标题：音乐会日记

从Maurizio Pollini的个人演奏会出来的那天起，我的CD players里就无时无刻不装着他的CD。 从他的独奏会出来我就知道傅聪为什么现在已经在世界琴坛已非主流。同是六十出头的Pollini演奏时，我就没有一秒钟的担心（写傅聪时提到过），反之音乐是向我涌进来的，不容我思考。

其实开始第一首曲子也是和傅聪情况类似，音色不是很好，左手有些粘。（但是没有什么错音，大概唯一的错音就是全曲的最后一个音，哈哈，最糟糕的情况。他和观众都笑了。）那时我还可以“保持清醒”，甚至还一点点怀疑他左手的技巧。到了第二首曲子贝多芬的热情奏鸣曲时我就再也无法控制我的头脑了。他手中的音乐燃起了我所有的热情。（我喜欢去concert也是为了追求这种忘我的境界。）三个乐章结束的那一瞬间全场沸腾，一排排的观众起身鼓掌, “Bravo” 此起彼伏 - 这只是上半场结束而以（这种场面在我去过所有的演奏会中都很少出现的。

下半场是肖邦的曲目。Pollini也是史上肖邦钢琴比赛头等奖的获得者之一，他的肖邦自然值得期待。意料之中，下半场也发挥得淋漓尽致，值得一提的是他和傅聪弹了同一首曲子 – 肖邦降b小调奏鸣曲。觉得两人风格完全不同。傅聪的演绎，可以用“犀利”两个字形容 - 实在找不出更适合的词，听他弹这首曲子，感觉刀子嗖嗖飞过（天，成武侠了），就是那种凛冽的感觉。而Pollini的则更悲壮更宏厚更大气，听到心跟着沉沉沉。。。我个人觉得Pollini 的诠释是更贴切的。除了这首奏鸣曲外下半场Pollini还弹了几个马祖卡和第三号叙事曲。演奏会结束，观众疯了，让老人家弹了不下5首encore, Pollini 也很给面子，竟然连快十分钟的肖邦一号叙事曲都拿来当encore弹了。那首叙事曲弹得，我觉得，也是全场亮点之一。这是我最喜欢的曲子之一，我听过很多版本，而这是我听到的最好的。那么多encore之后观众还是继续鼓掌，直到Pollini出场绕到琴凳前没有坐下，直接又走道台前鞠躬致意后观众才罢休。这也是我见到过最新奇最有个性的拒绝encore的方法了=D。

其实提到Pollini, 大家都会提到他弹琴时简单到冷淡甚至脱离音乐的肢体语言和他理智的感情处理。其实我并不赞同别人对Pollini的形容。我看到听到的Pollini是热情的(不是因为他弹了“热情”=D)，他的肢体语言非常自然，但是丝毫不会太过冷淡。他时常边弹边哼，我位子靠前所以听了个清清楚楚（歌喉不怎么动听就是了）。我觉得他把音乐内涵表达得非常准确，以至于被认为太过冷静，其实有着很深沉的热情和爆发力。他的音乐不但细节值得推敲，更值得称赞的是对全曲大画面的体现（我个人觉得这点是郎朗所欠缺的-他太追求细节的精湛了）。Pollini用音乐把每首曲子渲染成了一幅幅图画，而不是一些线条，一些细节的拼凑。而这些画面可以深深的刻在我的印象里。他的热情对我来说是明显的，根本不用多加形容 - 我倒是不明白为什么有人会批评他冷漠（会不会只是因为他外表看上去像个businessman？）。 我要为他讨回公道！

很高兴下个周末又可以听到一个肖邦头等奖获得者，Krystian Zimerman的独奏会了，这也将是我一年内第三次现场听到肖邦那首奏鸣曲（很好奇，难道最近流行？）。我希望届时有更多的惊喜等待着我！

听Zimerman的albums, 觉得有些平淡无奇，说不出不好的地方，但是所有曲子都很"标准", 听完没什么印象，可能是没听明白。可是听现场感觉就不一样了，实在令人惊叹。这是我听过的最浪漫的钢琴演奏。

