Alumnus Master Nieman is about to give a demonstration in person, and Fan Ning can't help but be fascinated.
But when he thought back to Bishop Mill's previous sentence, he seemed to have remembered something.
Lee Viadlin…Lee Viadlin…is this the president’s full name?
"Perhaps I need to say that I have just seen the theme." Sir Viadrin, a member of the inspection team, stood up and joked with a smile.
Several beams of light and friendly laughter floated out from the audience, including Bassani's family members in the front row. Such an atmosphere may be difficult to understand at a funeral for ordinary people, but this great poet is definitely not ordinary.
"You are only adding to their psychological pressure." Bishop Mill, who retreated to the corner of the altar, laughed, "Today is another historic moment. Our great pianist 'Li' returns to the stage.
.”
"Lee Viadlin, who guided the school, is the former pianist 'Lee'?" The audience was still silent, but many people had begun to approach each other and communicate softly.
After hearing Bishop Mill's words, Fan Ning's childhood scene that was still fresh in this world's memory was finally connected with the tall and burly figure on the stage at this moment.
At the turn of the century in the 900th year of the New Calendar, Vincent once took his 10-year-old self to listen to a shocking solo concert. The protagonist was a pianist named "Li".
He has been giving concerts for nearly 20 years. Although he was already middle-aged at that time, he still has a tall and handsome appearance and a romantic and melancholy stage temperament. In terms of playing style, he pursues an exciting style.
The dizzying and suffocating virtuoso effects: extremely fast speed, brilliant sounds, complex and profound layers, stormy octaves, explosive contrast between strengths and weaknesses... His tours are full of people, and audiences from all over the world are intoxicated.
Especially ladies and ladies from famous families.
Those ardent female admirers would scream wildly or cry endlessly when applauding between his music performances. Some people frequently fainted due to lack of oxygen at the scene, and some even removed their personal gold and silver jewelry when laying flowers at the end of the performance.
Throw it on the stage.
At the end of the last century, a more conservative music critic in the "Tioline Cultural Weekly" critically pointed out that "ladies, or ladies, gathered around him like ants gathering around desserts."
...fighting for his fallen hair, kissing the cigarette butts he smoked, and even a lady drank the hot water left in the bathtub of the hotel where he stayed..."
Now judging from the mutual confirmation of the memories of the two lives, this pianist is simply a replica of Liszt on Blue Star.
"In this world, it seems that it was after that concert that I began to clamor to formally learn piano... Well, it wasn't for that reason, it was because I was shocked by the music." Fan Ning recalled secretly.
But it was at that concert that "Li" announced his decision to withdraw from the stage without any warning, directly canceled the schedule and moved it to the next year. Fan Ning's only listening experience actually became a live witness of the explosive news.
.
Since then, the legendary pianist disappeared from public view.
Fan Ning recalled the romantic affairs of the pianist "Lee" that are still circulating today, and also thought of the complicated look on Viadrin's face when he saw the Marquise MacAdam just now.
This former soprano singer has not had any scandals. Fan Ning is inclined to believe that although Viadrin is surrounded by famous ladies and rich women, he may have been in a state of love for his junior sister or senior sister.
status.
Beside the flowers on the altar, there is a black "Boethius" nine-foot piano. Viadrin has taken a seat on the piano bench. He raised his head, looked through the piano stand, and stared at the eight notes.
A series of murals high above.
I wonder what kind of changes have occurred in the president's skills and style? Fan Ning and other audience members waited with bated breath.
In fact, such a deliberate comparison shows that the characteristics of the past can be vaguely seen from his facial features. But 13 years later, from middle age to twilight years in the ordinary sense, the president went to the office to open a restaurant, and was promoted to the Insightful One. His temperament has changed greatly.
, and more importantly, the president is still bald...
Viadlin ended his meditation on the mural, turned his gaze to the front, and at the same time raised his left hand to the piano keyboard.
The light and fast G major tuning flow flows intensively from the alto area.
Their partial constituent elements are cheerful whirling sound patterns, but the long breathing lines of each phrase run through the three-octave range, first rushing to the top, and then falling down, in a reciprocating trend.
Viadlin did not step on the pedal, which made every detail of the sound flow clear and clear, but the volume was still very weak. It sounded like a clear stream that kept flowing and meandering.
"It's not difficult to play fast and loud, but it's very difficult to play extremely fast and weakly... But in this long sentence that is generally weak, the president also made a relative crescendo and decrescendo effect. What's even more exaggerated is that he
He didn't even step on the pedal. Although this way of showing off his skills is not aggressive at all, it can easily make people doubt his own playing level." Fan Ning thought to himself.
