Latest Publications

Bizet: Toréador Song

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Bizet – Toréador Song – “Carmen” (1875)

I got this song when I was in college in Beijing, and it’s been in my computer/portable disk ever since. This fantastic rendition sounds like a more modern version of the song, although I do not have more detailed information about the production or who the musicians/performers are…thanks to China’s sloppy copyright protection. But would certainly love to learn about the contributors someday!!

Filippa Giordano: Habanera

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Filippa Giordano – Carmen: Habanera – “Filippa Giordano” (2000)

[from Amazon]

Audio CD (July 11, 2000)
Number of Discs: 1
Label: Atlantic / Wea

On this CD:

1. Norma, opera Casta Diva  圣洁的女神
Composed by Vincenzo Bellini
Performed by London Session Orchestra
with Celso Valli, Filippa Giordano

2. Samson et Dalila, opera in 3 acts, Op. 47 S’apre per te il mio cuor  我的心为你开启
Composed by Camille Saint-Saens
Performed by London Session Orchestra
with Filippa Giordano

3. Tosca, opera Vissi d’arte  为了艺术为了爱
Composed by Giacomo Puccini
Performed by London Session Orchestra
with Celso Valli, Filippa Giordano

4. Carmen, opéra-comique in 4 acts Habanera  哈巴奈拉
Composed by Georges Bizet
Performed by London Session Orchestra
with Celso Valli, Filippa Giordano

5. Gianni Schicchi, opera O mio babbino caro  我亲爱的爸爸
Composed by Giacomo Puccini
Performed by London Session Orchestra
with Celso Valli, Filippa Giordano

6. Ave Maria, for voice & piano (or other vocal arrangements; after Bach’s Prelude No. 1 from the Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1)  圣母颂
Composed by Charles Gounod
Performed by London Session Orchestra
with Celso Valli, Paolo Gianolio, Filippa Giordano

7. La Traviata, opera Addio del passato  永别了,往日的美梦
Composed by Giuseppe Verdi
Performed by London Session Orchestra
with Celso Valli, Filippa Giordano

8. Lost Boys Calling  迷失男孩的呼唤[电影《海上钢琴师》The Legend of 1900主题曲]
Composed by Ennio Morricone
Performed by London Session Orchestra
with Celso Valli, Paolo Gianolio, Filippa Giordano

9. You Are The One (Sotto le stelle)  就是你
Composed by Francesco Sartori
Performed by London Session Orchestra
with Filippa Giordano

10. Dissonanze (Mondo trash)  不和谐
Composed by Francesco Sartori
Performed by London Session Orchestra
with Filippa Giordano

11. Maria (by the sea)  海边的玛丽亚
Composed by Francesco Sartori
Performed by London Session Orchestra
with Filippa Giordano

12. Norma, opera Casta Diva  圣洁的女神
Composed by Vincenzo Bellini
Performed by London Session Orchestra
with Celso Valli, Filippa Giordano

Nationality: Italian
Born: Feb 14 1974 (35 years old)