我觉得他最大的特点就是把所有曲子的不同风格表达的淋漓尽致。第一首莫扎特是古典的，Zimerman的演绎就是很平均，很controlled的，时不时地他会加入些小花絮，但是总体风格就是古典的（哈哈，废话）。之后的曲目都是浪漫时期的，这时便听出Zimerman的不同了。他的肖邦是我听过最浪漫的肖邦，rubato用的比别人多得多，甚至有些迷幻色彩，似乎比较接近前面一首Ravel的风格了。我不确定肖邦作曲时是否想要表达这样不可救药的浪漫，也不确定每一次我都想要听到这样的肖邦--因为那一定会让我精神错乱的，但是偶尔体验一下，那是绝对的享受--绝对的精神沦陷，绝对的"high"。。。（现在觉得有人讲过音乐是drug一点都不错）

其实无论他弹哪种风格都有一个共同点-- 音色圆润，没有任何sharp edges. 这也是他被我称为"最浪漫"的原因之一。听说他对音色要求很高，以至于每场音乐会他都带他自己的钢琴并根据音乐厅的acoustic调试到他最满意的音色（还有一次运输自己的琴时被海关把琴炸了，因为制作钢琴时用的一种胶是特别的，似乎做炸弹时也用这种原料，所以钢琴只能用有限的方法运输，不然就是禁品！）。但是我总觉得有些太刻意太矫情了。就像上面说的，偶尔一听是绝对值得，但是长期听我可受不了。好在他的albums和现场演绎是有所不同的。我想他也是故意要制造某种现场效果吧。

这个钢琴家很不一样，他竟然拒弹encores!!!任凭观众喝彩声掌声不停和standing ovation! 一开始时工作人员还说他拒见任何听众！ 但是不顾工作人员怎么说，散场后观众还是哄的聚集到后台大门，十几分钟后他终于出来了，然而这时的他并没有推论中的骄傲与古怪， 反而比其他我见过的钢琴家更友好。他不只是站在那里接受问候，而且会主动和你浅谈。我与他合照后，他竟然主动要求多照一张，因为他刚才闭眼了。我问了他些小问题他也很耐心的一一解答，看上去头脑很清醒，不像他的音乐一样弥幻。我前两天post上来的article里面讲他长期在瑞士教书，当老师的人应该不能精神错乱吧。。。哈。。。

一回家我就迫不及待的再听他的albums, 我似乎可以听出多一点点东西了，但是还是没有现场的那种感觉，就好像陶渊明偶入桃花源，之后就再也找不回去了。。。

As some of you know, after days of struggle, I finally went to see the Carnegie Hall concert featuring Philadelphia Orchestra with conductor Eschenbach, and of course, pianist Lang Lang, playing Beethoven PC 4. Despite of a total of 10 hours transportation time and the mind tension due to safty concerns (it's my first time having to wander on NY busy streets during midnight by myself!) and all the other hassles, the concert was worth going thru them all!

Philadelphia Orchestra is one of the top 5 orchestras in the US (the other four: Chicago SO, Boston SO, NY PO & Cleveland O) It's my first time hearing them live! As of LL, I'd have to say, it's his best performance so far! He was so calm that day, no unnecessary movements or expressions-- probably because this was his second carnegie hall concert right after his first was heavily attacked by Mr. T for his showmanship. I'd definately say a more controlled LL is much more pursuasive. No matter what, he's simply talented and inspiring! Eschenbach did a good job too - I think it must have contributed to controlling tempo so that LL didn't completely "go for freedom ^^". The performance was truly soulful. At the quiter moments, such as right after 1st mvmt cadenza, that was absolute silence created in the audience. I've NEVER EVER experienced a whole room of audience making absolutely no sound, as if we were all muted!!! The old couple in front of me looked at each other with such awe in their eyes and satisfied smiles. That was TRULY a moment, a moment in heaven.

After the concert, I couldn’t wait to try the newly discovered details in that piece I've never realized before right away, but I didn’t have a piano, so I had to wait all day till today. Hey, what I figured really worked! I really know that I’ve improved on piano playing in this past year, and it attributes to Lang Lang solely. The most I learned on piano from him is attention to details, I think. I owe a lot of thanx to him.

