Second Piano Concerto

The piano concerto, as the name suggests, is a musical genre in which the piano and the orchestra perform in concert.In the piano concerto, the piano and the orchestra have both cooperation and confrontation, both of which are equally important, and their relationship is complex and contradictory, which produces rich musical effects.However, when composing, in order to quickly and conveniently record the music ideas, many composers will first condense the band part of the concerto into a piano score, and use piano notation to record the main parts of the band as the first draft. Afterwards, the band was orchestrated according to the reduced score of the piano, and finally the whole work was completed.The same is true of Tan Shuo's approach. Therefore, the first draft in front of Qin Haiou's eyes at this moment is a score for two pianos, one of which is the part played by the pianist, which is the part Qin Haiou needs to play during the performance, and the other A piano represents the orchestra, and when the work is complete, this part will be replaced by scores for the various parts of the orchestra.

Qin Haiou was naturally familiar with this composition sequence. After sitting down, he looked at the score and started to play his own part.Professional pianists all have a strong ability to read scores, not to mention Qin Haiou, who read scores faster than reading books. Although it was the first time I saw this score, I played it on the piano while reading it, and the more The more excited you are playing.He and Tan Shuo have gone through so many ups and downs, overcame the difficulties together, gathered together, and now, he finally witnessed the birth of this work with his own eyes.Even though it wasn't complete, it was enough to make his blood boil.He no longer needs to have any worries. He doesn't have to practice "Song of the Long Night" secretly in the piano room while admiring Xiao Cong like ten years ago, and he doesn't need to face "Xinghai" alone because he cares about Tan Shuo's feelings. The manuscript sighs with regret.The work in front of him was written by Tan Shuo for him. It is a brand new work belonging to the two of them. He can play it to his heart's content, not only in front of Tan Shuo, but also in the concert hall in the future. Play on stage.Thinking of this, Qin Haiou couldn't help himself, and played faster and faster.

Standing aside, Tan Shuo turned over the music for Qin Haiou. Seeing that he could play this work so smoothly the first time he got it, even when it came to difficult passages, he didn't feel the slightest burden.Although he has known for a long time that Qin Haiou has extremely strong personal abilities, whenever this ability is shown in front of him, he will still be as amazed by it as ordinary audiences.

Qin Haiou bounced to one place and stopped suddenly.Tan Shuo sighed first: "You play too fast!"

These words have two meanings, one is to lament Qin Haiou's extraordinary ability, and the other is to remind him that he is not accurate enough for the speed, in fact, he doesn't need to play so fast.But Qin Haiou didn't care about all this for a while, he couldn't stop rubbing his hands, his eyes gleamed with joy: "It's so enjoyable, it's so satisfying!"

Seeing that he liked it, Tan Shuo was also very happy. He pointed to the score and said, "This section is Huacai. I have reserved it for you. You can figure it out yourself!"

Qin Haiou nodded excitedly.He stopped suddenly just now because he saw the mark of the cadenza.The cadenza in the concerto is a section that allows the performers to fully demonstrate their performance skills and performance of the instrument. The band will pause the performance here, allowing the performers to become the focus of the audience and complete the difficult show off.Cadenza can be improvised by the performer, or written in advance by the composer, but in more cases it is a combination of the two, completed by the performer and the composer.During the creation process, Tan Shuo also asked Qin Haiou for his opinion on the issue of cadenza. Qin Haiou wanted to participate and was always eager to try, so Tan Shuo left the cadenza section blank, but in order to maintain the music's Continuity and the unity of the overall style, he wrote the part that connects with the main body at the beginning and end of the blank paragraph, and marked the general structure and the indispensable main harmony, so that Qin Haiou could follow his prompts in this framework. play in.

Tan Shuo told Qin Haiou his general idea about Huacai, and asked him to continue playing.After Qin Haiou played it once, he liked it so much that he turned the score back to the front and kept thinking about it.Tan Shuo asked: "How do you feel? Is there anything wrong with your hands?"

Qin Haiou recalled briefly and shook his head, but he also knew that he was too excited, and in this state it was impossible to calmly and objectively judge the possible problems in the music, so he said, "Let me play for a few days first, I have to calm down, I'm too happy now, I don't have time to think about it!"

Tan Shuo smiled and said, "Okay, you play first, you play first!"

So, from this day on, Qin Haiou spent a lot of time practicing and thinking about the first movement every day, and Tan Shuo also started to create the second movement at the same time.From time to time, he came to Xiaopengmen to discuss with Qin Haiou about the modification of the first movement and the processing of the music.During this process, Qin Haiou gradually calmed down, and his thinking on the works gradually became more detailed and in-depth.But because of this, he faced a new kind of pressure and difficulty.Since this is a brand-new work that has never been performed before, he does not have any audio-visual materials, literature materials, or previous interpretations to refer to.Although Tan Shuo has marked the performance prompts such as strength, weakness, speed and slowness on the score, which reflects his conception and intention to a certain extent, there are actually many details that need to be supplemented, enriched and individualized by the player.Before this work is played, it is just a pile of notes on paper, in which the creator's hard work and soul are silently placed, no one can hear or feel it, only when it is played, the work can become alive music.In order to complete this key transformation, the performer actually re-creates the work, embodies his own understanding, perception and emotion in the performance, and gives life to the work with his own efforts and soul.

This crucial step is not only a great test for the performer, but also full of the joy of musical exploration, and it is also a soul communication between the performer and the creator.For Qin Haiou, it is the decisive factor for the success of this concert, as well as the challenges and risks involved.In the past, it was precisely because he did not invest enough in this area that problems appeared later, but now, facing Tan Shuo's new works, whether it is the objective needs of the works or his own subjective wishes, he has made him attach great importance to this step. reached unprecedented heights.

As a creator, Tan Shuo naturally understands that this stage is brain-intensive and not easy.More importantly, Qin Haiou's previous achievements in overcoming psychological obstacles need to be consolidated and improved during this period, which will ultimately determine his mental state during the performance.For this reason, Tan Shuo tried his best to provide Qin Haiou with as much information as possible, as long as it is helpful for Qin Haiou to understand the works, from various sources of inspiration, to the thinking process when creating the theme, to the works. The structure and characteristics of the book, as well as the important passages with originality, have been explained in great detail for him.

Qin Haiou does not have a ready-made performance version to study and refer to, but he has Tan Shuo.From the day he formally proposed the commission, he has witnessed Tan Shuo's efforts to create this work, whether it is the collection of materials and accumulation of musical ideas during the collection, or the gradual formation of the overall concept later, until now, the first The first draft of the movement was finally placed on his music stand, and he personally participated in every important link in this process.

Qin Haiou has performed a large number of piano works from different eras in the past, but he has never had the opportunity to establish such a close connection with a creator.But now, for the first time in his playing career, he can not only watch a work from scratch, but also communicate with the creator himself about his thoughts on the work at any time.It was this precious experience that greatly made up for his lack of performance materials, and this was also the main purpose of Tan Shuo taking him with him when he was collecting music.

With Tan Shuo's full support, most of the problems Qin Haiou encountered when thinking about this work can be easily solved.But even so, the two sometimes have differences due to their different understandings of music, and even have disputes.After each calmed down and thought about it, they found that the other party's thoughts were actually very reasonable, so they would get together again to reorganize the two sides' thinking, keep their own merits, and then extract a better way to deal with it.Sometimes even for a small passage, this process will be repeated several times, but in order to achieve a better musical effect, both of them took the trouble and enjoyed it.