Italian songbird Filippa Giordano emerged in 1998 as one of the pop/classical crossover world’s fastest rising stars. Born in Palermo, Giordano was the youngest of a family of musicians. Her parent’s opera careers soon moved the family to Rome, where Giordano enrolled in the National Academy to study ballet. As she followed her parents from engagement to engagement, she fell in love with the world of classical voice. Simultaneously, the pop and R&B sounds coming from her radio entranced her. She began studying voice under her mother, who schooled her in both pop and operatic techniques. The young talent released her debut record in 1998, titled Passioni. The record was produced by Celso Valli and Marcio Sabiu, veterans of artists Andrea Bocelli, Laura Pausini, and Tanita Tikaram. The album’s popularity took off following a second place win at the renowned Sanremo Festival in 1999. An international version of the record was released throughout the English speaking world by Warner Classic UK. The record climbed to the top of classical charts all over the globe, achieving gold status in Australia and Japan. A series of important television appearances followed on British and Japanese TV, including the Barry More Show and Music Fair — Japan. Following Academy Awards performances (L.A.) and receiving an Echo Award for Music without Borders (Germany), Giordano returned to the studio. Her sophomore effort was released in 2002, titled Il Rosso Amore. The record announced a new phase in her career, filled with spreads in fashion magazines In Style, Gala, and Marie Claire, as well as an invitation to perform at Sanremo, this time in the celebrity category. Giordano embarked on a Mexican tour in 2005, with stops in most of the nation’s important cities. Her Spanish speaking fan base was widened with the release of her third album, Prima Donna. The record featured a number of selections written in Spanish, a gesture that did not go unnoticed. In 2006, Giordano performed for better than 8,000 fans at the Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City, followed by numerous awards and honors from Mexican cultural and political figures. Prima Donna achieved gold status in Mexico in February of 2007.

– Evan C. Gutierrez, All Music Guide

This eponymous album from the Italian singer Filippa Giordano confounds expectations. Released on the classical label Erato, Giordano mixes arias with contemporary songs such as the Ennio Morricone-Roger Waters “Lost Boys Calling” from the 1999 Golden Globe-winning movie The Legend of 1900. Using a conventional orchestra sometimes supplemented by electronic keyboards and occasional drums, the production achieves a slick and glossy chart-friendly sound that will find favor with fans of Whitney Houston and Céline Dion. Key to the album are two versions of “Casta Diva” from Bellini’s Norma, between which arias from Samson and Dalila, Tosca, Carmen, and La Traviata sit rather uncomfortably alongside several pop anthems. With the vocal flavor of Broadway and a hint of Andrew Lloyd Webber, the intention seems to be to add contemporary crossover appeal to opera in much the same way that Andrea Bocelli has done with such conspicuous success. It’s doubtful that serious opera aficionados will care much for Filippa Giordano, though music lovers in general may well find the album an attractive entry into the sometimes-forbidding world of the classical diva.

– Gary S. Dalkin

[from VeryCD.com]

专辑介绍:

这张2000年发行的首张专辑“FILIPPA GIORDANO”完整呈现Filippa Giordano多样音乐风貌,除了一举打入英国古典榜亚军,也获得德国Echo奖“Music Without Borders”殊荣,由波伽利制作人Celso Valli与Marco Sabiu〈Tanita Tikaram〉共同制作,最令人惊讶的是她那色彩浓艳且爆发力十足的好嗓子!从歌剧卡门的“Habanera”、普契尼《托斯卡》名曲“为了艺术为了爱”、《强尼史基基》咏叹调“亲爱的爸爸”乃至贝里尼《诺玛》“圣洁的女神”、威尔第《茶花女》绝望咏叹调“永别了,往日的美梦”到圣桑《参孙与达丽拉》等犹如一趟感性旅行,而电影“海上钢琴师”主题曲“Lost Boys Calling”、古诺的“圣母颂”到现代感十足的“You Are The One”显见Giordano不仅在曲目上体现跨界理想,唱腔与技法上更恣意而自我收放,毫不受限于既有成规的迟疑。最值得一提的是献给卡拉丝的创作曲 “Maria By The Sea”,Giordano挥洒其生命力唱腔,感人肺腑至深。

首张专辑在英国、中美洲、亚洲、欧洲和澳洲等不同地区,销售已逾五十万张。这位义大利新世纪绝美女伶初登场作品仿佛为音乐画上自己最深刻心爱的彩妆,让每一首曲子万种风情起来,特别是她独特灵魂韵味唱腔诠释更令人倾倒不已!