Just from the sound of the two prelude bars played with one hand, he felt the huge gap between his finger functions and Viadlin's.
The fast and rushing background sound flow follows the eight-note bass direction and switches between harmonies. At the same time, Viadlin joins in with his right hand, playing a crisp double tone with a dotted rhythm in the high range, like a stream crashing into the air.
Water drops on rocks.
"It should be the creation of a title music. Although it is contrary to my concept, I feel a strong sense of the picture." Master Silins, who is extremely perceptive, secretly speculated, "...Well, no, this double tone
It's still not a melody, just the shape and color of the water splashing in the stream. In addition to maintaining the high-speed running of the left hand and the crisp double notes played by the right hand, he chose to present the melody in the middle layer of the texture, and popped it up separately with the thumb of the right hand.
With a hint of ignorance and simplicity, it seems to be a creature like a fish in the water?"
"The sound level control of his fingers is simply terrifying!" Everyone present could tell the difference.
A picture of a rushing stream, water splashing against rocks, and fish swimming slowly unfolded from Viadlin's hand. After the exposition theme ended, the music came to a secondary theme similar to a chant.
The chant style on the piano mainly uses a generally neat rhythm pattern of melody and harmony to imitate the sound effects of the solemn chanting version in the Middle Ages, and Viadlin is no exception.
But it was extremely rare for him to form a chord with more than ten superimposed notes that spanned most of the keyboard. Naturally, it was impossible to press it with both hands at the same time. He chose to play each set of chords by alternating four times with his left and right hands. into Boeing.
So the audience saw such a shocking scene: every time before a melody sounded, Viadlin's hands would alternately "swipe" on the keyboard, and then under the afterimage, more than ten keys would accurately "touch" "Sinked", and finally landed on the highest melody.
However, his intensity is still maintained at a comfortable and moderate level, and the secondary chant theme composed of melodic sounds is also very singable, creating an effect of combining movement and stillness where the notes are obviously very fast, but the listening experience is soft and elegant. .
This sub-part theme... the audience will recognize it immediately after listening to a few bars.
It does come from a variation of the melody of a medieval hymn called: "St. Janin of Pontua Preaching to the Fishes." It depicts a religious story by St. Janinine, the first archbishop of the Holy Sun Church: Tuya is a place name. The archbishop stood by the stream here for a long time and patiently preached to the fish, urging them to change their greedy and gluttonous nature. The words of the psalm were the content of the sermon. The fish listened happily to the sermon, and then continued after listening. Everyone pursues things to satisfy their hunger.
The audience suddenly realized that no wonder Sir Viadrin stared at the height of the church for a long time before playing. The place he looked at was a mural based on "St. Janine of Pontua's Preaching to the Fishes"!
The expansion begins with the minor-key version of the left-hand flow. It is shorter in duration, but contains a four-layer structure that contrasts speed, slowness, and tonality. Here, Viadlin allows the audience to re-experience the charisma of the legendary pianist's skills. .
Sometimes his state seemed melancholy, but once he became excited, brilliant major chords like a volcanic eruption, thunderous tremolos and lightning-fast cadenzas poured out, making the whole church tremble with a buzzing sound. Sometimes there is a strong sound that seems to make the strings break, and in an instant, a blurry and gentle melody floats, making people indulge in it and be mesmerized.
A perfect sonata-style creation ends with a concise and succinct summary of the recapitulation.
First, it depicts the scene of the stream and fish on the mural, and initially displays today's sound sequence. Then, it perfectly combines the hymn melody of "Preaching to the Fish" with the harmony of the sound sequence material, and then breaks out in the most dramatic development of the music. Showing fiery passion with a strong personal style, Viadlin's various ingenuities and brilliant techniques perfectly realized the resonance of music, art, religion and literature, and is undoubtedly a model of the spirit of romanticism.
Baimeng book
And as the first person to go up to present, Viadlin had the least time to conceive.
Not only did everyone rediscover the shadow of the legendary pianist back then, but while being shocked by his dazzling skills, they also experienced the endless philosophical thoughts brought about by the accumulation of the artist's life.
When the warm but not exaggerated and protracted applause ended, Grandmaster Niemann stood up from the front row of the audience.
Unexpectedly, he did not go to the piano on the sacrament rostrum. Instead, under everyone's gaze, he walked around to the stairwell in the side corridor and slowly walked up the steps leading to the second floor and above.
Two clergy assistants followed closely behind.
"Upstairs? He wants to play the organ?"
"Master Niemann actually chose to use a pipe organ to display his creations?" Everyone looked at each other in surprise.
