The famous young pianist Zou Xiang - lighting up classical music
For those who have some barriers to classical music, you can listen to the advice of the young pianist Zou Xiang and relax: "It's not a big deal if the audience applauds between movements of a piece of music. It's not a mistake. I'll still smile at him." It's hard to tell from his shaggy hair and the jeans and sneakers he's wearing. out of his profession. Zou Xiang is one of the youngest piano teachers at the Central Conservatory of Music.
Zou Xiang has one foot in the world of performance and the other in academia. His mission is to introduce new music and new musical attitudes to people. This was something he couldn't quite achieve when he was on tour before. "As a young musician in the real world, the agent who organized the concert would have preferred me to play works that are more popular and accepted by the public, such as Chopin. But now for me, I can choose my own art more independently path and share his artistic ideas with others," he told the Global Times.
As a young musician in China with the dual identities of performer and educator, Zou Xiang has a unique perspective. He believes that many music learners today have lost the purpose and true meaning of learning music. "In English, the word "performance" is "play", which means enjoying playing. But I don't think this state can be realized in our music learning process," Zou Xiang explained. “My students will tell me they want to be a good student or get a diploma and get a good job. These utilitarian goals are somewhat unrelated to music. So my biggest challenge is to inspire Their real interest and passion for music.”
Many students studying classical music in China experience a lot of pressure from their parents. Zou Xiang also understands this situation very well, and he understands it too well. Zou Xiang was born in Hunan and studied at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music Primary School, the High School Affiliated and the Juilliard School of Music in New York. “I still clearly remember the first day I arrived at the Juilliard School dormitory to report. I stood there carrying two large boxes. I was very nervous and even a little trembling. I think I was frightened by a completely unfamiliar world. Here we are." Zou Xiang recalled with a smile.
Although he studied with two world-famous pianists, Lowenthal and McDonald, at school, he believes that he learned more from the musical environment and soil outside the classroom. "In my first two months in New York, I listened to 40 concert performances of various types. The artistic nourishment I gained from this should be equivalent to two years of studying with a master," Zou Xiang said.
It was during his study in the United States that he discovered that the attitudes towards music learning in Western countries were very different from those in China. Now he's trying to instill some of that attitude toward learning in his own students, too. "In China, many times learning music is to pursue a kind of success; to prove 'who I am' or 'how good I am.' But in the United States, I see more of an integration with music and life. "Enjoyment."
"Sometimes people in China think that age, qualifications, and personal value are necessarily proportional. In fact, this is not necessarily true. Many of the world's great music are composed of composers. Composed when he was young. Zou Xiang's piece tonight proves this argument. Schubert's "Sonata in B flat major" is the composer's later large-scale work. Schubert was only 31 years old when he wrote Obermann Valley. He was still in his twenties. Zou Xiang believed that one of the highlights of the concert was an excerpt from the immortal "Meditations of the Twenty Saints" composed by the 36-year-old French composer Messiaen.
Messian’s music is full of vague tonality and fleeting lines, which are inspired by his fascination with bird songs. This two-hour large-scale work composed of 20 pieces (movements) is considered to be the most important. The piano masterpiece of the 20th century and the pinnacle of the late French Impressionism music. Zou Xiang believes that there is a certain tacit understanding between Eastern music tradition and aesthetics and French Impressionism.
“Chinese people can easily accept French Impressionism. Unlike the German and Austrian music traditions, which have a stronger sense of structure and some things in music are more concrete, fixed and meticulous, China's traditional aesthetics inherently has an impressionistic color. It gives people more room for imagination.
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Zou Xiang is the first Chinese pianist to premiere Messiaen’s Meditations on the Twenty Infants and record this work on a record. The record is expected to be released in April. He has great views on the future of Chinese music. His attention is all-round: "My expectation is not only to be able to play Schubert and Messiaen well and be recognized, but also to be able to perform and study the music of many outstanding Chinese composers such as Chen Yi and Ye Xiaogang." Be remembered. "
China continues to rise. Zou Xiang hopes to call on more people to pay attention to the development of Chinese culture and art, not just the rapid development of politics and economy. He said, "Music shortens the distance between people. , the distance between countries, cultures and cultures. Maybe I was very young and naive and hoped that everyone would pay as much attention to the development, inheritance and innovation of Chinese contemporary culture and art as I did. But even if we can appeal to people and introduce the importance and future direction of this long-term work, and make people and society think about it again or take certain actions, I think it is already a very meaningful thing.