Old-time musicians

"Mr. Kaplan?"

"It seems that I haven't seen him in public for a long time."

"He was barely able to attend the event, which is probably inappropriate."

The audience knew him, but many people didn't notice his presence before he stood up.

It should be said that this conductor has won a lot of respect in the music industry. Although he started late, the orchestra's series of god-level performances so far are inseparable from his hard work. His baritone performance at the New Year's Concert was also very impressive.

Some music critics pointed out that he rarely went on stage to conduct in formal performances, and teased that this was related to his "playing around" in finance, but they were quickly attacked by well-documented rebuttals.

In a symphony performance, the performance on stage is everything to the audience, but for the artist, more than 80% of the factors are determined by the rehearsal results, which is consistent with the solo logic of "practice off stage-performance on stage".

There are already quite a few people who have heard Kaplun rehearse on stage - a group of artists, music critics, cultural politicians who have close relations with the orchestra, and distinguished clients of the "art sponsorship" partners, all know his professional level and attitude towards research.

Kaplun's musical insight is too strong, and he is too sensitive to details and flaws, so he is willing to be a behind-the-scenes artist who checks for omissions and fills in the gaps, leaving the final blow of perfect performance to others.

He is actually not aggressive. If he is in the role of an appreciator, he is very tolerant of other people's flaws and is willing to communicate and encourage.

But he cannot tolerate flaws in his own hands.

This kind of person is too awed by art, even to the point of being somewhat pathological.

In fact, loyal fans of the old symphony orchestra all want to hear him conduct a performance in person someday.

But when the wish came true, many people's mood became complicated, so much so that they could not cheer.

Kaplun moved out of the aisle with the help of rows of seats, and he felt that his whole body was in pain.

It felt like someone was holding a long nail and hammering at the bone seam, or using a hook to pierce the joint adhesion, and then picking out the fascia and flesh inch by inch.

At least hundreds of parts.

"Compared to finance, I may have a higher self-esteem in art. I am always too aware of my own shortcomings, and then when facing experts, I retreat to the back in a timely manner..."

"A kind of contradiction of self-esteem or self-confidence based on rational cognition?"

"Sometimes they are limited to a corner of their professional repertoire, and their brains may not be as rich as yours in the vast sea of ​​serious music works, and their familiarity with various interpretation methods may not be as easy as yours."

"Trust your ears, believe in your professional learning results and the accumulation of appreciation experience"

"If you have less time than others, then some steps that will be taken sooner or later, you need to take them earlier."

I have to say that distraction is a bit serious, but before the music starts, it is more beneficial than harmful to cope with the pain.

The audience sat quietly, following the staggering figure all the way.

"You should applaud when an artist takes the stage" is a common sense known to all the ordinary people, but it has been forgotten by everyone.

When Kaplun was about to walk to the podium, only the technician of the record company reacted and pressed the key to start recording.

Kaplun put the score on the music stand and shivered to open the cover.

After a short movement, his back was already cold.

He pulled out a 100% new public baton that almost no one had used from the hole in the podium.

This action made the musicians pick up their instruments like a conditioned reflex, and the audience began to clear the last sporadic coughs.

Kaplun's legs were shaking, but his right arm raised the baton solemnly and steadily.

The motives, harmonies, counterpoint relationships and expression terms of twenty or thirty parts flashed in his mind. These scenes that he had practiced countless times in daily life flowed and analyzed, and finally stopped at the dialogue fragment with the composer himself.

"How should the opening temperament here be presented so that the audience can feel the so-called 'sense of deterrence, judgment, and epic'?"

"If the introduction of the "First Symphony" is 'silently descending and infiltrating', then here, you might as well try 'suddenly tearing out of silence'."

His chest rose and fell, and Kaplun slowly closed his eyes and opened them again.

His wrist circled the cue beat in the air, and then gently and decisively reached down.

The sudden uneasy tremolo was poured out by the string group, falling from the strength of ff to an unstable background. The cello and double bass played a rough and powerful C minor "interrogation motive" fragment with a stronger fff strength.

The first movement, funeral march, solemn allegro.

Violent, uneasy, and extremely dramatic.

The audience felt that their souls were instantly pierced.

Why are we born, how are we born, and what kind of past is worth remembering?