Seeing Niemann sitting down on the organ platform surrounded by wood, Fan Ning couldn't help but his eyes lit up. As a lover of Bach's music, the organ was something that he longed for in his previous life but had no conditions to come into contact with.
The foot pedal creates a brilliant pillar chord background, and a gorgeous chromatic style prelude tone group is played alternately by Niemann's hands.
"The rhythm is so free. It seems careless, but it implies a certain emotional pattern. He should refer to the Toccata style. Of course, his vocabulary is romantic." Fan Ning began to figure out the creative ideas of Master Niemann.
.
In the previous life, "Toccata" came from Italian, and the root word here is also the Hoffmann word for "touch". It is a free improvisational keyboard instrument, usually with a series of broken chords and fast scale arpeggios.
The alternation serves as the opening.
"It's G major, which is good, but what does this intro have to do with the development of the eight notes? There seems to be no trace of deformation."
"Is it a variation? It's definitely not a melody variation, but it doesn't look like a harmony variation either?"
"What is the intention of Master Niemann?" Although it sounds wonderful and moving at first sight, and it is the work of a master, some viewers are also a little confused about Master Niemann's opening layout.
Even the four profound ones in the front row of the ceremony were a little confused. Only two masters, Sverink and Schillings, looked thoughtful.
"No, no... this doesn't sound like a solo." Fan Ning gradually discovered some clues, "It's not a solo, there must be something else coming soon."
Sure enough, when the music reaches the eighth measure, the gorgeous and complicated sound patterns gradually dissipate, leaving only the background of the rhythm pattern that seems to be surging undercurrent.
An extremely elegant and clear baritone melody, as bright and brilliant as jade, slowly sang from Master Neiman's mouth:
"If I had brilliant silk and satin,
That is woven with golden and silver light;
Night, day, dawn and evening,
The splendid beauty of azure, gray and pitch black;
I will spread them under your feet,
But I am so poor that I can only dream.
I have spread them under your feet,
Be gentle, because you are stepping on my dream."
Master Niemann sang pure ancient Hoffmann language, and what surprised everyone was not only that he adapted Bassani's mystical poems into art songs, but also that his voice had extremely amazing penetrating power.
With proper coordination, the volume of a bel canto solo can compete with that of a symphony orchestra. However, standing in a church and facing the "King of Instruments" pipe organ with a torrent of volume may be a bit difficult. Only a choir can cooperate with it.
But Master Nieman directly played and sang on the organ. Not only was his voice not muffled, but it was also equivalent to improvising four lines of musical notation (organ hands + foot pedal + vocal) in his mind at the same time.
"A large number of unexpected modulations, chromatic lines, delayed resolutions, and a large number of dissonant intervals... This harmony can be said to be very bold, and it is very consistent with the mystical temperament of the poem." Fan Ning stared at the master without blinking.
From the back view at a high place, "Huh!? What? What kind of strange tonal layout is this?"
The unexpected and reasonable interlude between the two bars moved the key down a semitone without leaving any trace, from G major, which originally had only one sharp, to a sharp with six sharps.
F major.
"Oh, inspiration comes during the day and at night,
The searching heart knows where it is going;
Someone once saw in the red color of wine,
The incorruptible rose."
It's another poem by Bassani. The mood of Nieman's singing brings a hint of wandering and ambiguity. The key continues to move down a whole tone, reaching the parallel E minor of G major, accompanied by the counterpoint lines in the bass part.
, and the major second interval played alternately by both hands on the upper and lower keyboards, the color has changed more vividly.
"It tossed lazily over him,
faded petals and the sweetness of desire;
When time and world are fading away,
In the twilight of dew and fire."
At this time, some people, including Fan Ning, gradually understood Nieman’s creative ideas: tonality!
The master wanted to use the eight-note tonic as the tonal layout and adapt some of Bassani's mystical poems into art songs on the spot, thereby obtaining a piece of organ vocal music with the nature of a suite in each part and the integrity of a single movement.
work.
Sure enough, next, Master Nieman continued to change the key, from E minor to D minor, and then from B minor to C major. He used a total of three poems, and finally came to the D major key of the dominant preparation.
This is not something that can be achieved by pure performance skills. His melodies are by no means simply "composed to lyrics". Every delicate emotional change in the poem, the fluctuations of mood and light and shadow in the original text, are all reflected in the ups and downs of the melody.
Exquisitely reflected.
In such a short period of time, finding suitable poems for lyrics, composing a melody, placing it in a unified musical logic, and reflecting the inner connection between harmony, rhythm, texture and mysticism are just requirements for literary literacy.
, which made the waiting famous artists feel fear in their hearts.