Filippa Giordano是近年来出名的女歌手,走“跨界”路线,她有着训练有素的意大利歌剧美声功底,宽广的音域和优雅华丽的气质,一开口便很容易让您想到芭桃丽和迪-卡娜娃等最正宗的女高音;但她没有一个劲地拿腔拿调,楚楚动人的娇媚风韵酷似莎拉-布莱曼,出自天边,陶醉人间;突然,那浓艳的脂粉褪尽,显现出了娜娜-莫斯柯丽般的宜人和清越;转入中音区时,您会发现她的气声发音竟像是劳拉-费琪在吟唱,有着拉丁爵士猫一般的性感;若要转去自然直接的感染力,她的声音又可一下子切换成了民歌天后琼-贝兹,带出爽朗通透的质感;当需要表现野性的时候,玛丽亚-凯丽式的恣意又会闪现在您面前;等到激情骤起,那声音更象极了席琳-狄翁,一冲而上,迸发出酣畅淋漓的张力。

Filippa Giordano二十八年前西方情人节出生于义大利巴勒摩,来自传统悠久、丰富的音乐世家。这部份解释她的音乐天赋。Filippa Giordano靠着首张同名专辑,让大众知道她这号人物,新专辑“赤爱”亦是延续她古典-现代融合的主题特色。

尽管她的家人音乐家为数众多─吟唱西西里歌谣手(祖父)、古典钢琴家(阿姨)、米兰史卡拉歌剧院合唱团员(叔父)、大提琴/指挥家(哥哥)、男中音(父亲),以及次女高音(母亲)─令人讶异的,是Filippa Giordano十三岁时反而对演唱流行歌曲有较大的兴趣,如她的偶像麦当娜、乔治.迈可和惠特妮.休斯顿。

不过,长大于歌剧世界的Filippa Giordano也渐渐爱上它。“那音乐太吸引人了,布景壮丽而戏服华美,”她说。不过,她觉得歌剧演唱家太受角色限制,反而更倾心于流行歌手较随性自然的演出。

Filippa Giordano的转捩点是与义大利流行音乐界的领航者,凯特琳娜.卡赛里(Caterina Casell )相遇。卡赛里将Filippa Giordano以古典和流行两种方式演唱浦契尼歌剧《托丝卡》“为艺术而活” (Vissi d’Arte),与贝利尼歌剧《诺玛》“圣洁女神” (Casta Diva) 的录音带,寄给知名的大卫.佛斯特。佛斯特为之慑服。

Michael Jackson: You Are Not Alone

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Michael Jackson – You Are Not Alone – HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I (1995)

Another day has gone
I’m still all alone
How could this be
You’re not here with me
You never said goodbye
Someone tell me why
Did you have to go
And leave my world so cold

Everyday I sit and ask myself
How did love slip away
Something whispers in my ear and says
That you are not alone
For I am here with you
Though you’re far away
I am here to stay

But you are not alone
For I am here with you
Though we’re far apart
You’re always in my heart
But you are not alone

‘Lone, ‘lone
Why, ‘lone

Just the other night
I thought I heard you cry
Asking me to come
And hold you in my arms
I can hear your prayers
Your burdens I will bear
But first I need your hand
Then forever can begin

Everyday I sit and ask myself
How did love slip away
Something whispers in my ear and says
That you are not alone
For I am here with you
Though you’re far away
I am here to stay

For you are not alone
For I am here with you
Though we’re far apart
You’re always in my heart
For you are not alone

Whisper three words and I’ll come runnin’
And girl you know that I’ll be there
I’ll be there

You are not alone
For I am here with you
Though you’re far away
I am here to stay
For you are not alone
For I am here with you
Though we’re far apart
You’re always in my heart

For you are not alone
For I am here with you
Though you’re far away
I am here to stay

For you are not alone
For I am here with you
Though we’re far apart
You’re always in my heart

For you are not alone…

彭羚:囚鸟

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

彭羚 – 囚鸟 – 《囚鸟》(1996)