The "questioning motive" makes its first movement in a broken form, combining extreme stillness with extreme speed, shining with a sharp black light.

Some kind of foreboding picture inexplicably emerges before the audience's eyes: in the lonely cemetery shrouded in darkness, the dawn suddenly breaks, the soil cracks, and the stone tablet trembles.

Something that is impossible to happen in reality.

But this picture seems to be just a flashback plot, which soon fades away with the end of the introduction.

The music enters the presentation section.

"If I can see the scene after death with my own eyes, I hope to see myself lying solemnly under wreaths and flowers."

Some words on the title page of the composer's manuscript flashed in his mind. He gave a signal with his left hand, and the double horn and English horn (alto double horn) played the first theme, starting from the whole note, climbing up in a long and difficult line, with a bit of solemn interrogation.

The single horn, French horn and violin entered one after another, and the "questioning motive" of the double bass always wandered under the shadow, forming a polyphonic counterpoint like a storm.

The connecting phrase, the whole band entered a continuous descent.

Two bars of gray minor scale, and then two bars of more tense chromatic scale.

The color conflict of the harmony was stretched to the limit, and the rumbling and uneasy rolling of the timpani appeared in the sky.

"Cha!——"

The pain brought by the raised arms was piercing, and in exchange, the big and small military drums fell together, twenty or thirty brass pipes roared to the sky, and the big gong and cymbals struck out a shocking and harsh sound.

[To be honest, I have been using the source changer app to read books and keep up with the latest updates. It can switch sources and has many reading tones. It is available for Android and Apple. ]

Kapulen felt that his vision was beginning to blur.

It was only a short while.

However, it was a very minor factor.

The initial struggle gradually subsided, and the lingering triplets of the double bass made the color transition to the E major, which was seven keys away.

The beat was controlled cautiously and gently.

The violin played the second theme in the pastoral style, and the French horn used four-part harmony as counterpoint.

The warm fourth-degree jump, the simple ascending scale, and the melodious and graceful detour fell.

The composer here praises life and nature as always, as if reuniting with the morning light and youth of the school days.

After a brief quiet atmosphere, the uneasy tremolo and "questioning motive" of the introduction appeared again.

Every deceased should be questioned in this solemn way before being buried, and must give an answer.

Including myself without a doubt.

He waved the beat, the first "torture theme" accelerated the presentation, the orchestra gave firm support on the strong beat, leading to the third "resistance theme" full of hope and like a horn, and the violin played a strong dotted descending tone group as a response.

These motives soon evolved into a huge theme group of the presentation part, ending with a hymn-style program fusion.

Sweat fell from his forehead, his body led his gestures to rise and fall slightly, and the heavy steps of the double bass gradually weakened.

The development part began with the violin, a lyrical section in C major, unfolding with the second pastoral theme.

The flute and the single yellow pipe took over the peaceful thoughts, and the tonality moved down to B major. They outlined the warm twilight, but the sudden restoration of the rising re sound dragged the audience into the lonely B minor night.

In the dark and silent repeated sound group of the string group, Kaplun led a very special group of woodwind ensembles.

Although it was not the first time, he was still surprised by the composer's insightful instrumentation that struck his heart. The combination of the bass single yellow pipe and the alto double yellow pipe made the flowing melody seem to travel alone in the dark night.

In this lonely pulse and breath, he couldn't help thinking repeatedly.

He thought repeatedly that the elements of the funeral were really the most essential sad tone of human beings.

He thought repeatedly that those mischievous lives were not worth praising, but they made the living hear it constantly and hear countless hurried and insignificant traces.

The strings once again appeared uneasy dotted descent, and the sound of the horn blew all over the mountains and fields until the introduction "questioning motive" whistled in, and he waved his hand with his whole body tense and cut it down-

The two violent knocks of the bass drum, gong and cymbals, and the timpani's descending octave hammer, severely smashed the sad wandering thoughts at midnight.

The atmosphere was too ominous and abrupt, and the audience was frightened to pieces.

The string group trembled and descended in a chromatic scale, turning into a sharp-edged dotted rhythm group. The trombone and tuba blew the melody that was used to travel through the night. The flute, double yellow pipe and single yellow pipe were interspersed in between, presenting wandering triplet fragments.