In the last poem by Bassani, the tonality reaches the tonic of the eighth note, returning to the original G major key of the music, but the colors and emotions conveyed by the music have a vague sense of sublimation.
"In the shade of old trees blown by the wind,
While sitting quietly on the ancient bluestone,
Due to the sudden beating of the pulse,
I realize that the glow is a living thing,
Human beings are lifeless phantoms.”
At the end, the sound effect returned to silence, and the low G sound sounded repeatedly. Those beams of light projected from the church vault, which had become dim at some point, seemed to open their eyes with joy, powerfully passing through the depressed mood of each object.
The haze enveloped the listeners with relief and enthusiasm.
"I realize that the glow is a living thing,
Human beings are lifeless phantoms.”
When the last active melody of Niemann's right hand stopped at the B note, Fan Ning felt that the heat all over his body surged up at that moment, and was about to be ignited. The beauty created by music and poetry merged with a large amount of mystical revelation, bringing
It gave him ultimate pleasure and shock.
Many details that were difficult to figure out when studying hidden knowledge suddenly became enlightened, and some of the vague smells, colors and emotions in dreams became obvious from being unspeakable.
For a moment, I couldn't tell whether such a strange feeling came from Master Niemann, or whether it came from the remains of the poet Bassani among the flowers.
The church was silent, with only the sound of Master Nieman stepping down the steps echoing.
"What Mr. Pogorelic said is very correct. 'Crescent Moon' is an extremely important existence no matter in any historical era. A temporary composition can cause such a strong inspiration shock... The same person,
With different levels of 'character', their value to us is completely different." He Meng in front let out a long breath.
Fan Ning's limbs felt hot, his thoughts were flooding, and his heart was beating slowly and powerfully.
After listening to Viadlin and then Master Niemann, he finally understood the horror of these "great musicians" and "great music masters". At present, if he relied solely on his own cultivation, he could only compete with those "great music masters".
"Famous musicians" are just competing for one or two.
Is there any skill to show off? Although there are many difficult passages in the accompaniment, Fan Ning feels that Niemann does not show off his skills for the sake of showing off his skills. None of the notes he presents are superfluous, and he will never thicken the octave in vain.
Overlapping double tones adds to the brilliance, and the direction of each voice is carefully designed - perhaps this is just an unintentional expression of his style.
Even if you are full of inspiration, even if you have countless memories of classical music in your past life, you will still lack confidence in front of these real masters. This is the same as putting your current self in your past life and facing Beethoven, Mozart, and Schubert.
Including Bishop Mill and other members of the inspection team, no one commented or expressed their opinions on the music of Viadlin and Niemann, because there was no need to do so.
The demonstrations of these two people were simply a real shock. Under their influence, the artists who came up to the sacrament rostrum next had rich stage experience, but at this moment they were inevitably restrained to varying degrees.
The first person to take the stage was Dutoit, who was about to perform a piano concerto with the National Conservatory of Music in Tioleon. His state was obviously the most affected, and he hurriedly left the stage after playing a romantic-style improvisation.
"As expected of a famous pianist, this improvisation, if the details are carefully polished in its heyday, should be at least four or five times as good as Chopin's "Fantasy Impromptu"... It's a pity that this arrangement and this state..."
Fan Ning even wondered whether this arrangement was specially designed by the inspection team to test the ability of this group of artists to withstand stress.
…
The fourth is Adonis, chief conductor of the Royal Academy of Music.
"It's already No. 4, and his condition should have recovered a lot. This variation can be considered original, and can even be called 'logical'. But since it has chosen a Romantic vocabulary work, there are presidents and Nieman
The master demonstrates it first and does not explore the relevance of sister arts or mysticism. After all, it still lacks a little meaning."
Without comparison, there is no gap. Fan Ning felt that there was a hundred Adonis gap between the level of everyone's performance in the impromptu test at the University of San Lainia last year and the level of Master Niemann's performance today.
Especially since my finger functions are average, fortunately my next plan is not romantic.
Everyone's performances were generally long, with several people creating multi-movement works that lasted twenty to thirty minutes. As the performance gradually improved, the inspection team frequently showed expressions of satisfaction.
After all, the talents of these artists who have achieved the current achievements are by no means ordinary. Without comparing them with Master Niemann, they are all amazing works.
The music they improvise based on a given theme is something that other composition professionals cannot write for months using written creation methods.
The display of ten people took about two and a half hours. When the last person stepped down from the altar, Marquis MacAdam, who had been observing silently throughout the whole process, finally spoke loudly.
"Your Excellency Bishop Mill, and everyone on the inspection team, I have a proposal here."