will naturally be extended, and the physical and mental consumption of the musician will increase. Therefore, chamber music recording requires musicians to be very fully prepared and highly focused throughout the recording process. At the same time, they should not be too conservative in musical performance in order to avoid making mistakes. The demands on musicians suddenly increased.
It is conceivable that these three characteristics will also cause pressure on the recording engineer.
If only the real thing is beautiful, the real thing is captured, and the beautiful moment comes from the real performance - this recording is good and truly valuable, then Amber's performance has reached this level, so Truth and beauty do not need to be balanced, they are complementary to each other. On the other hand, if the performance itself is not good, but you want to forcefully use recording technology to make the sound "good", I think this approach is inferior and meaningless. It is also extremely dangerous and will affect the audience's understanding of the performance itself. Judgment of high and low.
In the record, two people play the piano equally loudly, but when I listen to two people playing live in a concert hall, one of them has a clear and transparent voice that can be heard clearly by the audience in the last row, but the other person's voice is small and muffled. . This leads to misunderstandings about the level of the two people. You know, it is more than twice as difficult to play a violin twice as loud and still maintain the same beautiful tone. There are countless similar examples. So I say this kind of forced fraud is dangerous. Telling lies may not only distort facts, but may also pollute values.
The best ingredients only need to be cooked in the simplest way.
Beiqing Art Review: So how should the recorder grasp the scale of recording aesthetics and technology?
Sun Lichi: As a sound recordist, in order to ensure "truth and beauty", I made some professional efforts without making any fraud.Before recording, I went to Yang Yichen's house several times to listen to their rehearsals, and got a more detailed understanding of each person's voice characteristics and overall style; because what they showed during the rehearsal process was quite mature, so in my mind at that time Immediately there will be an expectation of "how to place the microphone, if this person uses such and such a microphone, the sound will be very good." The secret and the highest level of
music recording is to properly position each instrument in a suitable space and capture the music with as few microphones as possible and the most suitable microphone format. But this recording, in order to highlight their overall and each person's wonderful timbre, nearly 20 microphones were used. The sounds of some microphones were only added a little bit during the mixing, but it was enough to achieve my expression, such as MSG or Only a very small amount of syrup is enough.
compiles small musical works, but they often contain profound thoughts and emotions, and at the same time bring a sense of privacy. It's like the feeling of a person thinking deeply in front of candlelight alone in a forest cabin next to a country road under the moonlight and dark blue night sky. These characteristics are often strongly reflected in the late chamber music and solo works of great composers, such as Beethoven's late string quartets, or the last piano sonata op. great masterpiece.
Amber Quartet's works on this album are no exception. Usually Mendelssohn's works give people a sunny, youthful, beautiful and happy feeling, but the various emotions and thoughts reflected in these two quartets are so different that it is difficult to even think of them as being written by Mendelssohn at the first listen. I don’t pay too much attention to imperfections when I’m mixing, but I try to allow my emotions to flow with the music, as if I’m that person in the cabin. In this way, the actions that seem to need to be implemented happen naturally. The final mix is exactly what I wanted to achieve, an overall state where the music can have a private conversation with the listener.
The realm of "beauty is truth, truth is beauty" is actually the saying: the best ingredients only require the simplest cooking method. However, sometimes it is also very good to cook it in a luxurious way.
Beiqing Art Review: Regarding listening to chamber music, composer Richard Strauss once said: "Every layman at least understands what he is hearing when listening to a composer's poems, but when listening to a This is not the case with a Mozart string quartet." Are string quartets more difficult to understand than orchestral music, symphonies, and concertos?
Ma Weijia: I don’t think either of the two art forms is harder to understand. Both have profound repertoire and good-sounding repertoire. The symphony has a grand and rich texture, and the quartet has the characteristics of freedom, delicacy, and privacy. Just feel it with your heart. Don't think that the quartet sounds particularly difficult.
is different from the hall feeling pursued by the older generation of masters and recording works. We hope that this album will present a sense of privacy, just like the four of us performers playing for you alone in your own small indoor concert hall, far away from each other. Get up close and let the layers of details inside hit your heart. This may also be our young performers’ pursuit of vocal expression – after a busy day at work, returning home and turning on the stereo and hearing Mendelssohn’s first chord is like a concert with the four of us musicians. Alone conversation.
Integrate the deep-rooted Eastern aesthetics into the performance of Western music
Beiqing Art Review: How did the name of the Amber Quartet come about?
Ning Fangliang: “Amber” means “essence” in Latin; the violin and rosin we use also have a beautiful amber color. Although amber is the lightest organic gemstone, it can withstand tens of thousands of years of tempering.
During a tour in Denmark, Yang Yichen stopped for a long time in front of an amber shop. He suddenly asked me excitedly: Is the first two letters of Chinese English ch plus the English amber of amber a chamber music chamber? We hit it off and officially named it the "Amber Quartet", dreaming that one day the existence of the Amber Quartet would contribute to Chinese chamber music.
Beiqing Art Review: Teacher Qi Wang became an intern of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 2009. He has participated in many concert performances of this world's top orchestra, and has also played in the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and other orchestras. How do the musicians in such a world-class orchestra perform as a chamber music group?
Qi Wang: For a world-class orchestra like the Berlin Philharmonic, in addition to completing the orchestra's own work, members will also participate in a variety of performance activities, of which chamber music performances account for the vast majority. For the string part, it covers almost all chamber music art forms, such as string duo, string quartet, string quintet, etc., up to small chamber orchestra. The wind section also has rich combinations, such as the classic woodwind quintet, brass quintet, etc. There are also some unique contemporary chamber music forms, such as the world-renowned 12-cello ensemble of the Berlin Philharmonic. The quality and frequency of these performances in the form of chamber music are almost as intense as the work of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra itself.
In addition, band members also serve as visiting professors in various professional colleges and universities. So the question is, how do they complete such a heavy performance with high quality? I think it benefits from the comprehensive chamber music (music collaboration) learning and practice that each member received during their artistic studies. In traditional European classical music education, the study of chamber music is a top priority. Classical music itself is the art of cooperation, and the most classic concept of European classical music education is to help each student find his or her own position in music, thereby achieving a balance between the individual and the team in the practice of musical cooperation. This has also become the basis for top European orchestras to reflect a high degree of chamber music.
Beiqing Art Review: How does the Amber Quartet understand the positioning and value of Chinese artists in the field of classical music?
Ma Weijia: Amber Quartet is a very young Chinese chamber music group. We young Chinese musicians have not only received Western musical cultural education, but at the same time we have the delicate and free genes unique to Eastern people. How to integrate the deep-rooted Eastern aesthetic concepts into the performance of Western music is our core competitiveness, and it is also what we, as a new generation of young chamber performers in China, should show to the world stage.