When the music developed to the point of being out of control and close to chaos, the French horn opened the solemn motive of the "Doomsday Sutra".

This material of the continuation of the Gregorian era is a crucial seed. Although it disappeared in the wind and rain at this time, it will bloom and bear fruit in the last movement, taking over the solemn "Resurrection Hymn".

However, the audience at least found that the sad tone of the general funeral march has been completely abandoned under the hands of this conductor, leaving only the sharp blade and lightning that cut through the black sky, making everything in the world appear in the daylight.

The theme group in the recapitulation section showed a more subtle counterpoint relationship than the presentation section. Kaplun felt that he was summarizing something, summarizing in stages. He thought that the "mirror" should be wiped clean and flawless, and he should be able to observe the entire life of the deceased reflected in it from a higher angle.

The proposition about death is within reach, just like reaching the top of the mountain and the turbid air is completely dissipated and nothing is left.

He wanted to exchange glances with the musicians who were with him day and night, but found that his vision seemed to be filled with oil mist, and he couldn't see everyone's facial features at all.

As I thought before, this is not the most important factor for the conductor. Pain and weakness are more of a hindrance.

But after all, it means that part of the body has begun to die.

Fortunately, the ears did not die first.

So he suddenly thought of records.

In fact, recordings cannot be played back infinitely. There is a limit to the number of times a person can listen to each piece in his life. Listening once means one less time.

He felt that if he had more time, he would at least have a group of favorite works to listen to again.

Exploring the philosophy of death is one thing, and whether or not to continue living is another.

But if there is no choice, it feels good to leave another set of records for others.

Maybe he can record the last few movements better.

At the end of the recapitulation, in the uneasy funeral steps of the harp and double bass, the C major chords of the flute and double yellow pipe suddenly pierce in, and the mi sound is lowered in the continuous sound.

The stiff combination of major and minor keys carries a hint of ominous warning.

The composer did it on purpose.

Under the sudden diminished seventh chord of the French horn, the entire orchestra descended to play a stormy chromatic phrase, and the first movement ended after two faint pluckings.

If this is just a symphonic poem depicting a funeral, its achievements and characteristics are enough to be on par with the "First Symphony".

The symphony hall was completely silent, and the audience was so shackled by the terrifying atmosphere of the first movement that they could not move their necks.

It was like a sublime long poem, too sublime to be terrifying; it was like a terrifying long poem, too terrifying to be sublime.

The audience felt that they could not breathe deeply, but Kaplun was breathing heavily.

He took out a small bottle from his pocket, poured out six small green pills in a row, and chewed them directly into his mouth.

The crackling sound of the pills was somewhat strange in this occasion, and a small number of people were pulled out of the stagnation, and their eyes were filled with deep worry in an instant.

Because Kaplun held the pole of the conductor's podium with both hands and fell into a long period of silent standing.

In fact, these more than 20 minutes were the most intense activity he had consumed in the past few months.

But there was more than an hour after the "Second Symphony".

He had been holding the railing for three minutes without moving, and perhaps someone could go up and suggest that he lie down and rest for a while, even if it was an hour, but no one dared to start this for a while.

The musicians sat quietly, and by the fourth minute, some audience members had begun to consider whether to applaud.

Because this could be considered a god-level premiere of an outstanding work.

The coughs that had been suppressed for too long began to sound, and some rustling signs of trying to applaud also began to appear.

At this time, several masters in rows 6-8, including Niemann, Schillings and Sweelinck, stood up, turned to face the audience in several directions, opened their arms, made a gesture of silence, and then turned back to sit down.

Although the music has not yet been published, due to personal relationships and the early completion of the first movement, they have seen the score of this movement.

Fanning noted at the end "at least five minutes of rest time" to temporarily forget the overly terrible event.

Most of the audience still didn't quite understand, but the master's reminder made them sit up straight again.

Finally, Kaplun raised his head again.

The conductor let go of the railing, and in a field of vision covered with oil, he groped his fingers on the score and slowly closed it.

It was no longer possible to read it, so it was okay not to read it.

It was just that he didn't look at his wife and daughter more before going on stage, which was a bit sad.

This action still caused misunderstanding among most of the audience, but he raised the baton again.

Moreover, a smile appeared on his dry and scorched face.