我是被你囚禁的鸟
已经忘了天有多高
如果离开你给我的小小城堡
不知还有谁能依靠

我是被你囚禁的鸟
得到的爱越来越少
看着你的笑在别人眼中燃烧
我却要不到一个拥抱

我像是一个你可有可无的影子
冷冷地看着你说谎的样子
这撩乱的城市
容不下我的痴
是什么让你这样迷恋这样的放肆

我像是一个你可有可无的影子
和寂寞交换着悲伤的心事
对爱无计可施
这无味的日子
眼泪是唯一的奢侈

专辑介绍:

彭羚,那个唱着“囚鸟”的幽怨女子,有着一副纤细婉转干净的声线。1996出版第三张国语专辑『囚鸟』。 这首专辑的标题作品,无疑也是彭羚所有国语歌曲中流传最广的一首。张宇和十一郎两夫妇真是为彭羚送上了一份厚礼,只是恐怕连他们自己也没想到,这份礼物越到后来才越显得它的沉重。“我像是一个你可有可无的影子,冷冷的看着你说谎的样子。这撩乱的城市容不下我的痴,是什么让你这样迷恋这样的放肆?”这样一个“都市怨妇”的形象,是经典,也是彭羚迟迟突破不了的桎梏。这首歌流畅的旋律,哀怨的歌词,尤其是彭羚张弛有力的亮丽高音,都给人留下了深刻的印象。尽管我从不认为这是彭羚最好的国语作品,但它的确是彭羚最有代表性的国语歌曲。

九十年代中后期,彭羚在香港歌坛已稳踞”天后”位置,当时因为林忆莲专注於海外发展,叶茜文为緋闻所困扰,故为彭羚在香港歌坛地位的提升创造了良好的机遇,但她自身良好的演唱实力也是一个很关键的因素。

从艺多年来彭羚的歌艺已得到广泛的肯定,在香港歌坛的地位也已得到确立。但隐约觉得她的音乐发展已到瓶颈地段,音乐风格少有突破。如果老是裹足不前的话,她的处境会不妙的。因为陈慧琳的走红对王菲和彭羚都是一种挑战。

囚鸟专辑的创作制作班底可谓阵容坚强。黄舒骏任音乐总监,张宇、马兆骏、王文清任制作人,参与词曲创作的有张宇、十一郎、何啟弘、陈志远、巫啟贤、袁惟仁、马兆骏、姚谦等班高手,可以说代表了目前臺湾流行乐坛最高的水準。

囚鸟专辑的音乐风格颇为统一,彭羚的演唱细腻感人,歌曲的录音制作也颇为精良。喜欢彭羚的朋友照单全收就是了。

囚鸟专辑可见台湾唱片制作的优缺点:雅致、细腻但却平淡、雷同。音乐个性、时代感和流行意识的欠奉,是台湾流行音乐的致命弱点。

专辑曲目:

01. 囚鸟
02. 连回忆都不给我吗?
03. 贪心
04. 嫉妒
05. 如梦初醒
06. 泪尽
07. 安慰
08. 天使
09. 感谢你用心爱我
10. 堕落

Tchaikovsky: Waltz of the Flowers, from “The Nutcracker”

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Waltz of the Flowers – “The Nutcracker” (1892)

Adapted from Wikipedia:

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 – 1893), often called Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky in English, was a Russian composer of the Romantic era. As his style developed, Tchaikovsky wrote music across a range of genres, including symphony, opera, ballet, instrumental, chamber and song. He wrote some of the most popular concert and theatrical music in the current classical repertoire, including the ballets Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker, the 1812 Overture, his First Piano Concerto, his last three numbered symphonies, and the opera Eugene Onegin.

Tchaikovsky was born into a middle-class family. His education prepared him for a career as a civil servant, despite the musical precocity he had demonstrated. Against the wishes of his family he chose to pursue a musical career, and in 1862 entered the St Petersburg Conservatory, graduating in 1865. This formal, Western-oriented training set him apart, musically, from the contemporary nationalistic movement embodied by the group of young Russian composers known as “the Five”, with whom Tchaikovsky sustained a mixed professional relationship throughout his career.