I left Carnegie Hall with so much content. It feels like a long-time craving's satisfied. I also got to meet Lang Lang in a close distance during the intermission. I still can’t believe that I did it-- I was really spontaneous. The Beethoven piece with Lang Lang as a soloist was the last piece before intermission. I had so much emotion inside after their performance. After clapping with the audience till my hands felt burning, I left my seat, without knowing where I was going, but my feet led me straight to the backstage.

I was pretty shocked to see that people were actually lining up in front of the backstage door. The “door ladies” checked each person with a list they have on hand. I thought that every ticket holder had the right to go in until that “door lady” told me: “You have to schedule with the artist’s management before the concert in order to go backstage.” I was disappointed and didn’t know what to do. I stood there with brain fast spinning, trying to figure out a way to get in. Luckily and to my surprise, the lady was so kind that she actually smiled to me and said: “actually you know what? Just go.” At the moment I knew a “thank you” was not enough to express my appreciation, but I was incapable of thinking. All of a sudden I was filled with such happiness that actually made my heart pump fast—and that was the moment I felt what being a “fan” is like first time in my life.

I’ve always hated the word “fan”, coz to me it somehow implies shallowness and “blindness.” But with Lang Lang it’s a whole different story and different feeling. Probably because his Beethoven tonight truly touched me deep in, for the moment I was emotionally attached to his performance, or him……. and maybe that is what being a fan means. Well, I still hate to use the word “fan” on myself … So let’s move on from that idea…

Where was I? O yeah, then I went in. All of us were taking the elevator and guess what? In the elevator I saw Lang Lang’s father Lang, Guoren. He was video taping the people who went backstage. Since I read the book about him, I couldn’t stop looking at him—he’s a legendary father in my mind (not saying he’s a good one, but definitely amazing and respectable). Really, I just couldn’t control myself looking at him and trying to greet him. I smiled to him and suddenly he pointed his video camera to me. I quickly turned my head around. Then seconds later, I turned to him again (coz I really wanted to say hi to him :p), then he turned his VC to me again… Man! He just wouldn’t put that thing away! :D so I gave up the idea of talking to him, haha.

The elevator door opened and I joined the line of people waiting to meet Lang Lang. Now I could see him, so I could observe him and the other people. It seemed to me that most people there were likely to be reporters and the so-called friends, mostly in mid age. So when it came to my turn, he actually paused for seconds before saying anything—he must be wondering who I was =D At that moment, I really didn’t know what to say (I didn’t prepare for this) and the line behind me really didn’t allow me to have a nice chat with him. So basically I just greeted/complimented him and asked to take a photo together.

From my encounter with Lang Lang, I actually found him quite different from what I thought before. From those interview video clips, I thought that he’s a “people person”, who knows exactly how to handle different people. However, from my observation this time, he’s very diplomatic, but not as talkative as I thought before. I fully understand that he must be extremely exhausted. After a big concert he couldn’t go home and rest; instead, he had to face all these unrelated people. What’s good besides $$$ in having a big career like he does now and had always strived for? I also could not stop wondering… does he have a real life--Since he’s almost flying and performing on stage everyday in the world, and when he has time, I bet he would be practicing. Or probably this whole thing is indeed his real life and is all that he wants and cares about. I really hope that he could slow down a bit and have some relax.

I’m glad that I had the chance to meet Lang Lang, a genius. To observe more and thus know more about him (I think) is interesting as well, although the encounter was really very brief. I’m sure I will go to more of his concerts, and if there will be a chance, I will talk more to him, just for the sake of curiosity and admiration (I even superficially thought that by standing close to him, I’d gain inspiration.)

It was quite late after the second half was finished. I left the hall with endless excitement and thoughts and let my body and mind wonder on the busy streets in New York. The lights brightened the late night sky; people of all colors still hung around on the streets. All of a suddenly I lost all the worries. I took a deep breath and my lungs were filled with passion and inspiration. At the very moment, I found attached to this air I was breathing. I started to love this place. I knew I would be back again.