Cellist Capuçon is back.
On the evening of May 17, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra’s artist-in-residence this season, French cellist Gautier Capuçon, under the baton of conductor Ye Yongshi, presented the mainland China debut of an important work - " Distant World". In addition to challenging the "hard nut", old friend Ye Yongshi also conducted the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra to perform Chen Qigang's "Paradise Lost", Ravel's "The Tomb of Couperin" and the second suite of "Daphne et Chloé", marking the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France. On the occasion of its 60th anniversary, it will bring a French-style music night to Shanghai audiences.
The arranger of "The Distant World" is Didier, known as "the master of contemporary French composition" and a perfectionist recognized by the world. He only allowed a small part of his works to be published, and even "The Distant World," a work that has been praised by the world, was an unintentional act of self-effacement.
Didier withdrew from the music collection project to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of Symbolist poet Baudelaire because he felt it was too difficult to take on the important task. However, the composer still could not resist the poet's artistic inspiration, using "Riddle" and "Gaze" from "Flowers of Evil". "Wave", "Mirror" and "Hymn" named five movements to create "Distant World", which is known as "one of the most important cello works of the 20th century", describing what he wanted "some more abstract , a purer world”. When
first received the invitation from director Yu Long to perform this work, Capuçon was hesitant because it was too challenging. Although the two often collaborated on this concerto when Didier was alive, "I still remember the first performance was on his 90th birthday." But it is precisely because of familiarity that he cares more about the perfection of each performance, "He is undoubtedly One of the greatest composers of the 20th century, we worked together for five or six years until he passed away a few years ago. He was micromanaging and very picky, so I have no doubt that every detail he wrote was exactly what he wanted. , his colors are very typical of Didier’s style,” Capuçon told reporters in an interview.
Due to the high level of difficulty of this concerto, this performance has been highly anticipated. "When playing a concerto, the soloist usually memorizes the orchestra part as well, but this piece by Didier is impossible to memorize. It has one line here and there, a bit 'fragmented', and all the beats are messed up. It is difficult to find the classical music." There are some ‘formatting’ things in music,” a music scholar once said before the performance.
is actually quite challenging for the band, because everyone may not know what the cello is playing. This is a great test of the tacit understanding between the conductor, the orchestra and the soloist. They must work together like precision instruments to overcome difficulties in performance.
conducted "The Distant World" for the first time, and conductor Ye Yongshi did a lot of homework. Before joining the solo, Ye Yongshi rehearsed with the band for several days. "While I was familiar with the details of the score, I also listened to recordings of performances by different cellists, comparing and summarizing the difficult passages, so that I could pay more attention when adding Capuçon."
At the same time, there are many changes in the work. For the beats, Ye Yongshi will count or mark the beats, allowing the band to prepare first, while the technical issues need to be solved by the musicians themselves. To Ye Yongshi's surprise and relief, the band members' extensive practice in advance took effect, and the entire rehearsal went very smoothly.
"This was a relatively efficient rehearsal. The band that turned in was more mature than when I came here 10 years ago. They mastered some new works or unfamiliar conducting styles very quickly."
After the performance, the audience The feedback should have dispelled Capuzon's initial concerns. Even though the repertoire is extremely difficult, senior music fans are still full of praise: "In the face of a series of complicated pulling and pizzicato playing, bow striking, glissando, frequent switching of overtones, and the use of downward bowing in the weak position, Breaking the rules of rhythm, etc., Capuzon performed it in one breath, and performed it very relaxedly. The timbre was neither abruptly bright during the fortissimo nor dry during the high notes, which was enough to impress the audience. The highly melodic cello concerto is completely different.From the perspective of audience appreciation, Ye Yongshi believes that such a work with a high technical and aesthetic threshold requires the listener to bring "another pair of ears" to discover the subtle and ingenious ideas in the orchestration. "For example, the sound effects produced by the superposition of percussion instruments, harp, bass, etc. are one of the highlights of the whole song. The subtleties can only be discovered one by one by the audience."