Although he enjoyed many popular successes, he was never emotionally secure, and his life was punctuated by personal crises and periods of depression. Contributory factors were his suppressed homosexuality and fear of exposure, his disastrous marriage, and the sudden collapse of the one enduring relationship of his adult life, his 13-year association with the wealthy widow Nadezhda von Meck. Amid private turmoil Tchaikovsky’s public reputation grew; he was honored by the Tsar, awarded a lifetime pension and lauded in the concert halls of the world. His sudden death at the age of 53 is generally ascribed to cholera, but some attribute it to suicide.

Although enduringly popular with concert audiences across the world, Tchaikovsky has at times been judged harshly by critics, musicians and composers. However, his reputation as a significant composer is now generally regarded as secure. In the early and mid-20th century, Western critics dismissed his music as vulgar and lacking in elevated thought, but this disdain has largely dissipated.

*

The Nutcracker, Op. 71, is a fairy tale-ballet in two acts and three scenes. Alexandre Dumas père’s adaptation of the story “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” by E. T. A. Hoffmann was commissioned by the director of the Imperial Theatres Ivan Vsevolozhsky in 1891, set to music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1891–92, and staged by Marius Petipa. The plot of Hoffmann’s story is much more complex than that of the ballet; it contains a flashback story within its plot entitled The Tale of the Hard Nut, explaining how the Prince was turned into the Nutcracker. In Hoffmann’s original version, the heroine Marie’s adventures with the toys and with the Nutcracker are not a dream, and at the end she marries the Nutcracker / Prince.

In Western countries, The Nutcracker has become perhaps the most popular of all ballets, performed primarily in the Christmas season.

Tchaikovsky made a selection of eight of the numbers from the ballet before the ballet’s December 1892 premiere, forming The Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a, intended for concert performance. The suite was first performed, under the composer’s direction, on 19 March 1892 at an assembly of the St. Petersburg branch of the Musical Society. The suite became instantly popular (according to Men of Music “every number had to be repeated”), but the complete ballet did not begin to achieve its great popularity until around the mid-1950s.

Among other things, the score of The Nutcracker is noted for its use of the celesta, an instrument that the composer had already employed in his much lesser known symphonic ballad The Voyevoda (premiered 1891). Although well-known in The Nutcracker as the featured solo instrument in the “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” from Act II, it is employed elsewhere in the same act.

Alicia Keys: No One

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Alicia Keys – No One – “As I Am ” (2007)

I just want you close
Where you can stay forever
You can be sure
That it will only get better

You and me together
Through the days and nights
I don’t worry ’cause
Everything’s going to be alright
People keep talking they can say what they like
But all i know is everything’s going to be alright

No one, no one, no one
Can get in the way of what I’m feeling
No one, no one, no one
Can get in the way of what I feel for you, you, you
Can get in the way of what I feel for you

When the rain is pouring down
And my heart is hurting
You will always be around
This I know for certain

You and me together
Through the days and nights
I don’t worry ’cause
Everything’s going to be alright
People keep talking they can say what they like
But all i know is everything’s going to be alright

No one, no one, no one
Can get in the way of what I’m feeling
No one, no one, no one
Can get in the way of what I feel for you, you, you
Can get in the way of what I feel

I know some people search the world
To find something like what we have
I know people will try try to divide something so real
So till the end of time I’m telling you there ain’t no one

No one, no one, no one
Can get in the way of what I’m feeling
No one, no one, no one
Can get in the way of what I feel for you, you, you
Can get in the way of what I feel for you

oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh

王立平:红楼梦 引子

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

王立平 – 红楼梦 引子
Wang Liping – Dream of the Red Chamber: Overture

36集电视连续剧《红楼梦》(1987)原声带

作词:曹雪芹
作曲:王立平
演唱:陈力 王洁实 叶矛
中国电影乐团合唱队
演奏:中国电影乐团
指挥:赵宝昌
录音监制:王立平
音乐录音:寇淳 徐伟胜
音乐编辑:郭融融
录制时间:1987年
录制出版:中国电影出版社
海外发行:新加坡ALSHIRE(爱销私人)有限公司

专辑曲目:

01 – 晴雯歌 3:23″
02 – 聪明累 2:57″
03 – 葬花吟 6:03″
04 – 秋窗风雨夕 4:24″
05 – 枉凝眉 2:55″
06 – 紫菱洲歌 2:22″
07 – 叹香菱 3:17″
08 – 红豆曲 4:35″
09 – 引子 4:24″
10 – 题帕三绝 3:40″
11 – 分骨肉 4:47″
12 – 好了歌 1:33

关于歌手陈力

(引用自倾情无痕 http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_562abf93010005e7.html)

陈力,一个87版《红楼梦》音乐中脱颖而出的女歌手。可从未料到,《红楼梦》竟也成了她的绝版。自此之后,从未听说关于她的任何消息。《枉凝楣》《葬花吟》等《红楼梦》中所有词曲均为王立平所作,我自认为堪称千古绝唱。用康震教授评价苏轼-《水调歌头》的话讲就是“什么是千古绝唱?他唱完了,你们世人谁都别再唱了,这就是千古绝唱!”先说那段合唱之前的前奏,短促但是韵味十足,恰似漫天飞雪,扑面而来,飘零纷散···继而起之的小合唱在此情景上自然的流露:“花谢花飞飞满天,红销香断有谁怜,游丝软系飘春榭,落絮轻沾扑绣帘”。在余音绕梁中,陈力的轻盈飘逸,净脆婉转的独唱幽怨而起,随着黯然真情的“天尽头,何处有香丘?”的反复歌唱将整曲推向高潮···曹雪芹的绝品填词,王立平的淋漓之音,陈力的动情表达,构成了“黛玉葬花”经典一幕的背景。

在此还要提到一个关于陈力演唱《葬花吟》的小秘密:那段小合唱据说全是陈力一人所唱,为了达到音色的一致和立体声效,当然也有当时音乐设备并不完善和先进的原因。她一个人将七人小合唱反复唱了七遍,每次微小的时差构成了后来大家所听到的立体声女生小合唱。那种时差的掌握若是稍有疏忽,就要重新录制,如此的精湛技艺和敬业精神真令人折服。

《红楼梦》电视剧已经看过很多遍了,每次放假回家都要重温一遍,熟悉到每个场景,每段对白,每段插曲···黛玉葬花更是经典之一。正是《葬花吟》的插曲为其锦上添花,令人爱之至深。也发现了这样一个有意思的细节:有些地方台为了延长广告时间,有时候会将电视剧卡短,可是黛玉葬花这一场景恰在该集集末,且陈力的《葬花吟》歌唱长达5分钟,但是没有任何一个地方台包括中央台的《红楼梦》精缩版会卡掉这一段,因而,这一集总是完整的。这正是世人对经典的认同。因而陈力的歌声也总是一遍又一遍响溢耳畔…

但是令人不解的是,这样一个优秀的歌手,《红楼梦》以后,几乎隐匿人间,再无任何其人的音乐动向,可惜可叹。正如我对李娜的始终未能忘情,前段时间,李娜的尼姑照片公诸于众,看着那么清秀的削发的李娜,只是难辨其味,难解其由。细想之,李娜的每首歌都唱的那么动情,尤其《流泪的紫蝶》专辑,如泣如诉,哀怨之至,如受重创,想来她的这种选择必是有其缘由,情愿也罢,不得已也罢,总是一种归宿。

至此,只能默默为陈力祝福,我已将其绝美声音收藏完好,并铭刻于心。作为对这样一位昙花一现的优秀女歌手的纪念吧。

Mozart: Serenade No. 13 for strings in G major – Allegro

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Mozart: Serenade No. 13 for strings in G major – Allegro (1787)

莫扎特:G大调弦乐小夜曲第一乐章

The short bio and intro to the Serenade are adapted from Wikipedia.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music. He is among the most enduringly popular of classical composers.

Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood in Salzburg. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty; at 17 he was engaged as a court musician in Salzburg, but grew restless and traveled in search of a better position, always composing abundantly. While visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He chose to stay in the capital, where he achieved fame but little financial security. During his final years in Vienna, he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and the Requiem. The circumstances of his early death have been much mythologized. He was survived by his wife Constanze and two sons.

Mozart learned voraciously from others, and developed a brilliance and maturity of style that encompassed the light and graceful along with the dark and passionate—the whole informed by a vision of humanity “redeemed through art, forgiven, and reconciled with nature and the absolute.” His influence on subsequent Western art music is profound. Beethoven wrote his own early compositions in the shadow of Mozart, of whom Joseph Haydn wrote that “posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years.”

*

The Serenade No. 13 for strings in G major, K. 525 was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1787. The work is more commonly known by the title Eine kleine Nachtmusik. In German this means “a little serenade”, though it is often rendered more literally but less accurately as “a little night music.” The work is written for a chamber ensemble of two violins, viola, and cello with optional double bass, but is often performed by string orchestras.

This first movement is in Sonata Allegro form, which aggressively ascends in a Mannheim rocket theme. The second theme is more graceful and in D major, the dominant key of G major. The exposition closes in D major and is repeated. The development section begins on D major and touches on D minor and C major before the work returns to G major for the recapitulation — a repetition of the exposition with both subjects in the same key, as is conventional. During the recapitulation, it is in G major with the primary themes from the exposition playing. The movement ends in its tonic key, G major.

林海、蔣彥:琵琶語

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

林海、蔣彥 – 琵琶語 – 《琵琶相》(2003)

You can also watch the video clip here:

专辑介绍

回流时光
沧沧茫茫女声幽幽唱
琴声铮铮流转琵琶说尽红尘事
三千年来众生相

琵琶,东方文化中渊远流传的乐器,早在秦朝就已经出现。因为清亮的音色和丰富的表现力,逐渐从伴奏乐器,成为独奏,称之为‘金石之声’。

当一个古典音乐迷听到马友友忘情地演奏JAZZ音乐,又或者当流行乐迷听到迈克-鲍顿大唱《今夜无人入睡》时,所得到的震撼往往比”本行音乐家”的演绎更让人记忆深刻。正是这样的尝试,达到了”情理之中,意料之外”的效果。

一次偶然的机会,几个朋友相约去了一次江南的周庄水乡。它的民风、情调、人文、风采,让人流连忘返。当坐在水乡茶馆里听评弹时,我有生以来第一次被琵琶的美妙音色打动了。记得从那时起,心里就有了做琵琶音乐的一种冲动。

PIANO、GUITAR、BASS、DRUMS、HARMONICA、STRINGS……等西洋乐器,混合笛子、箫、二胡、三弦等中国传统乐器,加上民族唱腔,再佐以蒙古、西藏、非洲等少数民族元素,用世界音乐、古典音乐、JAZZ、FUSION、 NEWAGE等作曲、编曲手法,把这么多的东西融合在一起,又不能听上去不伦不类,这无疑是有一定难度的。在一步步、一首首尝试着创作过程中,着实遇到了不少问题与麻烦,有时困惑、彷徨,一连几天没有什么想法;有时多种尝试都不够理想,反而不经意间跟朋友喝喝酒、聊聊天突然来了灵感,几分钟就搞定一切。

就这样不知不觉中,把最早的周庄水乡到后来的青藏高原、蒙古草原、非洲部落 江南花月夜……,甚至维也纳教堂的童声合唱都放到一张专辑里。我想,把这些平常看似不可能集合的东西会在一起,也只有在梦里和音乐里能够做到。

制作完这张唱片,第一次听成品时,坐在工作室,点上一支烟,我又想起了周庄的那间茶馆,想像着如果再次坐在那里,听这张《琵琶相》,会是什么样的感觉?

感谢在整张专辑制作过程中帮助过我的朋友,期待着和朋友们坐在家里,听音乐 品茶、喝酒、聊天,那种感觉真好。

林海 北京 2003.5月

作曲家-林海
新世纪音乐家,钢琴才子同时也是创作全才,在琵琶开始流传的3000年后,要以自己的音乐才华,挑战传统,融合现代,颠覆你的琵琶印象。

琵琶手-蒋彦
1979年生,山东省济南市人,5岁开始随方锦龙老师、葛羽环老师学习琵琶,1999年考入中央音乐学院,师事李光华教授,在校期间担任了两年中国青年民族管弦乐团琵琶首席,2001年获学校选拔赴日代表中国参加日本国际室内乐比赛,并荣获特别优秀奖。

曲目解说

1 踏古     节奏感很强的非洲鼓作开场,极具新意及震撼力
2 琵琶语    “低眉信手续续弹,说尽心中无限事。”周庄水上的琵琶声搭配钢琴,撩拨无尽心上事
3 凡人歌    挑战传统的精致作品,人声仿鼓、Bass及打击乐,颠覆琵琶印象
4 秋月夜    乐曲一开始由琵琶独奏,慢慢由箫铺陈秋夜宁静
5 对歌     蒙古草原上的长调,表现壮阔的边疆风情
6 渡,红尘   钢琴是水流,琵琶弹奏了红尘事
7 欢沁     擅长说情的琵琶也可以这样轻巧,绝对令人惊艳的一曲
8 暮色     弦乐像是暮色一层层,点缀琵琶美得像幅画
9 反璞     就像童声一般,乐曲中琵琶唱出纯真的音色
10 声声思   口风琴表现思念的惆怅,琵琶仿曼陀林
11 探寻    西藏民歌配搭琵琶,有着峰回路转之美
12 弄云    琵琶高音袅绕,缓缓飘窜白云里。

Corinne Bailey Rae: Put Your Records On

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Corinne Bailey Rae – Put Your Records On – “Corinne Bailey Rae” (2006)

Three little birds, sat on my window.
And they told me I don’t need to worry.
Summer came like cinnamon
So sweet,
Little girls double-dutch on the concrete.

Maybe sometimes, we’ve got it wrong, but it’s alright
The more things seem to change, the more they stay the same
Oh, don’t you hesitate.

Girl, put your records on, tell me your favourite song
You go ahead, let your hair down
Sapphire and faded jeans, I hope you get your dreams,
Just go ahead, let your hair down.

You’re gonna find yourself somewhere, somehow.

Blue as the sky, sunburnt and lonely,
Sipping tea in the bar by the roadside,
(just relax, just relax)
Don’t you let those other boys fool you,
Got to love that afro hair do.

Maybe sometimes, we feel afraid, but it’s alright
The more you stay the same, the more they seem to change.
Don’t you think it’s strange?

Girl, put your records on, tell me your favourite song
You go ahead, let your hair down
Sapphire and faded jeans, I hope you get your dreams,
Just go ahead, let your hair down.

You’re gonna find yourself somewhere, somehow.

‘Twas more than I could take, pity for pity’s sake
Some nights kept me awake, I thought that I was stronger
When you gonna realise, that you don’t even have to try any longer?
Do what you want to.

Girl, put your records on, tell me your favourite song
You go ahead, let your hair down
Sapphire and faded jeans, I hope you get your dreams,
Just go ahead, let your hair down.

Girl, put your records on, tell me your favourite song
You go ahead, let your hair down
Sapphire and faded jeans, I hope you get your dreams,
Just go ahead, let your hair down.

Oh, you’re gonna find yourself somewhere, somehow